Absolute beginner: changing nozzle

The ACE is my first printer and I’m quite happy with it. But I guess there will come a time when I have to change the nozzle.

I’ve seen the video on YT about unclogging and replacing the nozzle, but I find it hard to believe that I’d have to dismantle so much of the print head just to change from, say, 0.4 to 0.8 for a single print job.

Is that correct?

Thanks in advance for any hints and sorry if this is a stupid question. I just don’t want to break anything.

Hi,
It depends on your problem.
If your wish is just to replace your nozzle, you just have to disassemble and reassemble it (with great care) .
If there are more problems, obstruction, gears, …, it can be much more difficult.

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You can change just the nozzle, but you have to find a safe place to hold it with a wrench/pliers
to unscrew it.

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Same situation, first printer, but I’m a long time tinkerer, so I’m cautious but not afraid to take things apart. I ordered a replacement hotend from Sovol, figuring having a spare around isn’t a bad idea, and I can see how the nozzle is supposed to seat and where it’s safe to grab, etc before I start dismantling the real thing, and if I do screw it up, I already have the part I need since they apparently take a long time to receive (my order from almost 2 weeks ago still hasn’t shipped). I can post some pics when I get to it if it’ll help.

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Hello,
Every help is welcome to this forum.

I’m also waiting for the shipment. I placed my order for a spare plate and a steel nozzle on 29.01., no movement yet.

In the meantime, I ordered a A1 Mini as backup printer, just in case. Yes, Bambu’s new policies suck, but that machine is just too cute and doesn’t take up much space.

Chinese New Year just ended/from 1/28 - 2/4 or 2/12, so orders should start shipping soon.

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What I’ve learned so far is that the printer itself doesn’t take up much space, but the stacks of filament are starting to spread out

Hi,
That’s why I have a cabinet just for the filaments

Ok, my package arrived. It let me examine the hot end and have a spare just in case. I’d also ordered a few 21mm volcano nozzles from AliEx which from my research seemed likely to work. They do work. Here’s the Sovol nozzle and a volcano next to each other:

and here’s the volcano in the hotend:

To change it, I had to take the fan off by removing one screw on each side, then I let it hang on its wires. I removed the silicone boot from the hot end and held it in a pair of pliers closing on the sides, not front-to-back, and unscrewed the nozzle. I didn’t have to heat up the hot end to get it loose, it took some tension to break free, but not a lot. I’ve printed a couple of small items after the change and it seems to be working just fine so far.

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