The Highly Ridiculous Over-Engineering of the Diamondback Nozzle

2500 degrees, a million PSI, and 1000 glorious American miles.
Upgrade your printer with a Diamondback! bit.ly/3KzBAdT
Support the channel! / zackfreedman
Or support us and get cool prints! thangs.com/zackfreedman
Join my lovely maker/hacker community: / discord
This whole experience was something else. Unbelievable scenery, incredible science, friendly folks, and one hell of a printer upgrade. Because of the sheer density of high-value secrets meandering into frame, this video was subject to deeper scrutiny by the sponsor, Diamondback aka ChampionX. I allowed them to redact visuals and specific words, but they were not otherwise permitted to modify or influence any other part of my script. They were pretty good sports all things considered.
Timetable:
00:00-02:56 Intro
02:56-04:12 Factory Tour
04:12-06:32 Why Diamonds Rule
06:32-08:31 The Ultimate Press
08:31-10:32 Power of Polycrystalline
10:32-14:53 How It's Made: Diamondback Nozzles
14:53-17:27 Agile Corporate Synergy
17:27-22:06 Designing the Diamondback
22:06-25:53 Thankies
Credits:
Interference SFX: Partners in Rhyme
Other SFX: www.zapsplat.com
*It was a 1000 mile round trip. The way home was equally glorious but denouements are for hacks.

[@ZackFreedman]

It has been brought to my attention that diamond is, in fact, the hardest metal: knowyourmeme.com/memes/diamond-the-hardest-metal

[@aaronjennings8385]

Duhz.

[@Slavicplayer251]

i wanna snort the diamond flour

[@DShockGames]

One question if you can ask them ... can they make a wedding ring ? I just want the band from the ring and if they can make it that can make it more special then gold .

[@robodestro]

yeah that post was 15 years ago mate, lrn2science

[@sparshjain53]

Why you so cool bruh :(

[@marsrover001]

$95 might be steep, but considering it's the last one you'll ever have to buy it's a fair price

[@sallynovember]

I agree but I worry what would happen if it clogs and is ruined? Could it be cleaned beyond just stabbing it with needles?

[@Karavusk]

@@sallynovember it has insanely low friction which means nothing sticks to it. Your clog could easily be cleared with a needle or cold pull.

[@padrescout]

No, it's not. I've replaced my nozzles twice in two years. So Ive spent roughly 2 dollars on nozzles. I plan to buy a new printer next year which will use a different nozzle. Explain to me how buying a 100 dollar nozzle would be anything but a huge waste of money.

[@spheroid-collective]

​@@padrescoutbecause sometimes people aren't God's of printing, or they need to print difficult materials

[@realgoose]

@@padrescoutwhat filament are you printing with? With abrasive filaments printing with consistent volumes - prosumer to commercial - you should be replacing nozzles pretty consistently. This makes a lot of sense for printing farms. One less part to worry about is worth a lot.

[@fableagain]

The fact that the 3d printing lab _in the factory itself_ has never had to replace a diamond nozzle is... Pretty amazing lmao

[@Cavi587]

Yeah, the best innovations come from an actual need. If a company is confident enough to use their own product, I'm sold.

[@austinwhydoyouwanttoknow5762]

If a company is industrially using their product almost everyday for a year and a half and not needing to replace one, I won't need to replace it either, good investment

[@nfg_racing7968]

I looked at the price and seen $95 buck and then heard them say that haven't changed one and they go through 20 rolls of filament a week i figured i will probably never have to change one so 95 dollars is probably worth it

[@defenestrated23]

I worked at a warehouse with the opposite mentality. There was a data entry and label printing cart. The printer spat the labels onto the ground, due to lack of space on the cart. You could either use one hand to catch, one hand to enter numbers (slow), or poop out several in a row, bend over and pick them up (messy, dusty, RSI). On my lunch break one day, I took cardboard from the recycling, and packing tape, and made a simple catch tray to receive the labels. My manager sees it and wigs out, nearly yelling at me, says it's "stealing company resources (free cardboard and $0.10 in tape)" and demands I destroy it. That guy was the nadir of middle-management in so many ways.

[@Celciusify]

Where I work we've started the Lean process 5 times since I started there 3 years ago, it usually lasts a week or so until management gets bored with it and nothing happens. The worst part is that I've been educated on how to implement Lean into companies, and I've brought this up every time, one time bringing my "diploma". The most recent time I was put on the "working group", (progress!!!) and the day after I heard that the day shift (I work evenings) had complained loudly that the evening shift shouldn't interfere with the Lean process.... I was then excluded... And nothing the working group has proposed has been put into practice because management don't allow us workers to stop and work on it regardless. Edit: and management want the shifts to "compete" with one another to boost production. Usually just ends with passive aggressivenes and retaliation if something is brought up. Exactly like it's intended to work!

[@ge2719]

did you ever ask him why hes such an asshole?

[@squidcaps4308]

Perfect example of a bad boss. Instead of fixing the problem they blame the worker for fixing it. I can bet they were also vindictive...

