Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
Tonight I was trying to run 1st layer calibration with some polylite PETG, with the textured sheet. I've had a hardened .6mm nozzle mounted for a while, and it didn't occur to me until tonite that I hadn't put PETG through it yet.
Every attempt to run 1st layer resulted in blob of doom, after the first horizontal.... er, X-axis pass. (They're all horizontal, aren't they?)
It occurred to me that I remember reading that the hardened steel wasn't coated, and could be prone to sticking. So, I swapped to a .4 nozzlex that I'd recently received. It was like flipping a switch. The blob disappeared completely.
So, while the machine is spitting out a benchy boat, two things occurred to me:
-Crap, I should have run cleaning filament through the nozzle.
-I wonder if I could add a layer of seasoning to the hardened steel with some linseed oil.
Once upon a time, I geeked out over cast iron and other seasoned cookware. Seasoning is generally just a burned-on layer of vegetable oil, or crisco, or something else. (In practice, it's mostly whatever cooking fat you happen to be using. Could be crisco, or bacon, vegetable oil, whatever....) And in my travels, I discovered a trick for getting a more durable coating, using food-grade linseed oil, instead of regular vegetable oil. The idea is to heat the pan to smoke point, add oil, wipe off, leaving a very thin coating, and repeat. I have to imagine this is doable on a steel nozzle, though I think boiled linseed oil would work, too. (be careful with oily rags, though.)
I realize this may, on first glance, be a really bonkers approach. But I figured I'd see if it was something anyone had tried themselves, yet.
Thoughts?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. -Yogi Berra
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
Benchy boat looks great. In fact, it seemed to do better with increased speed. Go figure.
I felt the need to clarify the point of seasoning the nozzle: Seasoned cookware is much beloved, for its non-stick properties. I'm wondering if putting such a coating on the nozzle would keep PETG from sticking quite so happily to it.
Also, this felt like one of those 'idly musing,' posts, rather than a 'hey, look what I tried!' kind of thing. In general, that means I should probably give it a shot. If a little bit of linseed oil can save $12/ 9 pounds over a Nozzle X, maybe it's worth a shot...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. -Yogi Berra
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
"filament oiling" used to be a thing in 3D printing. From what I understand, early all-metal hotends tended to be a bit rough, so oiling the filament would ease the flow of filament. I was surprised that it is still recommended with some printers (BeeVeryCreative). It seems using the bit of PTFE tubing at the top of the hotend largely solved the problem. I have to confess that I added a bit of lubricant to the filament on my Sidewinder when a faulty extruder introduced feed problems.
I wouldn't expect any of this to matter for your first layer though. In fact, any oil that gets into a PEI print surface may cause more adhesion problems. Edit: or do you mean filament sticking to the nozzle exterior? Makes sense.
The amount of improvement likely varies with the quality of the internal nozzle finish. It shouldn't hurt anything. Just go easy on it I suppose.
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
You will likely clog the nozzle so you will need a method to clean the inside without making any damage. Linseed oil gets hard so this can possibly be tricky.
Be careful with the temperature. I don't know anything about how these nozzles are hardened. Linseed oil needs somewhere around 300° so it shouldn't be a problem though. Safest and easiest should be to do it in the oven.
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
I think it is an interesting idea worth a try. It might lead to jams, it might not.
--------------------
Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
Apologies for not being more specific... I was talking about using this trick as a coating for the OUTSIDE of the nozzle. The filament is flowing easily through, but was constantly sticking to the outside, and lifting up the first layer, which turned into blob of doom.
Side complaint... is there a way to pause/ cancel the 1st layer calibration, as you can with other prints? When the blob forms right away, it’s just disheartening to realize the rest of the calibration still needs to play out before I can clean off the nozzle...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. -Yogi Berra
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
Slice Engineering has a "plastic repellent paint" in their shop that is proberbly what you are lokking for.
https://www.sliceengineering.com/collections/accessories/products/plastic-repellent-paint%E2%84%A2
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
Slice Engineering has a "plastic repellent paint" in their shop that is proberbly what you are lokking for.
https://www.sliceengineering.com/collections/accessories/products/plastic-repellent-paint%E2%84%A2
I ordered this but have not used it yet. I guess it would have helped if I had ordered it before I changed to the tungsten carbide nozzle.
On my do-it list is to take the machine down, take out the nozzle, clean it thoroughly, then clean all of the gunch off of the heat block and then use the paint on the assembled heat block and nozzle.
I'll report on the forum if anything earthshaking occurs. 😉
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
The nickel plated copper nozzles are brilliant with PETG as the PETG does not stick to the nickel, so how about a bit of electroplating of the steel nozzle with nickel, it will be much better than any oil seasoning.
Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
RE: Potentially silly question: skillet seasoning a hardened steel nozzle?
I’ve had great luck with nickel plated copper, but it’s not great with abrasives, so I swapped to hardened steel. The steel was great with abrasive PLA (glow in the dark) and regular PLA.
the paint sounds interesting, for the heater block. I’d be worried about clogging the nozzle with it, though, especially if the heat hardens it/ toughens it up some.
Since my original post I’ve been using a .4mm coated/ hardened steel NozzleX nozzle from e3d. It was expensive, but I have had zero issues so far. Will be squirting some HTPLA with it later today, I think.
Also, have switched to the textured bed sheet. Holy cow, it’s like magic with releasing PETG. I walk away, come back later, and the parts have completely separated from the bed. Or, I sit there, and listen to the crackling as the parts self-peel.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. -Yogi Berra