<p>Handling a 1mm nozzle implies a desire to reduce the overall print time (otherwise why use a large nozzle), so you will need to consider not only the maximum operating temperature but also the rate at which plastic can be melted. (See also <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/572">this question</a> and one on overheating to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3350">compensate</a>)</p>

<p>Using 1.75mm filament is a good start, this has a better surface area to volume ratio, but you're likely to see issues with both the heater cartridge power (so a 40W heater is probably going to help), but also the size of the melt zone and the thermal mass of the heater block.</p>

<p>As you need to push a reasonably large amount of heat from the cartridge to the filament, it is important to minimise the thermal resistance - so using a steel nozzle would be a disadvantage here (but since polycarbonate is abrasive, you will need to consider wear resistance as part of your trade-offs). You can get longer nozzles and larger heat blocks designed to work better in high flow applications.</p>

<p>Also remember that your extruder needs to work 6 times faster to achieve the same linear speed compared to a 0.4mm nozzle (with at least as much pressure), so this also might need to be upgraded (or driven a little harder).</p>

<p>If you can however tolerate a somewhat slower print speed, you might not <a href="https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/why-3d-print-with-polycarbonate-how-to-get-best-results" rel="nofollow noreferrer">need to reach 300°C </a> to print PC.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T11:19:27.700Z
On a side note: PC is a very abrasive material, he might want to look for a very tough nozzle, probably even with a trigonal Di-aluminium-tri-oxide crystal - the red variety of Corundum is available as far as I reckon.
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T11:21:15.970Z
I guessed that part of the question might have some significance - thanks.
Sean Houlihane
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T11:31:48.553Z
@SeanHoulihane Using a large nozzle does not imply printing faster in terms of mm/sec of the head movement. Actually you should reduce the printing speed, like you already explained, the throughput of the filament is way larger which may not be kept in pace by the heater cartridge. However, the overall print may be printed faster as the layer thickness will also be larger and generally less perimeters are needed.
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T10:28:48.287Z
2018-09-03T11:37:58.167Z
2018-09-03T11:37:58.167Z
Sean Houlihane
<p>By  interpreting your question as <em>&quot;Can most hotends print polycarbonate at 300°C+?&quot;</em>, and taking into consideration the answers to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4209/can-cheap-hotend-parts-sourced-from-china-actually-produce-good-prints">Can cheap hotend parts sourced from China actually produce good prints?</a><sup>1</sup>, then it would seem to be safe to assume<sup>2</sup> that most hotends can, given a few adjustments or considerations:</p>
<ul>
<li>Use of a PT100<sup>3</sup> or thermocouple, en lieu of a thermistor</li>
<li>Use of PTFE tubing</li>
</ul>
<p>Taken directly from <a href="https://e3d-online.com/v6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">E3D's V6 product info</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The V6 can comfortably reach 285°C with the supplied thermistor. By swapping a thermistor for a thermocouple (may require additional electronics) or PT100 you can reach over 400°C. This not only allows you to print extremely high temperature materials like Polycarbonate and Nylons but also eliminates HotEnd meltdown failures associated with PEEK/PTFE designs. The PTFE filament guide inside the V6 HotEnd is never subjected to high temperatures, so there is no risk of damage through overheating.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<p><sup>1</sup> The materials used by cheaper clones of the higher quality, more expensive, branded hotends are <em>probably</em> the same as those used in the branded hotends, and indeed are probably produced using the same pirated patterns/molds/casts, but with less care and quality involved. They can even be produced in <em>the same factory</em>, but are items that have failed the QA tests, and as such are not deemed to be <em>brandable</em>.</p>
<p><sup>2</sup> Although, to paraphrase a quote from a movie: Assumptions can be considered to be the mother of all <em>disasters</em>.</p>
<p><sup>3</sup> A Pt100 or Pt1000 is a Platinum RTD (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_thermometer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Resistance Temperature Detector</a>) with a resistance of 100 ohms at 0°C which changes with temperature. From this manufacturer's <a href="https://www.processparameters.co.uk/platinum-resistance-thermometers-pt100-pt1000/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">website</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A Pt100 or Pt1000 is a Platinum RTD (Resistance Temperature Detector) with a resistance of 100 ohms at 0°C which changes with temperature. They are suitable for applications in the temperature range of -200°C to 600°C but are more commonly used in the range -50°C to +250°C. These temperature sensors are reliable and can offer a higher degree of accuracy.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T10:13:04.953Z
I think this is misleading with regard to the PTFE. The design of the V6 has PTFE as a guide up to the middle of the cold side, not extending through the throat. This means that the PTFE does not need to be 'good', it simply isn't stressed.
Sean Houlihane
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T11:13:49.087Z
Also, a 300°C at 1mm diameter might demand a different (stronger) Heater block - Volcano style or even a double-heater-cartridge design might be interesting.
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-07T16:31:34.683Z
It should be mentioned that PT1000 are highly preferable to PT100, since PT1000 is a direct replacement for a NTC thermistor (after recompiling or configuring the firmware), while PT100 requires an adapter (amplifier) board to produce meaningful measurement at those temperatures.
FarO
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T06:27:10.473Z
2018-09-03T15:20:44.823Z
2020-06-18T08:29:41.667Z
Greenonline
<p>I need help with finding what properties or designs I need to look for. I know that I will need these characteristics to work with the material of my choice:  </p>

