The best way to Succeed when 3D Printing with TPU and Versatile Filament

Flexibles are actually enjoyable to print and play with.

With a versatile materials like MatterHackers PRO Sequence Flex, you possibly can drop it a thousand instances over and never break it. It is vital to do not forget that each materials has its place, and simply because flexibles do not break while you drop them doesn’t means they’re prepared to interchange different supplies like PLA. Versatile filament is a good selection for gaskets or bumpers, however you would not need to print a shelf bracket with it. Conversely, PLA would make for a horrible sole for a shoe. Take into account the wants of the venture earlier than committing to anyone materials.

Keys to Success by When 3D Printing Versatile Filament:

Restricted retraction

The query of “how a lot retraction is sufficient” is totally depending on the type of extruder your 3D printer has. The most recent extruders you should purchase make it very clear that they’ve a “constrained filament path.” In older fashions of extruders, there was open area after the extruder gear for filament to maneuver into. This is not an issue for inflexible supplies as as soon as they’re directed to the bowden tube or the nozzle, they’ll preserve extruding with out challenge, however versatile filaments will nearly instantly spit out the aspect of the extruder and coil across the extruder gear.

With a more moderen extruder, after first 3D printing some calibration prints, you need to have the ability to print flexibles with retraction settings similar to your regular inflexible filament settings. The E3D Hemera has been proven to excel at 3D printing with versatile filaments, with the ability to preserve the filament tightly constrained and 3D print at excessive speeds with none kinks within the filament.

With an older extruder, you’ll have to disable retractions to realize a great 3D print high quality. This does imply that you could be expertise some stringing because the nozzle strikes round over the 3D print, however it’s going to forestall you from having below extrusion brought on by the filament bunching up within the extruder from the fixed back-and-forth movement it might expertise with retracting.

Hold it dry

Comply with the identical procedures described in this text to dry your versatile filaments: 135°F for six hours in a traditional oven, then flip it off and let the oven cool again to room temperature. You too can use a vacuum oven to dry your filament in a half hour to an hour, or use a PrintDry to simply dry your filament and preserve it dry. Most versatile filaments are hygroscopic to a point, and can pop and sizzle if you happen to attempt extruding earlier than the fabric is dried. The scorching is brought on by pockets of water absorbed into the filament immediately turning to steam as they hit the nozzle, leaving voids in your print or inflicting extreme stringing alongside your elements. Not solely is the visible high quality considerably worse, however the molecular chains throughout the materials are damaged down, making a weaker half general. Utilizing the identical 3D printer, gcode, and spool of filament, the 2 3D prints beneath have been 3D printed. The important thing distinction: the one on the left had been left within the open air for some unknown period of time, and the one on the precise was printed straight from a PrintDry after letting it dry for a number of hours.

Moist versatile filament on the left, lately dried filament on the precise.

Sluggish it down

Prefer it was talked about with retraction settings, PLA or ABS, you possibly can print quick as they’re a tough materials, so it’s very easy to grip and push the filament by way of the nozzle. Printing flexibles is like making an attempt to information one finish of a rope by pushing the opposite. By slowing it down, you lower the strain throughout the nozzle making the filament a lot much less prone to bind up and even wrap round your extruder gear. Like every other filament, actual pace settings will differ from one printer to a different, so you might have to experiment to find out what pace is the higher restrict that your particular 3D printer is able to. For some that may imply 10mm/s, and different extra superior 3D printers won’t want any adjustments in any respect and may print at 60mm/s with ease.

Dispelling Some Myths

This delusion definitely is not as pervasive because it as soon as was, however there existed a time when it was frequent perception that bowden 3D printers have been unable to 3D print versatile supplies. Whether or not or not that was the case, it’s most undoubtedly not true now. There may be nothing that particularly precludes bowden 3D printers from with the ability to use flexibles. All of it comes again to constrained filament paths being the foundation reason for any issues. Whereas sure, most direct-drive 3D printers are extra responsive than bowden 3D printers when utilizing versatile 3D printing filaments, bowden 3D printers are absolutely able to creating stunning 3D prints with versatile filaments.

Getting the First Layer Proper

The primary layer is crucial a part of any print.  There are some things that you must do to get the primary layer to stay nicely.

• You want the print floor to be stage. If you’re unfamiliar with how one can stage your 3D printer’s mattress, you possibly can learn concerning the process right here.
• Have your Z-Offset set to the precise peak. This may rely upon the fabric that your 3D printer’s mattress floor is made from, as some supplies will bond too nicely to versatile filaments, completely attaching to them. For many surfaces, you want a good “squish” to your first layer.
• You want a great base materials to your versatile filament to stick to.  Blue painter’s tape or a heated glass mattress with PVA glue stick or MatterHackers Stick Stick are ideally suited surfaces to your print mattress.

3D Printing on Blue Painters Tape

Blue Tape, or Painter’s Tape, is among the best and quickest methods to get a dependable mattress adhesion to your versatile filaments. Here’s a fast guidelines of stuff you need to ensure you are doing.

