Useful guide for flexibles - includes extruder modification instructions

'For some reason the links have died - I've contacted fffworld and hopefully will have the articles back soon - CA'


Curtesy of the nice folk at fffworld - who gave me the flexismart sample, that's down to a few metres and I've since bought another kg.
Best flexible rubber filament I've tried yet :-)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...azon_Guide.pdf
Downloadable pdf that gives details of the simple extruder modification (using ptfe tube) that lets you print just about any problematic tpu/tpe.
My klick-n-print doesn't need it - but any other replicator clones will probably benefit from this modification.
The pdf also includes a variety of other modifications that can be done on different extruder setups - in fact this is the most comprehensive guide and explanation to getting flexible filaments working well, I've yet seen.
Covers everything from diy modifications, to which extruders are designed for flexibles, to retraction and print settings.
If you've ever had issues printing flexible filaments - you need to read this pdf !

Cheers guys :-)

For anyone who speaks spanish there's a more comprehensive pdf where they list bibliographies and discuss it in more depth
It is in spanish :-)

Full list in english, spanish, italian and german:
http://fffworld.com/documentation/

Nice, thank you for this.
My next step is to try some flexible materials.
So much stuff to print with. It's a never ending learning process that is quite fun.

There's also a guide for abs and other filaments prone to warping - but that's currently just in spanish:
http://documentation.fffworld.com/gu...azon_Guide.pdf

So I've got no idea what that's like. But I imagine it should be worth a read if you can read spanish :-)

Talon, if you want to start using flexibles then I'd recommend starting with polymakers polyflex.
Very easy to use and works with most unmodified extruders without any hassle.

Thanks for the suggestions . I will look at that brand of filament.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

There's also a guide for abs and other filaments prone to warping - but that's currently just in spanish:
http://documentation.fffworld.com/gu...azon_Guide.pdf

So I've got no idea what that's like. But I imagine it should be worth a read if you can read spanish :-)

Talon, if you want to start using flexibles then I'd recommend starting with polymakers polyflex.
Very easy to use and works with most unmodified extruders without any hassle.

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Hello folks,

Just sharing my experience.
I have MakerGear M2 printer with E3D V6 and Titan Extruder Modifcation. I needed to print 600 parts from TPE filament. I had hard time to manage it to print even at 10mm/s always jams, wraps around hob gear e.t.c. I found a nice solution here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2600963. Its solves everything. I printed from here only top part which prevent to slide filament on the side. I started with 30mm/s for test and its doing fine no problems at all. I bump it slowly till 50mm/s and this is maximum how I can get with flexible filament which I think is pretty impressive. I finished my order for all 600 parts with only two fails. I can post a settings from simplify 3d and also firmware setting from Marlin. If somebody interested.

Hope its helps somebody!

yeah, it's all about removing those little gaps in the filament feeding route.

50mm's for any flexible is really good. :-)

I've got some stiff flexible pla that will print that fast, but for most other I usually go slower.

what actual filament did you use ?
Also what retraction settings did you use. presumably you didn't print the 600 parts 1 at a time. so retraction is essential to avoid webbing between parts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

yeah, it's all about removing those little gaps in the filament feeding route.

50mm's for any flexible is really good. :-)

I've got some stiff flexible pla that will print that fast, but for most other I usually go slower.

what actual filament did you use ?
Also what retraction settings did you use. presumably you didn't print the 600 parts 1 at a time. so retraction is essential to avoid webbing between parts.

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Yes I use batches of 10 as it maximum what could fit my bed :)

There is my setting for retraction:

Filament I used exactly this:

https://reprapworld.nl/products/fila...YaAuFREALw_wcB

50mm with normal ninjaflex - that's actually really impressive :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

50mm with normal ninjaflex - that's actually really impressive :-)

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My jerk value for extruder I also adjusted to 1 from 4 which was default on my settings. On 4 I had too much skipping..

@curious aardvark Thank you for this useful knowledge.I am facing this problem with my prints. I hope this will help me.

that's actually wrong. by placing the extruder on the frame you gain exactly nothing in speed and introduce the complication of a bowden tube.
Which instantly makes it a lot worse and a lot slower for printing flexible materials.

An i3 has no problems with a direct drive extruder. My dirt cheap ctc I3 - with diect drive - will happily print at 200mm/s - in fact simplify3d won't let it print any faster.

There is no logical reason to move the extruder to the printer frame on an i3.

Hey,

The links arent working, can you advise me on my printer settings for TPU filament?


Printer: Zortrax M200 Plus
Material: FLEX-based filament
Nozzle diameter: 0.4 mm
Layer: 0.19 mm
Infill: 30%
Fan speed: 100%
Seam: Normal
Outer contours: 0.00
Holes: 0.00
Surface layers Top: 8
Surface layers Bottom: 4
Max. wall thickness: 3.13 mm
First layer Density: 100%
First layer Print speed: 100%
First layer Flow ratio: 100%
First layer gap: 0.37 mm
Raft Enabled: Yes
Raft layers: 7
Platform-raft gap: 0.28 mm
Raft Density: 100%
Raft Print speed: 100%
Raft Flow ratio: 100%
Print speed: 50 mm/s
Extruder flow ratio: +0%
Top layer infill (%): 100
Bottom layer infill (%): 100
Extrusion temp.: 250
Platform temp.: 60
Retraction speed: 20
Retraction distance: 2.5
Support Density: 2.50 mm
Gap XY: 0.36

Please ignore the settings for raft, top and bottom layers... These are default settings my printer gave me for ''Flex'' based filaments, but the results are terrible.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

With Zortrax I recommend to print at slower speeds!
Or you'll have many issues with flexibles.

PS. At AMG3D we have a lot of experience with flexible prints on the Ultimaker S5. We developed a conversion kit especially for flexibles :)