<ul>
<li>Can reach 300&nbsp;°C or up</li>
<li>Can handle nozzle size larger than 1&nbsp;mm</li>
<li>Can be used with polycarbonate filament</li>
</ul>

<p>I plan to use it in a custom RAMPS 1.4 3D printer running the Marlin firmware, in case this changes something. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-02T08:19:37.140Z
Welcome to the Stack! please take the [tour]. While the Stack as a Q&A site handles various ways to deal with problems, it is not a recommendation platform, and indeed, recommendations are something we don't deal with at all.
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-02T09:31:28.350Z
A suitable question would be _if_ a specific hotend would suit your application, or something related to the technology (such as thermistor type). This is a little bit too subjective/open to attracting spam posts.
Sean Houlihane
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T06:43:05.227Z
Rephrased question slightly, in an attempt to (hopefully) remove the fishing/shopping vibe.
Greenonline
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T11:20:51.877Z
With the rework of Greenonline and mine it is a technical question.
Trish
<extruder><diy-3d-printer><hotend>
Hot end considerations for 300+ °C and greater than 1 mm nozzle size for polycarbonate
jox
# Hot end considerations for 300+ °C and greater than 1 mm nozzle size for polycarbonate

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-09-02)

I need help with finding what properties or designs I need to look for. I know that I will need these characteristics to work with the material of my choice:

* Can reach 300 °C or up
* Can handle nozzle size larger than 1 mm
* Can be used with polycarbonate filament

I plan to use it in a custom RAMPS 1.4 3D printer running the Marlin firmware, in case this changes something.

**Tags:** extruder, diy-3d-printer, hotend

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to the Stack! please take the [tour]. While the Stack as a Q&A site handles various ways to deal with problems, it is not a recommendation platform, and indeed, recommendations are something we don't deal with at all.  
> **username_2**: A suitable question would be _if_ a specific hotend would suit your application, or something related to the technology (such as thermistor type). This is a little bit too subjective/open to attracting spam posts.  
> **username_3**: Rephrased question slightly, in an attempt to (hopefully) remove the fishing/shopping vibe.  
> **username_1**: With the rework of username_3 and mine it is a technical question.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-09-03. Score: 3

Handling a 1mm nozzle implies a desire to reduce the overall print time (otherwise why use a large nozzle), so you will need to consider not only the maximum operating temperature but also the rate at which plastic can be melted. (See also [this question](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/572) and one on overheating to [compensate](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3350))

Using 1.75mm filament is a good start, this has a better surface area to volume ratio, but you're likely to see issues with both the heater cartridge power (so a 40W heater is probably going to help), but also the size of the melt zone and the thermal mass of the heater block.

