Stainless vs hardened nozzle

Just wondering, is there a print quality difference? Am i safe to let the hardened version in the printer for all the materials? Or should i switch back to stainless for Pla types of filament?

There should be no difference at your printing results. There are some materials that have to be printed with the hardened nozzles because they are abrasive.

isn’t hardened steel more temperature resistant? Will this be automatically calibrated?

The printer has no way of knowing that you have a hardened or stainless nozzle and there’s nowhere to make a selection in Bambu studio. There is in orca, however it doesn’t change any print parameters, it’s just to warn you if you select an abrasive filament and don’t have hardened selected. I imagine BBL tested both and determined they had similar thermal properties, so there was no need to make any adjustments.
Also, you can use any nozzle for any filament, however the stainless will wear quicker than the hardened. I changed out my P1P stainless for a hardened one before I’d even switched it on for the first time. A hardened nozzle shouldn’t ever need changing if it’s good quality steel.

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You should tell the printer that you have installed a hardened nozzle either on the printer (X1C) or through Bambu Handy in the machine settings. That should take care of different thermal nozzle characteristics.

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Where do I find these settings on Bambu Handy or the machine please? I have a P1S. I looked on Handy but couldn’t find any mention of nozzle type.

Go to the Devices page in Bambu Handy, select the 3 bars at the top between the plus sign and the bell to get to device settings.
In my case, nozzle is the 3rd entry from the top (diameter and steel type).
I have a X1C though, so it may be different for a P1S.

I believe the options are not available for P1P/S

Ah, bugger.

It should matter so much though. Pure feedback temp control will just lead to minor increase in heating/cooling times.
And I have not yet spotted the possibility to change the temp in the slicer during printing. Only when changing filament or between first and subsequent.

Further trouble that may be linked to the nozzle material (material sticking to nozzle, heat creep) is not due to printer settings but can be tweaked in the slicer if neccessary.

Thanks for the info but yes unfortunately you dont get the option with P1S it seems :cry:

Hello
I bought a PS1 2 weeks ago and I’ve just bought PA6-CF filament to be printed preferably with a 0.6 hardened steel nozzle.
I’ve read that the difference between hardened steel (black) and stainless steel (grey) is only the color. I’ve also read that the PS1 is sold by default with a stainless steel nozzle. But when I look inside my printer head, my nozzle is black! Does this really mean that it’s a hardened steel head?
My printer also comes with a spare nozzle, which is grey.
I do not unterstand nothing and nothing is indicated onto the notice.
Thanks for your help

All P1 units come without hardened steel nozzles. CF filament is abrasive and will chew thru your nozzle and extruder gear quite fast.

You will need to buy a hardened steel nozzle and hardened steel extruder for abrasive material.

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I believe there is minor difference in print quality and clogging.

This would be correct, from their literature, but its possible there were some undocumented changes. However, I would guess the stainless steel nozzle you have is simply discolored.

As far as print quality, there shouldn’t be much difference, but the two steels conduct heat differently.

From Thermatest.com

The higher the k-value, the more heat the product conducts. Standard carbon steel has a K-value of 50, and stainless steel has a lower K-value of 15 .

In general, I’d imagine the hardened steel is heat treated carbon steel. So this would suggest there is a significant different in heat transfer with the hardened steel nozzle which will generally allow better and fuller melting of the material along with improved Z strength. For reference, I believe brass is in the 110 K-value range, so even though hardened steel is better than stainless, its not nearly as good as the standard nozzles.

I confirm with better light conditions that the nozzle color is grey and is effectively stainless steel pre-intalled by default.
Excuse me for bad color appreciation…

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You can change the nozzle type on the display of the P1S by going to settings and then accessories.