[@dancooperish]

As a lean six sigma guy, these stories hurt. These are just stories of disrespect 😢

[@aaronjennings8385]

Sociopaths make the best management. Lulz.

[@justinhoschouer7671]

I worked at this company for 10 years. I stopped working there 3 years ago and it's crazy to see how many new tools they had in that video that I had never seen. Also it's a great company dedicated to high quality products.

[@nikkolaus]

I guess the biggest question we're forced to ask then is -- why did you leave?

[@ly2]

@@nikkolaus ikr

[@StuffandThings_]

You know, first I wanted one of these nozzles with your original video, but now I want to work for that company. Finally, a business that isn't just plain old dystopian. Sintered diamonds are a really cool material too.

[@milokiss8276]

That is exactly what I was thinking- The work environment seems great, Leagues above most production lines. I’m sure they too have their skeletons in the closet, Everyone does, But I really, REALLY would not mind coming in and clocking a few hours for nozzle measurements.

[@nullexxx]

Been using diamondback nozzles for a little over a year. They're great. Super cool and informative video, had no idea about pretty much any of this. I did have an issue with my mk8 DB nozzle, but I contacted support and they replaced it SUPER FAST. Again, they're great! edit: the issue I had was when I went to change my heatblock, the nozzle's threads had pretty much welded themselves to the aluminum heatblock (or vice versa, idk). So the threads on the nozzle wouldnt screw in to the new heatblock. DB support sent me a replacement nozzle and I had it within like 2 business days.

[@deelowe3]

I've heard tungsten is better because the diamond back still has parts that are brass that will eventually wear towards the upper part of the nozzle. Is this true? I just bought one to print CF Nylon and hearing this has me concerned that I might need still need to remove the nozzle to check for wear, which I was hoping would not be the case.

[@thomasrogers8239]

​@@deelowe3so in the video he actually explains this: the wear of these abrasive filaments is the tip scraping across the already printed plastic. You should not have issues printing anything abrasive with a diamond back.

[@conorstewart2214]

@@deelowe3 most wear is not the molten filament moving through the nozzle, he mentions that in the video and other people have done testing too with copper or brass CHT inserts in hardened nozzles. The inside of the nozzle doesn’t really wear and neither do the copper or brass inserts, the filament is molten at that point which makes it pretty much non abrasive, the problems come when the filament is solid, like in Bowden tubes or dry boxes, before it gets melted, where the filament is solid and abrasive and after it has been printed and has cooled, again where it is solid and abrasive. If you think about how it wears, wear requires a force to push the abrasive carbon fibre against what it is wearing, like Zach explains, there just isn’t that force when it is molten, the carbon fibres are just pushed through the molten plastic and the molten plastic isn’t viscous enough to create a strong enough force for abrasion to happen. When the plastic is solid though it absolutely can create a force that is enough for abrasion. One point in the nozzle itself when abrasion could happen is when the molten filament is getting restricted and squeezed from its original diameter down to the nozzle diameter, the forces there when it squeezes could be enough to cause minor wear, but again it wouldn’t be much and in the diamondback that section is diamond too, the diamond does both the restriction and squeezing and the contact with the printed piece so covers the major cause of abrasion and a minor cause of abrasion and other than those two causes there shouldn’t be much other abrasion.

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

​@@deelowe3As far as I'm aware the key advantage of solid tungsten carbide nozzles over these tipped brass nozzles is that brass itself can't handle the temperatures to print ultra high performance polymers like PEEK and PEI.

[@ballbous]

@@deelowe3 The majority of the wear is on the tip but the other surfaces will wear out eventually, normally it isn't worth worrying about but considering the fact that stainless steel heatbreaks do wear out from abrasion it's inevitable the surfaces within the nozzle will too. If you're occasionally printing abrasives; diamondback is probably going to outlive you but if you're going through 10kg of abrasives every week then you'd be better off trying to track down a bozzle or waiting for deez to come out. ("deez" is another TC nozzle with high-flow geometry)

[@QualityDoggo]

The fact they've never worn out their nozzle during internal use is possibly the most compelling argument I've heard in favor of getting one... amazing stuff!

[@Gowaduv]

I love my diamondback nozzles even more now. I'm one of the folks who bought mine after your last video and everytime I watch my printer squeeze plastic onto glass I'm in awe of how smooth the layer looks. The finished parts are better looking and better bonded than with any other nozzle I've tried.

[@thezfunk]

Did you lower your print temps? Or adjust in any way?

