EDIT: solution is in the comments. TL;Dr retractions ON and INCREASE speed. Both opposite to common knowledge.

I can’t print flexible TPU properly. It’s either foamy, inconsistent extrusion or jam city, nothing else. I wasn’t able to complete a single print properly in a week and probably 50 tries.

Tried

  • 24 hours of active drying
  • speeds of 10-30mm/s
  • flow rate 1-1.2 (100-130%)
  • temps 220-250 (mfg rec is 235-250)
  • 0.4 and 0.6 nozzle
  • Cura and PrusaSlicer

Direct drive (Biqu H2 V2s) on a well-tuned Ender 3 (no issues with ABS, PETG, even nylon). Part fan off. Printing on PP tape (no adhesion issue).

I can get halfway decent looking print with 250C and a Flow rate of ~140% but it eventually jams anyway. Lower temps give super inconsistent extrusion, nozzle spitting chunks intermittently.

At my wits’ end. Any more tips? I don’t have any other TPU ATM, may be just shitty filament? It’s a cheapo polish F3D Filament TPU 93A. Thanks!

  • stooovie@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    SOLUTION: runs contrary to common knowledge, but what ultimately helped was:

    • INCREASING print speed. The usual recommendation is the slower the better, but at that point, there’s no pressure control over the filament
    • ENABLING retraction. Again, usual rec is to disable it for flexibles but turns out it alleviates too much backpressure which leads to filament buckling in the extruder

    Also printing hotter than mfg recommends: I printed at 260 (10C over recommended maximum).

    Thanks to u/Over_Pizza_2578 for pointing me to the right - opposite to everything else - direction.

  • tyrant@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’d personally try a sample coil from somewhere to rule out potential filament age/moisture/contamination.

  • Trainguy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    These are very edge-case, and I only mention it because you had a lot of helpful details that eliminated stuff, but could the gap between the extruder drive and the hotend opening be too far apart? I’ve had a problem kind of similar where it would jam up the filament there. Otherwise, the other outlandish thing I could think of is maybe the inside of the hotend is pitted and damaged, but that is not as likely.

    I hope this helps at all, or maybe gives you some kind of idea. Good luck!