Changing from 0.4mm Nozzle to 0.6mm

I have a big print (for me) I want to do, and I decided to use a 0.6mm nozzle to increase the speed and make the print stronger.

The print is a Lithophane lamp model of the Moon on Thingiverse by humphrey_b52. It is going to take around 29 hours to print.

I changed the original brass 0.4mm nozzle on my Prusa Mini+ to a stainless steel 0.6mm nozzle. Before I set the Moon print off, I wanted to test the eSun eMarble PLA. What better way to try than a benchy?

The initial print came loose after around 15 minutes. I had cleaned the bed before printing, so I increased the temperature to 65C. The model was printed without any further adhesion issues.

Mable PLA Benchy
The completed model.

Apart from stringing, a minor issue, there was a problem with the stern verticle hole.

Hole in the model at the stern
A hole appeared on one side.

I can only assume this was because the wall was single in this part of the model. I expect printing a larger version would solve this issue.

The Prusa Slicer model

I was happy with the print with the new nozzle size. The difference is hardly noticeable compared to the previous version of the benchy, which was at a finer layer thickness.

Bridging was similar on the forward cabin window.

The roof and chimney of the 0.5mm nozzle|
This was printed at 0.15mm layer height.
The roof and chimney of the 0.6mm nozzle|
It was printed at 0.2mm layer height.

You can see slight shrinkage in the first part of the model. This is because I compared it to an old model of the benchy printed on a different printer.

The bow deformation.
The yellow benchy was from a print on my original printer, a Wanhao i3 Duplicator Plus.

It is noticeable compared to the 0.4mm version at 0.15 layer height.

Comparison between the 0.6 mm/0.2mm layer version and the 0.4mm/0.15mm print.

It isn’t easy to see the difference between the three prints without looking closely.

All three benchy models.

The print time was approximately 10% quicker with the 0.6mm nozzle. The theory is the larger nozzle also increases the strength of the prints. I will have to try my 0.8mm nozzle next.