[@Gowaduv]

@@thezfunk I left my print temps the same as before switching but increased speed slightly. I typically print on a cr-10s so it's not a rocket sled, but any extra mm/s base speed is noticeable

[@WinderTP]

ok but that HUGE enter button is such a great thing, a sign of how a company just let the on-the-ground workers improve their own working environments because they know the workers understand their environment best. Also I bet it's very satisfying to hit

[@SlurmDude]

The real question is: does hitting the big red button ten times a day make the big red button any less exciting? Why are we even curing cancer, there's more important science to be done

[@OCDRex11]

I bought my Ruby like 5 years ago and it has never left my machine. Done probably 200 spools and 25% of that is CF Nylon and PLA. Prints the same as it did on day one. Been worth every penny. I print anything I want and have never worried. The Ruby was the top of the line 5/6 years ago and was the obvious purchase. This would be the obvious purchase now. Price is fair too. Great video!

[@deelowe3]

I hear tungsten is better

[@ballbous]

​@@deelowe3A solid TC nozzle will outlast a diamondback/ruby nozzle; but it only really matters if you're printing a lot of abrasives. Bozzle likely gives better flow than diamondback though, and given it will outlive it for a similar price it does seem a better choice.

[@sasca854]

@@ballbous TC is personally my pick as well, as they allow for creative internal geometries (like the Bozzle, which is exactly what I use on my VCore) and you can blow torch them red-hot to vaporize buildup and clogs (you definitely cannot do this on a diamondback). But they're not perfect. They tend to loosen in aluminum heater blocks, so you have to use a block made of something with a lower coefficient of thermal expansion, usually copper (I use a Goliath which is copper, haven't had any issues yet). The neck of a diamondback is just brass, so it will work as-is in any type of block without issue. Also, tungsten carbide is not as hard as polycrystalline diamond, and it has twice the coefficient of friction. In the 3D printing use case, the difference is largely superfluous--at least for now--which is why I use TC. But I can certainly see certain applications (especially in the coming years where even more harshly abrasive additives begin to make their way into 3D printing filaments) where a diamondback might be the right choice.

[@viru52000]

@@ballbous except the Bozzle only comes in one size and hasn't been available for months. Diamondback should outlast even TC as TC is only an 8 vs the 10 of diamond on the hardness scale. Not to mention the nonstick properties. The advantage of a TC nozzle is being able to burn out a clog.

[@avelkm]

He mentioned that one big advantage of PCD over TC is that TC is brittle, so smashing incidents might kill it. Haven't used either nozzle, but I have smashed nozzle on the bed few times. Also I work with TC cutting tools on the lathe, one wrong move and they chip off. They are also pretty fast to dull when cutting abrasive wood or even plain old epoxy (not as fast as HSS of course but they loose factory sharpness much faster than I like and are not as sharp from beginning being sintered ceramics). I would easily pay $200 for the PCD insert of right geometry for cutting wood that I would never need to sharpen or change.

[@SeanCMonahan]

I feel like a shill, but honestly the Diamondback 0.4 I bought a year and a half ago has made such a difference in my printing experience. It dropped temps, allowed me to crank up to crazy speeds without the temperature drooping, let me perfect each filament's parameters. I'm able to print TPU (on an otherwise stock Ender 3 V2, running Klipper) at 40 mm/s with 1200 mm/s/s acceleration. Also, the non-stickiness of the flat surface of the nozzle allows me to get crystal clear top surfaces when I enable ironing. Clear PETG that looks like glass. 😙👌

[@zumuvtuber]

This was such a cool behind-the-scenes! Thanks for showing us the process, those huge hydraulic presses are amazing.

[@styxwessel5930]

This is such a great example of a modern company making modern products. True ideal American spirit. Without all the killing and exploitism. Also SO angry, I pre-ordered my opensauce tickets on day 1 to go see you specifically, and then a month or two later I was scheduled for a month long job training course in Seattle that started the day before. Next time, Freedman.. next time.....

[@egeist5793]

Ideal American spirit with Japanese management techniques🤭 Unlucky with the work timing. Good luck next time 😊

[@Vaeldarg]

@@egeist5793 You say that as if incorporating the best parts of other cultures isn't part of the "American spirit".

[@DK-casa]

@@Vaeldarg It's not. The true american spirit is to try to combine as much stuff from other cultures in a slurry we call "American" without stopping to think if it is good (cough cough imperial system and fahrenheit cough) and be over-protective over, plus slapping the flag and some eagles on it (/joking) Companies like this are outliers in America; the majority of everything is hyper-capitalist and terrible for those working (as other comments on this video will tell you) as well as the for environment (from what I can tell). I was a little surprised that this was actually in America (as an american) because some other countries seem to prioritize doing things the right way instead of the cheap and lazy way like America. It may be the american spirit (hope) to have things be the ideal and everything is happy and efficient for everyone, but that sure as heck isn't reality.

[@SkylerLinux]

Honestly one of the funniest things when watching a Good Host have to talk about something they really enjoy or always wanted to do/see, and them going "I swear I'm not just a shill, I'm really impressed or excited" . I love seeing this, and I'm glad there are decent manufacturers out there making decent products.

[@emeralddiscordian3116]

He scammed them! Lol

[@scottymcm]

This was a really cool video. I really think it's crazy that there are still cool companies like this in the U.S.

[@johnalogue9832]

I know, right? Wish there were many more.