• Make certain each bit of tape strains up edge to edge with none overlap or gaps.
• Hold the mattress temperature pretty low when utilizing Blue Tape, as a temperature that’s too excessive could trigger the tape to stay too nicely to your printed half. 55°C-65°C ought to be sufficient warmth to get the job achieved with most flexibles.
• Substitute any tape strips that get broken when eradicating elements.
• Substitute the tape after 5-10 prints, when elements cease sticking, or when there’s a noticeable loss within the texture on the tape’s floor.
• In case your first layer just isn’t sticking – be certain that the print head is shut sufficient to make a pleasant squished line of filament. If that does not maintain your downside, you possibly can apply a skinny smear of PVA glue follow get just a little extra adhesion.

Printed PRO Sequence Flex on blue painters tape.

3D Printing On Glass With A Heated Mattress

When you’ve a temperature managed mattress, printing straight on glass is usually a nice choice.  The advisable mattress temperature for versatile filaments differ vastly, from room temperature to 110°C, so comply with the advisable mattress settings as described in our Filament Comparability Information or within the Technical Specs for the filament. Normally, PVA glue stick is a good adhesive to use to the glass when 3D printing with versatile filaments to make sure that they stick all through the whole lot of the 3D print job.

Printed PRO Sequence Flex on a heated glass plate.

Getting The Temperature Proper

When working with a brand new roll of filament for the primary time, we typically like to start out printing at about 235°C after which adjusting the temperature up or down by 5°C increments till we get a top quality print.

Really useful printing temperatures for numerous versatile filaments.

If the temperature is just too excessive

If the spool of filament is already dry however your temperature is just too excessive you’ll nonetheless see strings between the separate elements of your print, like cobwebs. When this occurs you need to attempt to incrementally decrease the temperature by 5°C till the nozzle does not leak any materials. Generally that is not treating the underlying downside, which may merely be retraction settings that are not fairly aggressive sufficient and wish only a small bump to get every little thing in tune.

If the temperature is just too low

A 3D print with an extruder temperature set too low for the fabric being printed may have layers that do not bond collectively very nicely or in any respect and may be simply pulled aside. Make certain the filament is dry and take a look at once more, but when you already know that it is dry and you’re nonetheless experiencing issues, increase the temperature of the nozzle in 5°C increments till you obtain sturdy layer adhesion and may see that the sides and infill of the 3D prints aren’t sparse and are nicely linked to one another.

First Layer Troubleshooting

For those who adopted the steps to getting your first layer proper and your print isn’t sticking, listed below are some suggestions to assist enhance your expertise:

• It takes extra torque for the extruder to push versatile filament out of the nozzle, so be certain that the nozzle is satisfactorily primed earlier than your half begins being printed. Use a skirt, prime blob, or purge line initially of the print to ensure there’s sufficient filament within the scorching finish by the point it will get began in your half.

• Make certain the extruder temperature is scorching sufficient to correctly soften the filament. In any other case, the plastic could not move and go away you with sparse layers and infill disconnected from the sides. Steadily increase the printing temperature by 5°C to a most of round 255°C if filament is not flowing as properly as you want.

• Make certain the speeds to your printer aren’t too quick. Printing too quick could cause underextrusion and make infill appear to be a spider internet. With versatile filaments, printing sooner takes extra torque to get by way of the recent finish, so your choices are enhance the torque of your extruder by upgrading to a stronger extruder and motor, or decelerate to decrease the torque essential to extrude the filament.

• Flip up the extrusion multiplier a bit extra. When E-steps are calibrated for a 3D printer, it’s often achieved utilizing a inflexible materials like PLA which implies extruder actions are rather more responsive. When utilizing a versatile materials, you might have to recalibrate to get the identical expertise. A good way to get this correct, is to do an E-step calibration to your versatile filament. The Extruder steps/mm that extrudes 100mm in PLA may solely get you 85mm with TPE, so comply with our E-step calibration article to get that arrange. Or, as soon as you discover the right E-steps for the versatile filament, calculate the p.c distinction from the unique E-steps (versatile E-Steps divided by inflexible E-steps multiplied by 100), and you’ve got your extrusion multiplier proportion you should utilize anytime you come again to this materials, relatively than modifying the firmware of your 3D printer to get the identical outcome.
  • For instance, your printer makes use of 400 E-steps for PLA, and after calibrating you discover TPE makes use of 500 E-steps. 500/400=1.25. Multiply by 100 to seek out an extrusion multiplier for TPE at 125%. Now you possibly can print PLA with an extrusion multiplier of 100% and TPE at 125% and preserve these profiles at all times in sync with out modifying the opposite.

With the assistance of this information it is possible for you to to 3D print versatile supplies with ease or know what that you must do to get your 3D printer up and operating. 

In case you have any feedback or contributions, please drop us an e-mail or give us a name. We’re at all times in search of suggestions, and finest practices – and would love to listen to from you. Be at liberty to succeed in out with any particular questions within the feedback down beneath.

Take a look at our Filament Comparability Information to get the news on all the most recent and best filaments.

Joyful Printing!