Useful guide for flexibles - includes extruder modification instructions

[curious aardvark]

'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/

[Talon 3D]

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.

[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.

[Talon 3D]

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

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.

[gagat_studio]

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!

[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.

[gagat_studio]

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.

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

[curious aardvark]

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

[gagat_studio]

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

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..

[Susanne]

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