As you need to push a reasonably large amount of heat from the cartridge to the filament, it is important to minimise the thermal resistance - so using a steel nozzle would be a disadvantage here (but since polycarbonate is abrasive, you will need to consider wear resistance as part of your trade-offs). You can get longer nozzles and larger heat blocks designed to work better in high flow applications.

Also remember that your extruder needs to work 6 times faster to achieve the same linear speed compared to a 0.4mm nozzle (with at least as much pressure), so this also might need to be upgraded (or driven a little harder).

If you can however tolerate a somewhat slower print speed, you might not [need to reach 300°C](https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/why-3d-print-with-polycarbonate-how-to-get-best-results)  to print PC.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: On a side note: PC is a very abrasive material, he might want to look for a very tough nozzle, probably even with a trigonal Di-aluminium-tri-oxide crystal - the red variety of Corundum is available as far as I reckon.  
> **username_2**: I guessed that part of the question might have some significance - thanks.  
> **username_4**: @username_2 Using a large nozzle does not imply printing faster in terms of mm/sec of the head movement. Actually you should reduce the printing speed, like you already explained, the throughput of the filament is way larger which may not be kept in pace by the heater cartridge. However, the overall print may be printed faster as the layer thickness will also be larger and generally less perimeters are needed.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-09-03. Score: 2

By interpreting your question as *"Can most hotends print polycarbonate at 300°C+?"*, and taking into consideration the answers to [Can cheap hotend parts sourced from China actually produce good prints?](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4209/can-cheap-hotend-parts-sourced-from-china-actually-produce-good-prints)1, then it would seem to be safe to assume2 that most hotends can, given a few adjustments or considerations:

* Use of a PT1003 or thermocouple, en lieu of a thermistor
* Use of PTFE tubing

Taken directly from [E3D's V6 product info](https://e3d-online.com/v6):

> The V6 can comfortably reach 285°C with the supplied thermistor. By swapping a thermistor for a thermocouple (may require additional electronics) or PT100 you can reach over 400°C. This not only allows you to print extremely high temperature materials like Polycarbonate and Nylons but also eliminates HotEnd meltdown failures associated with PEEK/PTFE designs. The PTFE filament guide inside the V6 HotEnd is never subjected to high temperatures, so there is no risk of damage through overheating.

---

### Footnotes

1 The materials used by cheaper clones of the higher quality, more expensive, branded hotends are *probably* the same as those used in the branded hotends, and indeed are probably produced using the same pirated patterns/molds/casts, but with less care and quality involved. They can even be produced in *the same factory*, but are items that have failed the QA tests, and as such are not deemed to be *brandable*.

2 Although, to paraphrase a quote from a movie: Assumptions can be considered to be the mother of all *disasters*.

3 A Pt100 or Pt1000 is a Platinum RTD ([Resistance Temperature Detector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_thermometer)) with a resistance of 100 ohms at 0°C which changes with temperature. From this manufacturer's [website](https://www.processparameters.co.uk/platinum-resistance-thermometers-pt100-pt1000/):

> A Pt100 or Pt1000 is a Platinum RTD (Resistance Temperature Detector) with a resistance of 100 ohms at 0°C which changes with temperature. They are suitable for applications in the temperature range of -200°C to 600°C but are more commonly used in the range -50°C to +250°C. These temperature sensors are reliable and can offer a higher degree of accuracy.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I think this is misleading with regard to the PTFE. The design of the V6 has PTFE as a guide up to the middle of the cold side, not extending through the throat. This means that the PTFE does not need to be 'good', it simply isn't stressed.  
> **username_1**: Also, a 300°C at 1mm diameter might demand a different (stronger) Heater block - Volcano style or even a double-heater-cartridge design might be interesting.  
> **username_5**: It should be mentioned that PT1000 are highly preferable to PT100, since PT1000 is a direct replacement for a NTC thermistor (after recompiling or configuring the firmware), while PT100 requires an adapter (amplifier) board to produce meaningful measurement at those temperatures.  

---

