0.4mm UM2 Nozzle for BIQU B1

3D Printers are quite incredible machines, offering pretty incredible quality and operating for hours and hours without showing any signs of wearing down. However, if there’s one part on an active 3D Printer that certainly can wear down over time, it’s the nozzle, especially if it’s tasked to push out hundreds of meters of filament, and while it may not have a big effect on print quality at first, over time it can start to serious detriment the precision and overall quality of prints. This is why we always ensure to keep a large stock of spare 3D Printer Nozzles, with some even coming in more durable materials for longer lasting lifespans, because we know just how quickly a nozzle can actually wear down when a machine spends hundreds of hours a month (or even each week!) working hard to turn great ideas into physical things.

This tiny 0.4mm UM2 Nozzle is stocked for the awesome BIQU B1 3D Printer, and is supplied directly from BIQU to provide easy and accessible spares for Makers who like to print a lot. It is designed to the Ultimaker 2 standard, which perfectly fits the BIQU B1 of course, and its beauty lies in its simplicity and cost effectiveness, being a simple but easily replaceable part for when the previous nozzle has worn down. This way, when you start to notice reduced quality and find yourself having to drop the extrusion multiplier or fiddle with your print settings just to get the quality you’re used to normally, you can one (or even a few) of these little Nozzles to get your print quality back to the level that you’re happy with. Of course, there’s nothing too fancy about these nozzles, and they aren’t made from specialised materials or coated or plated at all, but what they do have is reliable and cost-effective accessibility, and sometimes that’s all you need to keep your 3D Printer in tip top condition and producing the prints that you love.

Quick Guide to Changing your 0.4mm UM2 Nozzle:

When swapping out 3D Printer Nozzles from other components, we recommend utilising the hot tightening technique for optimal thermal coupling. To do this, simply follow these easy steps, while being careful not to burn yourself of course.

• Unscrew the heatbreak from the heatsink by about half a turn, to be sure you are not tightening against the heatbreak in later stages.
• Heat up your hotend to 285°C, but do not overshoot as you risk damaging your thermistor.
• Remove the existing nozzle from the heater block and insert the new nozzle.
• While firmly gripping the heater block, slowly tighten the nozzle. Be careful, however, that you not apply any torque through the heatbreak, as they are fragile and relatively easy to break when loose.
• Turn off the heating unit and allow the hot side to cool.
• Finally, once the nozzle is installed and cooled down, tighten the heatbreak back into the heatsink and ensure that there are no loose parts.

The reason for this is that aluminium heater blocks have a different coefficient of thermal expansion than the materials used in the nozzles and heat breaks. This results in a small gap being created between the nozzle and the break inside the block when the hot end is at temperature, but this only happens if the nozzle has been tightened while cold.

The following is a great instructional video on how to change your nozzle without damaging your heatsink:

Although many people may not quite recognise the name, BIQU is a fantastic brand that originated as BigTreeTech, and began their journey in the 3D Printing world by creating motherboards and other electronics that were made to enhance the functionality, ease of use and overall capabilities of other 3D Printers. However, after gaining a firm popularity as some the leaders in 3D Upgrades, they have also now branched off and created BIQU, a brand dedicated to creating entire 3D Printers for hobbyists like us.

Compared to many of the brands on the market, what we particularly love about BIQU is the way that their models come fully equipped with all of the exciting BigTreeTech controller boards, stepper drivers and other awesome components that are typically installed into other 3D Printers as powerful upgrades. These include the popular SKR motherboards, the BTT TMC Drivers, BTT TFT displays and other minor (but still valuable) upgrades that are often installed on Creality 3D Printers, but since these “upgrades” come stock on BIQU 3D Printers, you can enjoy even more reliable operations and functionality due to the fact that their machines are built specifically with their own boards and components in mind. This has resulted in BIQU creating some of the leading 3D Printers on the market, which don’t need any upgrades or improvements to match the quality of leading brands, and with many of the BIQU models actually surpassing the quality and capabilities of most other Hobbyist 3D Printers on the market.

If you love the idea of upgrading 3D Printers with all kinds of fun and functional upgrades, but aren’t too interested in getting a basic model that you have to actually upgrade yourself, the BIQU range of 3D Printers is the answer, bringing excellent quality coupled with all of the current best features available to 3D Makers.