Ok! Which .3 nozzles do you recommend for the Mini? I have never tried changing my nozzle before!
Wow! Thanks for all the detailed responses everyone! I’m sure this will all help a lot!
For those of you asking, I am printing with Colorfabb’s nGen material.
So far, I have gathered the following list of suggestions. If you have anything new or different to add, (or you disagree with one of the suggestions) please let me know!
- Lower print temperature
- Lower print speed
- Up cooling a lot!
- Change nozzle size
- Check Auto-leveling procedure
- Up first layer to .2mm
Again, if you have anything else to add, please let me know! I am so grateful that 3D Hubs has such a friendly supportive community 
Nozzle:
As I have just checked you should have a Hexagon all-metal hot end with 0.5 nozzle by default witch uses 3mm filament (hmm this could be a problem but hope it will work otherwise you have to make an upgrade to 1.75mm filament, so new hotend and extruder and new rolls of filaments)
So just look for a store in the US who sells this kind of nozzles, so you will need 0.3, 0.35, 0.4 nozzles for !!!3mm!!! filament (make sure its for the 3mm not for 1.75mm version).
Just googled and found this store (they have the 0.3 out of stock but have 0.35 and 0.4)
http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/hot-ends/hot-end-parts.html
T.
Well, my print wasn’t great, but it at least completed the print. I’ll put up a photo later this afternoon, but I did learn a lot!
Speed really, really matters. Faster areas have ripples. Overhangs are problematic, as is expected. I can probably drop the temperature a little more. I can probably increase cooling a bit. I’m printing in brown ABS, so cooling is a sensitive topic.
The parts that look good look REALLY good, and the rest looks messy. I’ll probably use 50-75 microns as my finest resolution, but this experiment will help me optimize my settings.
Ah, nGen. It can be a bit tricky, but can produce good results. Lulzbot is now recommending it as a beginner filament instead of HIPS (I just spoke to them at Denver Mini Maker Faire this past weekend).
I use a scrubby sponge at printing temperature to clean the nozzle, as acetone won’t clean off PLA (it does a good job with ABS, though). I’m not sure if there’s a suitable solvent for nGen.
Keep in mind that changing the nozzle with void the warranty on your extruder. That being said, they also recommend that you use a torque wrench to install the new nozzle, and do it at a specific temperature (185, IIRC).
I’d almost recommend buying a second extruder assembly, and switching the nozzle just on that one. Still, you should be able to get acceptable results with your stock nozzle.
Yeah, I totally see your point. Honestly, I don’t think its worth goofing up my extruder so I could get better 50 micron prints. Because at the moment, I CAN print at 50 microns with decent results. So, while I may invest in a new nozzle in the future, I think I’m good for now…
