BCN3D Hotend X

Compatible with Epsilon W50 and Epsilon W27.

BCN3D Hotend X with a nozzle of 0.6mm is made from a special alloy of tool steel and opens up a whole new world of industrial applications. When paired with the BCN3D Epsilon, it allows you to print with fiber-filled materials, so you can print stiffer parts for the most demanding jobs. This hotend is immensely hard, but also maintains its hardness to high temperatures without softening.

The Hotend X is only compatible with Epsilon W50 and Epsilon W27. It is the right hotend to print with BCN3D fiber-filled materials PP GF30, PAHT CF15 and PET CF15.

The standard hotends use brass nozzles, these were designed to be used with soft filaments like PLA, ABS, PP, etc. But nowadays the 3d printing industry request other materials with new properties, that’s why the fiber materials have come to stay.

The downside? These materials are much more abrasive, they literally act like metal files when are extruded thought the nozzle. As you will see, it is not necessary to print many meters of these filaments to start causing irreparable damage to your brass hotends.

These pictures were taken after printing just 250gr of carbon fiber filled filament, using a brand new brass 0.4mm nozzle. You can compare the wear of the hotend X after printing 2.5 kg of various carbon filled materials, and glass filled materials too “right side hotend”. Ten times the amount of material (250g) that the brass nozzle on the left has printed.

The pictures are self-explanatory, the tip of the brass nozzle has worn down making the nozzle shorter in overall length, causing, for sure, calibration issues. The tip of the nozzle has also been rounded over into a dome shape due to abrasion.

E3D has carefully selected the steel to produce the hotend X and has included a combination of thermal and chemical treatments on the post-processing, creating an extremely hard and wear resistant nozzle.

To further increase the hardness and smoothness the nozzle X is plated with slick nickel. Then, the entire nozzle receives a ‘polyphobic’ nano-coating which prevents polymer adhering to the nozzle surface.

• Less build up, particularly of sticky and filled materials to the nozzle cone.
• Improved first layer reliability; the slick coating has a reduced tendency to ‘drag’ material, particularly at sharp corners where tracks can peel up.
• Slicker, smooth top solid layers with a glassy like finish as a result of the smooth laydown of material.
• Easier nozzle cleaning, what little material that does adhere is easily wiped away with a paper towel leaving a very clean nozzle.

It’s possible to get the same benefits using jewel tip nozzles, but this kind of nozzles restricts the flow due to an internal ‘step’ in the polymer flow path. This causes poor flow response, high back-pressure, and starvation of extrusion.

Hotend X tips are machined in one single piece providing a fantastic flow response and keeps exactly the same geometry and compatibility as the rest of the BCN3D hotends.