[@raddaks2039]

Behind the scenes factory tours are always cool! Thanks for doing this, and thanks diamondback for being so open to it.

[@ThePiprian]

I'm guessing they don't expect competitors to have the machinery required to copy their product.

[@droppedpasta]

“Oops! All Carbon” 😂 I’ve worked places that thought they were doing The Toyota Way because they had cleaning stations and signal towers. Nice to see it done correctly

[@Shin_Lona]

Goodfellas Laughing Meme "I told them LEAN was an acronym!"

[@iso_2013]

I worked at US Synthetic! So cool to see a tour of my old workplace on such an awesome channel

[@stevemont7022]

Biggest win in my opinion is removing nozzle wear from diagnoses FOREVER. Like having nozzles wear out is annoying but cheap, but wondering IF the nozzle is specifically the problem is annoying and expensive in time-ey ways. I dont think many 3d printing upgrades virtually remove a potential diagnosis altogether

[@hazonku]

The best products are always the ones born as in house solutions to in house problems. You know it's good because it's not even close to being their main product. That one sale may be the only interaction they have with a customer so with that perspective charging $95 for a nozzle that's so tough it could literally end up being a family heirloom is honestly ridiculously cool of them. Even cooler is the access they gave you and how you shined bright like a diamond in telling this story. Great job, Zack!

[@michaelhooper9576]

I bought one, not because I saw your episode, I’m new here. I absolutely love it, and now the price point is explained. You should do more of these types of videos. How do they make carbon fiber filament??

[@MaxHackbarth]

I don't know the exact way they make carbon fiber filament but my guess would be that they take normal carbon fiber, grind it up into a super fine powder, then chuck it into a bowl of plastic pellets and melt it in with the pellets.

[@EdRopple]

@@MaxHackbarthThe better stuff is generally not ground but chopped, to make longer strands that can somewhat self-assemble in the plastic medium--but otherwise, yeah. It's not much to look at.

[@MaxHackbarth]

@@EdRopple Thanks for the correction, I thought I invented longer strands during a thought experiment. Turns out I still have yet to do so!

[@lucaswinter9515]

This is actually nudging me towards buying my first 3D printer sooner rather than later. This is truly a world class product from a very inspiring company. Thanks for the peek behind the curtain!

[@SlurmDude]

Bit of first hand advice, dont get too excited. Its a fair amount of work and time to keep it running, and from experience, the minute something goes wrong that you dont know what to do, the printer will sit idle for a month or two. You go through cycles of a month printing 24/7, then 3 months discouraged and not printing. Then one day you'll go "i miss my printer" and spend 6 hours getting it up and running again. If you arent willing to do this cycle, 3d printing is not ready for you yet. And thats not even mentioning when the printer IS working and you just dont have anything worth the plastic to print! Youll beg family members to get on thangs, thingiverse, anything, just to keep the printer running. And then you'll quickly learn they wont look at more than 3 models before deciding to get on facebook and forget about printing entirely.

[@AzaB2C]

Neat! Printing polycrystaline diamonds was on my weekend to-do list. Need a new heatsink for my AI rig.

[@Elmojomo]

Whenever they get around to making one that works with the Bambu printers, they'll really have something special. I'm sure it's in the works.

[@dcferris61]

At 16:24 the show a bambu printer, the guy said that all their printers are using their nozzles. 🫣

[@annekedebruyn7797]

I wonder how much worth this is over a 30 dollar hardened steel nozzle. You'd have to be constantly print very narly plastic to make it worth it because (coated) hardened steel nozzles will also pretty much last you until the lifetime of your printer if all you do is ASA, ABS, non special PLA(+), PETG and even Nylon to a point (as you aren't allowed to go above 300c with the diamondback nozzle.) Still looks like a fantastic product even tho it's probably not for me. Great job everyone at Diamondback!

[@Daepilin]

hardened steel is pretty annoying the the worse heat conductivity, though. Tungsten does not have that issue, but classic hardened always needs a few more degrees and still cost a bit of flow (for me)

[@crabsnake4556]

Either That Dude Was Giant Or You're Short

[@-aexc-]

it's probably both

[@hahasasquatchvods5125]

Probably

[@jaysonbunnell8097]

He’s short. Met him at opensauce. Super fun playing hextraction!!

[@styxwessel5930]

I think every person working there was a giant, Zach couldn't be short...

[@nickybeingnicky]

Totally thought Zach was 6ft+

[@edgarcornette6387]

Damn that was awesome ... I am going to buy some nozzles for all my printers .. for 2 reasons.. 1. They are a hell of a deal and everyone that i talked to that has one loves it. 2. This company treats its employee's better then any company I have seen or known about. They really do care .. so that should be rewarded and shouted from the roof tops. You cant beat that .. They make products , make a profit , and care about and respect there workers. whats not to love !!!!

[@scottschmidt8835]

❤ Thank You

[@stevenburton9206]

True story right here!

[@justinhoschouer7671]

I worked there for 10 years their training is top notch and they care about their employees its a great company with a great product.

