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What's the maximum layer height I can achieve on a consumer 3D Printer?
I'm using a bambulab a1 mini more specifically but I'm interested in all answers to that question.
Personally, I think the look of the extrusion can be quite nice if it's not trying to be hidden – especially with transparent PETG or something similar.
What does the concrete printer picture have to do with the post?
It's meant as a sort of satirical / funny image introducing to the question, as someone else pointed out because of the huge layer height.
The concrete printer has obviously a very high layer height. However, it's not a consumer product.
2mm nozzles do exist, and with those you can print at 1 to 1.5mm layer height. It even somehow works with 1.75mm filament.
Is it practical? Not really.
Is it cool? Definitely.
That's cool. I now found a video of a 3mm nozzle in use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO1qNjNkl-E It really has a special look. Unfortunately I don't think it will be compatible with my printer.
I haven't gotten around to testing it but I have a tool head pending assembly for this and 3mm, or actually 2.85 filament, that can often be acquired really cheap. Its a generic v6 heatsink, all metal 3mm heat break, triangle ceramic heater unit for volcano nozzle, the cht volcano stub adapter and a 3mm nozzle. I have a 3mm orbiter 1.5 but I'm pretty sold on the papilio lite and will probably end up editing the filament clearance for that in cad. I'll be testing it with 0.4 and above but it will likely be used for 0.6 or 0.8 if it works. People keep giving me 3mm filament saying "oh I heard you have 3d printers and someone didn't want this anymore and I thought of you" and hopefully I'll actually be able to use it.
The problem with this is that you need to be able to heat that larger volume of plastic in time meaning you'd have to run it really slowly, negating a lot of the time savings with using thicc layers.
Did you buy a large diameter nozzle? If yes, you'll be bound by the performance of your heating block and how much the extruder can feed in. I think a general rule of thumb is about nozzle diameter. A bit less if you want a clean print that also has acceptable layer adhesion. The standard nozzle diameter of lots of printers is 0.4mm. A recommendation I've read often is 80%, so 0.32mm layer height.
I haven't bought anything yet, it's just a project for the future. The maximum nozzle diameter I found for the printer is 0.8mm. It's probably the maximum recommended nozzle diameter for the printer...
When asking GPT – as you say – it says you'll have to go under the diameter of your nozzle: "The maximum layer height is typically 75-80% of your nozzle diameter" That means I could print with a layer height of 0,64mm. Unfortunately I think that's still too small.
I'll have to check the performance of my printer and do additional research to tell how much my printer can extrude and if I can find or produce the right nozzle for my printer (maybe I can drill a hole with a larger diameter in the nozzle?).
Thank you!
Your maximum nozzle diameter depends on your extruder. Most printers run one of a few fairly standard designs. It wouldn't surprise me if there are larger diameter nozzles made for your extruder, but they're not marketed for your printer.
I wouldn't drill a hole. Just buy a set of cheap brass nozzles from Aliexpress or Amazon. They are cheap and available in different sizes or as an assortment of sizes to try. But you have to check if it fits your printer. Afaik there are different styles and lengths of the screw thread that goes inside of the heating block.
You can slow it down if your printer isn't made for this. If you print fast, it has to push through lots of filament through that larger nozzle and heat up lots of it. If you slow down print speed, the flow is less and it might have enough time to keep up.
Since you like that concrete printer: I don't think it has a huge layer height. Judging by the width of those two walls it is printing, I'd say there could be a similar ratio of nozzle diameter and layer height.
If your nozzle is a bit flat at the bottom and not overly pointy, you can print wider walls than the nozzle diameter. It'll squirt out to the sides. Maybe the result looks something like the concrete printer does. Maybe you can combine that with more height, too since it then not lays down a thin line, but it oozes to the sides and that might help with adhesion. I'd try it, worst thing is it doesn't adhere properly to the layer beneath, or lots of molten plastic accumulates at your nozzle and makes a mess.
I'd pay attention to two things: The hotend temperature. If it isn't steady anymore, it struggles with heating the increased amount of filament you're pushing through. Secondly your extruder motor. If it get's hot to the touch, it has to work too hard.
https://dirkvanderkooij.nl/chubby
Chubby is possible but not without designing your own process/machines
This exact reference made me want to print in huge layers since years. But I only got a 3D printer this year. It's the first step ^^ Will see if it's worth it for me to go this far. For now I want something more practical just to try out different things.
You can print any layer height that your nozzle allows, but on a 1.75mm filament I think 2mm nozzle is the max you can do (haven't seen bigger nozzles) At some point when your layers and prints get too big, you want to look at hotends that use pellets.