Flexible filament in the Mini?  

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

Hello,

I have tried a TPU filament having shore hardness 94A. It has a good behavior with the right settings. Expect to have a lot of stringing since there is no retraction. Overall I managed to get good results with some tweaking.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

Printed Colorfabb ngen flex, with .4mm and .25mm nozzle.  Used the generix flex preset on prusaslicer, but changes the extrusion rate to about half the speed.  Good for small parts, lots of lifting on the edges for bigger prints even on the textured sheet.

Did not try the painters tape method. I might just have to ruin one of the sides on the flat sheet and try glue stick for large prints.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

Great, thanks for the input.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

For flex, glue stick is necessary. Please use it 🙂 

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

For me using esun flex, i stop retraction and low every speed,

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

I upgraded to a Bondtech extruder. It solved a LOT of issues I was having with flexibles. 

I could make flex work with the Mini, but I had to print stupid slow with it. I can now run quiet fast (40mm/s) with the Bondtech, and even run retraction for good quality prints.

If you are going to run flexibles a lot on the Mini, I recommend the Bondtech upgrade.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

@rat_patrol

I managed to print Flex with Bondtech too with retractions without issues! I recommend to upgrade if you´re going to print a lot flex filament.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

I have printed FilaFlex40 in the Mini, just loosen the filament screw to avoid jams.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

I needed a few tries but in the end DasFilament TPU printed fine on the Mini. You just have to go REALLY SLOOOOOOOOW. It was 20mm/s for me. And rather on the hot side of recommended temperatures.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

I am using Filamentum Flexfil98 and it works without issue - printed a mobile phone cover several times. I am  uing a standard MINI profile for flexfil98

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

@rat_patrol

Do you mind sharing your settings overall? I have the Bondtech upgrades and have yet to try TPU but would like a good starting point to tweak for the filament that I have. Thanks in advance.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

Posted by: @shawn-blakeman

@rat_patrol

Do you mind sharing your settings overall? I have the Bondtech upgrades and have yet to try TPU but would like a good starting point to tweak for the filament that I have. Thanks in advance.

Retraction Setting:

Length: 4.5

Lift: 0

Retract speed: 40

Detract speed: 15

Extra length on restart: -0.5

Wipe while retracting: enable

Retract amount before wipe: 100%

Max volumetric speed: 2

Cooling: 100%, disabled first 4 layers

Nozzle temp: 240

Bed: 60

Extrusion multiplier: 1

The volumetric value and nozzle temp are what I primarily tweak on, as it will dictate the printing speed. Make sure you tune in your temps so you are not hotter than needed, but not too cold as to increase pressure on the filament during extrusion. If you have random clogs where it strips out the filament, try increasing nozzle temp 5 degrees.

Different flexibles need different speed/volumetric/temp settings, they are not all the same, but this should give you somewhere to start.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

@rat_patrol

Awesome, thank you very much. Will definitely be giving it a shot this week after I get done with some other things I'm working on. 

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/general-discussion-announcements-and-releases/successful-printing-with-ninjaflex-on-prusa-mini/

I have successfully printed with ninjaflex with my mini. Textured PEI with glue stick, Generic FLEX settings, Slowest speed possible, 100% infill.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

Posted by: @andrew-b

https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/general-discussion-announcements-and-releases/successful-printing-with-ninjaflex-on-prusa-mini/

I have successfully printed with ninjaflex with my mini. Textured PEI with glue stick, Generic FLEX settings, Slowest speed possible, 100% infill.

EDIT: actually I have never used a gluestick with the textured PEI. That is the whole point of the textured plate. Just adjust your Z offset for the first layer calibration. 

The first layer calibration for a smooth PEI plate for me for PLA was -0.650, and -0.875 for Ninjaflex on a textured bed plate.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

I have had good success with Overture TPU and eSun TPU.  

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

@3dprintedgr

What were the settings you used?

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

Posted by: @cwbullet

I have had good success with Overture TPU and eSun TPU.  

I used the standard Prusa flexible or TPU settings.

RE: Flexible filament in the Mini?

I haven't changed too many things from the standard Flex profile. The most important are:

Extruder Temp: 240C

Bed Temp: 30C

Max print speed: 110mm/s

Acceleration: 1000mm/s

Even lower speeds will be better but for me this works fine. Also the only problem that I had in the beginning was that my filament was chewed in the extruder spur. I had to adjust the tension screw in order for the filament to be fed correctly.