[@nddragoon]

no way, a company actually listening to the people doing the work

[@orange-micro-fiber9740]

That company sounds like a dream to work for. I work in manufacturing and I've never seen kanban and kaizen last more than a couple months. I'm so jealous!

[@vanguard6937]

For real, unfortunately "corporate kaizen" has overtaken for the sake of the bottom line and nothing else, whereas this is for the people and then process

[@cineblazer]

This is my first time stumbling across this channel. I'm very impressed! Your enthusiasm and humor are both wonderful, and the video easily kept my attention the entire time.

[@jakobhansen1396]

You're in for an awesome ride, pace yourself in the binge watching though or you'll end up talking like Zack for weeks

[@emilcost8613]

As a self appointed video quality control engineer, I rate this video no less than 100 percent. I was captivated by the information relayed and the incredible editing involved in producing such an outstanding educational presentation. After watching, I was glad I spent the 26 minutes enriching my brain. Great job.

[@yourt00bz]

This company deserves a bigger documentary on organisation and 3d printing

[@jdl3408]

A fascinating highlight of innovation and efficiency! Wonderful to see this kind of manufacturing happening in the US. I’ll be buying at least one of their products after seeing this. Also, complements on your story telling and explanations!

[@SassyPants34]

Engineer - "Can't get sand in the bearing it's an abrasive" Diamonds - "Hold my beer": Sand is now a lubricant. Sand - Surprise Pikachu Face...

[@ericlotze7724]

5:57 - 6:02 The jokes (and video they are in) are absolutely AMAZING as usual💀

[@radical_ans]

I took a train ride through that part of the Rockies a few years back. Breathtaking views. The best part was any time we passed folks rafting on the Colorado river they would inevitably moon the train. Apparently it's a tradition out there. It was pretty hilarious.

[@samuelbaldwin2184]

Amazing video, this one was on another level. Great editing and i loved to hear the staff talk about their product and show their pride.

[@DaveEtchells]

Awesome vid, I love BTS factory tours like this. They’re hella expensive, but I’m actually surprised they can make the, that cheaply. I’m also amazed by how large the starting pellet is, that seems like a heck of a lot of polycrystalline diamond to have t9 grind away for each nozzle. (Also super-interesting about the diamond bearings that just grind up sand and use it for lubricant 😮 Amazing stuff!) ==> They said they use their nozzles on every one of their printers, and … I noticed a BambuLab X1C in one of the shots, so when are they doing to start selling nozzles for the X1C?

[@scottschmidt8835]

Couple of months!

[@stevenburton9206]

WOOT WOOT!@@scottschmidt8835

[@corb805]

It seems that they can get multiple tips from the pellet now because they said that it was only one nozzle per pellet, past tense

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

They're not an ideal solution but you can get adaptors to use standard V6 nozzles in the X1C

[@reprinted3D]

Do you work for ChampionX? If so, need any beta renters for the Bambu version? I'm about 30 minutes "up the street" in Taylorsville if you do.😊

[@RainyCobra]

Bought one of these a year ago and it hasn't skipped a beat, love it so much. No more worrying about glow in the dark filament anymore

[@shayes.x]

Maybe I'm just gullible but it feels good to hear about a company that doesn't cut corners, cares about and uses their own product, and is making some kind of positive impact on a market.

[@Norantio]

These nozzles are game changing. Best investment I've made for my printer(s) by far.

[@quadlazer]

This might be the coolest company I’ve ever seen. 3D printed tools department? Training stock car? Factory floor WMRPG?! (That’s a wall-mounted RPG)

[@jz6373]

I can’t wait for the Diamondback for Bambu!! I don’t have any of the printers they support right now, but tell them I would have bought one immediately!

[@tcrenegade]

Wow! This video was so exciting and everything about that company is so impressive. Seriously blown away. Awesome video Zack!

[@Daepilin]

unfortunately still no european reseller -.- would love one of those...

[@signalrk]

I bought a .6 diamondback after I saw your review so I could print polycarbonates and carbon fiber through my highly upgraded ender 5. This nozzle made the system bulletproof and improved all printing with all filaments. It’s properties are everything I hoped for and needed in a nozzle. After this video I’ll be buying the .4 diamondback nozzle for non fiber filaments. Thank you Zack and Brook for bringing this amazing product and company to our attention! Chefs kiss. Mmwahh!

[@dekurvajo]

You mean .4 is too small for fiber filaments?

[@MsFactnotfiction]

Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD) used in cutting tools inserts on machining shops. Its a wonder material

[@watcherofvideoswasteroftim5788]

Dude I appreciate this video so much! Very entertaining and informative as always

[@Omikronik]

This was awesome. I wish they could make one for bambu printers

[@jake_bytheocean]

there was at least one x1 carbon in their 3d printing lab. and apparently they use their nozzles on all their printers. hmm...

[@3DMusketeers]

Great video on the diamond nozzles! Incredibly informative and I can only imagine what is behind all those blurs, obviously it is "anime" Marc and Harris are great guys, glad to see them in the video!

[@eponinesg]

While we were there we all talked about how we like you!

[@davegorski5204]

Such a timely video! after watching your first video, I FINALLY ordered my DB nozzle earlier this week from amazon, and it showed up one day later. Really cool to hear them say they are made to order!

[@DigitalJedi]

I love these guys so much. I bought one of each size they sell for a volcano setup after getting to tour their factory myself. They didn't make these when I was visiting, but knowing the people behind it I knew what I was getting was going to be super high quality. Why do I own one of each? They're for a maker space that has 3 of my printers residing in it. Is $500 a lot of money? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. The maker space will never replace a nozzle and we can run almost any filament you can bring in or that we have. I can't put a price on seeing local STEM teams and clubs making things. That's how I got into engineering and I want to make it even better for these kids so they can do the same.

[@thecarbonprop]

I wish they could have a third party make a Bambu Labs X1C compatible nozzle. I think the premium price would be well worth it.

[@scottschmidt8835]

Coming soon!

[@thecarbonprop]

@@scottschmidt8835 no way! That’s great news! Bring on the carbon fibre baby!

[@Kumquat_Lord]

​@@scottschmidt8835will there be one for the Flashforge creator pro 2?

[@sixt33n]

My only problem with this is that you cant exceed 300c with the brass nozzle. Brass softens at 300c and trying to go higher than that when printing fast will soften, then good luck removing it without breaking the nozzle inside. I broke mine that way.

[@dekurvajo]

Even the cheapest brass alloy not softening at 300 Celsius. I think you talking about thermal expansion maybe?

[@Maleboligia]

This is an amazing company and thank you for an amazing video. Seeing the way the company is organized is very impressive.

[@Cwayne1989]

That company seems amazing. When I get the extra money I'm definitely getting one of these. They deserve the support for being masters of their craft.

[@yappingboy]

I wonder if there would be any value added in having a CHT version on their nozzle

[@applepiesapricots3109]

I was thinking just this! I would pay $30, hell maybe even $50 more for a CHT version. Since the pressed insert knockoff CHTs basically perform the same, it shouldn't be that difficult for diamondback to introduce the product.

[@minitalon]

@@applepiesapricots3109 agreed hopefully soon

[@theofficialczex1708]

​@@applepiesapricots3109Check out the Bozzle by rentablesocks. It's a multi-bore tungsten-carbide nozzle with similar performance to the Bondtech CHT and excellent abrasive resistance.

[@DL-fy5yr]

I am absolutely amazed at the attention to detail and the almost overwhelming urgonomic considerations in this facility!!! I work at the IRS, and it seems like getting a pack of staples takes 3 weeks too long... I do still love my job, but these guys clearly LOVE their job.

[@extectic]

As soon as they do a deal with E3D and make a Revo variant with a diamond tip, I'll buy a whole set from small to large, no question.

[@filanfyretracker]

Now there is a Revo Diamondback but I warn its not cheap. though I would imagine its the last revo nozzle you would ever need.

[@brucemilyko8549]

I would love it if they made a diamondback nozzle for a Bambu printer.

[@UKCM]

Will never happen ... Even IF you could fit a DB to Bambu, you would have to hack into the firmware to enable you to do a PID Tune of the nozzle And Bambu won't sell their printer with a DB because it is not financially beneficial It's the same reason you can't fit a High-Flow onto a Bambu

[@SeraphimKnight]

A genuinely good company staffed by people that love their job making a great product... Holy shit, you've found a unicorn. A DIAMOND unicorn!

[@reptilianbrother5618]

This is the first time I see one of your videos and I gotta say, your funny and informative way of narrating and presenting is really fun to watch. Great video and thank you for making it!

[@myuzu_]

Wonderful episode, always love to see factory tours that also touch on the business processes.

[@ET_AYY_LMAO]

Jsut want to say that I have experienced the bore of the nozzle to expand with prolonged use of brass nozzles... I ran a nozzle for almost two years and put kilometers of PLA and PETG filament through it and I finally began to have print and quality issues. I recall it expanded to like 130% of the original diameter, pretty significant.

[@squidcaps4308]

If you use abrasive filaments, you may have to switch at half a kilo... There are also different hardness of brass, price tends to reflect how poor material is used; they are easier and faster to make.

[@ET_AYY_LMAO]

@@squidcaps4308 Maybe, it was original E3D nozzle. That came with a Prusa MK3s+, it just ran more or less perfectly so I didnt bother to swap out the nozzle, then I began to have quality issues but it didn't really matter much for most of my prints so I just continued using it until I finally had problems. Most abrasive stuff I used in it was probably a few rolls of silky textured filament.

[@dereksauer8108]

I used PCD cutting tools every day and they're the cadillac of my industry. MDF and particle board are extremely abrasive (well the gritty contaminants in them really) and will wear out even solid carbide tools relatively quickly. PCD tools last forever and are absolutely worth the cost when you have high volume tasks or lots of buried cut profiles. Chuck in one tool and run it for thousands of parts without stopping.

[@avelkm]

Hey, I'm a woodturner and work with abrasive wood too. Woodturning community learned to utilize carbide inserts made for helical planer heads for turning tools. Do you think it's possible to do the same with PCD, take some existing cutter insert and use it on a lathe tool? Few hours of research not showing much, most of them are for metal lathe and have very different geometry. In our application we defo need less than 90° included angle on a cutting edge. Please write if you have any idea what I should be googling for

[@dereksauer8108]

@@avelkm I spoke with our tool reps a few months ago about this very topic and they were more confused than interested. The idea of PCD insert tooling seems like something that never crossed their minds which is wild since its fairly common in metals manufacturing. I can say for the Canadian market Dimar and Peak Tools don't sell them and if they don't, they probably don't exist, unfortunately. I wouldn't be surprised if any industrial tool vendor in your area that sells PCD tooling would be happy to make diamond cutters to your dimensions and mount them on any support you like but that's going to cost quite a bit. That's what we do and it involves a cost analysis each time. If you have particular shapes you produce in large quantities it may be worth investigating. As long as you don't drop them they pretty much don't wear out even after thousands of miles of cutting. The worst they need is a little lapping to restore the edge to new. The PCD tools we use are mostly form cutters made to order from our tooling vendors for high volume jobs where the customer wants, for example, a few thousand cabinet doors with the same edge profile. Its worth it for us to buy (bill the customer) one tool and never have to change it for the entirety of the job and then it gets tagged and stored in a locker for future business. Happens all the time that a customer comes back for another batch and we can deliver the exact same part again because we still have the same tool that hasn't worn at all. Our day to day work is done with the same old carbide inserts and solid carbide tools everyone else uses. Here's an example of a PCD form cutter we use in our shop: i.imgur.com/sTaQcya.jpg Its probably made well over 10000 parts over the past five years and is on its way back to the vendor to get that chip on the corner lapped out then back to work. That's one of the downsides of PCD, its brittle. It will slice through a steel bolt hidden in a panel of cheap particleboard without even noticing but you tap it into the side of another tool holder while swapping it in the tool changer and it shatters. That tool cost about $300 CAD which for the amount of work its done, the cost of getting it made was a no brainer.

[@avelkm]

Thanks for the reply. Nah, an insert for handheld tool (I was not clear enough, I meant traditional wood lathe) should not be brittle, incidents bound to happen. I was basing my interest on the claim in a video that their process gives non-brittle PCD, so the idea to always have factory sharp instrument was kinda amazing. Planer head carbide inserts are good, but they loose sharpness fairly quickly and under a microscope I can see that it's degrading by chipping off the edge. I have found today a few tools that have similar shaped PCD inserts but no link or price for inserts themselves. Maybe it's not worth it if they are brittle.

[@dereksauer8108]

@@avelkm Yeah it looks like ChampionX has a different manufacturing method for their PCD compared to what is normally available in the wood industry. The stuff I use seems a lot more like a ceramic matrix impregnated with diamond particles than whole solid diamond which probably leads to the reduced durability against impacts. They really do last for ages but that's in a CNC shop where they spend their entire lives in a tool changer. With CNC machinery we can also exactly maintain feeds and speeds at the tool's optimal parameters which goes a long way to maintaining tool life. I can see it being a hard sell for hand lathe work. Its really annoying that every industrial tool supplier always has "Call Us for Quote" as the price.

[@northMOFN]

Every place I've seen that attempted kaizen & kanban half-assed it. Oh, we'll start with the "low-hanging fruit" cheap/free changes first. But then it stalls there, and that doesn't work, you MUST do this as a complete system. Well done, guys.

[@Elvenmaster]

My grandpa used to work there, and he took us on a tour when I was in elementary school. He gave us all some of the failed diamond casings that were scrapped and I remember bragging to my friends that I had a diamond. It's a really cool place

[@degreeless_engineering]

would be interesting to see one on a Bambu Lab printer.

[@no_name9165]

That was my thought exactly. If I can get that on my P1P, shut up and take my money!

[@v4lgrind]

Same. I saw in the video that they had one in their lab, so interested in of they put a regular nozzle in one of those Bambu heater blocks you can buy on Ali, or if they made it custom.

[@DonKeeddick]

Has diamondback fixed the heads snapping off of the shafts on the volcano models?

[@nilz__]

Looks like such a nice company to work for. Partly because they can be proud of the products they make as well as that it seems each employee and their voice is appreciated and respected.

[@Goofy_Boots]

I bought one of these back when you first talked about it and I've never had to remove it unless it was to change a malfunctioning heater block. Otherwise, it wouldn't have moved for a year. Now I don't know about you guys, but I had a small box of used brass nozzles before this purchase. From the cost per unit/time, it has paid for itself in less than a year.

[@vmjr748]

Great video on how the nozzle is made, now it make sense why it cost so much. A company worth supporting.

[@Gengh13]

They need to make a high flow version similar to the CHT ones.

[@Pappagar]

my thoughts exactly

[@DaddyVet3D]

I live in Mesa County and I used to live in Palisade. Hearing that just made me love your channel that much more.

[@bobwilkinson4001]

Hah TIL I was one of only 269 backers on their kickstarter. I remember I had started looking for a hardened steel nozzle to run flow in the dark filament and stumbled across the diamondback kickstarter so I just thought “well this seems like the best option, kinda pricey but I’ll never have to buy another one”. Bought it, installed it and never had to think about it again 👍

[@lukev233]

You should check out the bozzle nozzle if you get a chance, or other tungsten carbide nozzles.

[@ajroyle1075]

I put one of these on my prusa over a year ago and loved it. 6 months ago I got a Snapmaker J1 (not a bad printer, not great either) and this printer is famous for clogging and feeding issues. Put diamondbacks on it and haven't had any of those issues since. Can't say enough good things about them.

[@kcdelatorre4326]

Saludos Zach, from Colorado Springs here! I’m a manager working for Schlage and I bought one of these nozzles about 6 months ago. I can attest to the quality of the nozzle as well as its durability. We are now on the process of upgrading all 7 of our printers with Diamondback nozzles.

[@CourtRoss]

I had no idea they were based in Orem Utah. That's about 20 minutes from where I live. I've also made that same drive to Colorado that you did. One of the best routes I've ever driven. Great video!

[@reprinted3D]

Same, and I'm about 30 minutes from Orem!

[@josephvanas6352]

This company reminds me of how things were done in the early days of the manhattan project. Back in the day process improvements and tools were made by the people actually doing the work. If you needed a 2" spanner wrench on a 20 foot extension with a 90 degree offset you would go to the machine shop and ask for exactly that. They would make it up and you would go to work and use it. Fuel element stuck in a reactor? just saw off a rifle you got from the Army guys stationed there and make a 30 caliber to reactor fuel channel blank firing adapter to unstuck that fuel element with a blank. I suppose if you are piloting processes for a cutting edge technology that really is the way it has to be.

[@SpencerBrennan001]

Excellent!!! Bud & walk through. Super geeked out!!

[@TTS-TP]

@2:34 I absolutely love that drive. Some of those long stretches are hard to do at night, but it's absolutely beautiful to come through some of those winding runs.

[@Zwettekop]

I wish you explained more about Kanban. It's a really interesting way to approach optimization in a production line or in software. (Also the other Kenji thing I haven't heard of)

[@rhejamphi]

The guy in charge of printing said ALL of their printers use diamondback nozzles. I noticed a Bambulab X1C. Did you see the tip???? Btw, next time you do that journey, I recommend taking the amtrak. The views are spectacular and you won't get mooned at all.

[@bobbie9066]

This is so fascinating, thank you for breaking it down!

[@MikeyMobes]

i love these kinds of videos. Thanks for doing this!

[@tolkienfan1972]

Well that explains the price! What an awesome video! I want one, and I hardly do any 3D printing :-)

[@tolkienfan1972]

BTW the landscape footage was beautiful! Much appreciated

[@theprogrammer32]

i wasn't even second-monitoring this video but the "just in case you were listening to the audio only, I just smashed the diamond with a hammer" part just ...

[@GabrielAlejandroZorrilla]

went through the full video without skipping a second. very nice video Zach!

[@freyjaandersdottir3311]

love seeing these cool factory tour / behind the scenes videos

[@pjpleiss]

I love diamondback nozzles. I also love the reactions you get on reddit and other sites if you mention them, especially the "why would you use that! you should use (insert other nozzle type here)". What we really need is for ChampionX to make Diamond materials for people that do insane overclocking on their computer hardware. The diamondback I bought in December has ran like a dream and I've had it going on every print for 9 months, using everything from CF Nylon to TPU to Amolen Glow. No problems.

[@ssantiagosanchez3144]

A thing i don't like about utah is that there is no micro center 😭

[@paradoxx_4221]

europe be like :|

[@bastian1847]

I've never seen kanban + kaizan run that well either... incredible how they have such a tight feedback loop from front line suggestion to company wide adoption.

[@YourBuddyDinec]

Great video bro! Will have to look into this when i decide to finally start printing the more abrasive stuff.

[@YSPACElabs]

Hmm...if polycrystalline diamond is able to be formed into relatively large disks and machined, you could, in theory, make a real-life diamond pickaxe. There, that's my contribution to science for the day

[@the4thj]

I like Made In Utah! USA

[@dawn9340]

These are awesome, I'll probably get one with your link when I get back around to revising my printed throttle bracket.

[@BlueCardinal33]

Thank you for that excellent small documentary on the diamondback nozzle. That factory was really cool.

[@AvenEngineer]

Unfortunate that you feel the need to apologize for supporting a high quality product made in America by passionate, innovative, successful people.