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Solved SainSmart Flexible TPU-advice for first attemp

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by fredm, Jan 22, 2019.

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  1. fredm

    fredm Member

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    HI
    I just purchased
    SainSmart Purple Flexible TPU.
    it has a shore hardness of 95a
    after reading some of reviews
    I was thinking of printing on my robo r1+ without the PTFE tube trick I read about here.

    I was wondering if anyone here has had success with this. or should I go direct to the PTFE tube mode, and not waste my time.
     
    #1 fredm, Jan 22, 2019
  2. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    pretty much everyone will suggest the ptfe tube mod. I never tried it....I upgraded my hotend to a E3DV6 and feed the ptfe tube up past the hobbled bolt with a notch for the hobb. This gives a guided path and much more reliable printing.

    Currently- (the last few years) I run a R1+ with a e3d titan and V6 so flexibles go on that machine and another machine that does very well with flexibles so I dont have any "current" helpful tips
     
    #2 Geof, Jan 22, 2019
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It will fail with the stock extruder.
     
    #3 mark tomlinson, Jan 22, 2019
  4. fredm

    fredm Member

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    will it work with the ptfe tube?
    or must I replace the extruder?
     
    #4 fredm, Jan 22, 2019
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    #5 mark tomlinson, Jan 22, 2019
  6. fredm

    fredm Member

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    HI Mark
    yes I read about this and at one point, a long time ago , I was going to try. But I lost my nerve.
    some were talking about drilling. that didn't seem like what I wanted to do
    at that time.
    I did try to test fit a bic tube. when the spring tension closed on it, it bowed the tube a bit. I felt like I wasnt on the right track
    and decided to shelve the idea.


    Today I decided to buy the filament and give it a try.

    I posted because I heard a couple people , makersmuse included, said that some of these less flexible (shore hardness 95 A) filaments could be printed w/o special equipment. so I thought I would ask again

    but I will give the tube a try.
    can you tell me how you held it in place?
    do I need to loosen the spring tension so the tube is straight?
     
    #6 fredm, Jan 22, 2019
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I used PTFE 4mm OD/2mm ID for the final assembly and that MAY require you to enlarge the hole slightly It runs all the way from the top of the hotend to just above the hobbed bolt and teh extruder body itself holds it for most of that. The last bit is stiff enough to stay in place just fine.

    Don;t forget you still need to print quite slowly :)

    Yes, some folks used bic pen style tubes, but I figured a tube designed for 1.75mm filament was smarter
     
    #7 mark tomlinson, Jan 22, 2019
  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Also I use it for NinjaFlex (ninjaFlop is more like it) and also for semiflex as well. Not taking any chances :)
     
    #8 mark tomlinson, Jan 22, 2019
  9. fredm

    fredm Member

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    #9 fredm, Jan 23, 2019
  10. fredm

    fredm Member

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    I was going to slice in matter control.
    I dont see a setting to disable retraction so I am setting all fileds to 0.

    I set all speeds at 25

    Zlift is set to .5mm.
    should I leave that or make that 0 as well?

    also not sure what to enter for filament density,
    if the pre set for PLa is 1..24
    would that mean .95 for for this filament ?
    (shore harness 95A)
     
    #10 fredm, Jan 23, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2019
  11. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    You can skip filament density, that is for Marlin Linear Advance, which is not enabled by default on anyone's printer.
     
    #11 WheresWaldo, Jan 23, 2019
  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    You don't need to drill that out really, just the hole at the bottom.
     
    #12 mark tomlinson, Jan 23, 2019
  13. fredm

    fredm Member

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    yikes, I just unscrewed the spring tensioned bolts.
    the hobbed bolt looks mighty close to the hole that need to be drilled.

    people have done this without removing the hobbed bolt?

    BTW how deep does the new hole need to be drilled?
     
    #13 fredm, Jan 23, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2019
  14. fredm

    fredm Member

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    regarding drilling. I will be able to remove the tube to print as before without sacrificing performance?
     
    #14 fredm, Jan 23, 2019
  15. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Nah just leave the tube, wouldn’t want the big open space for filament to go crazy in
     
    #15 Geof, Jan 23, 2019
    mark tomlinson likes this.
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yes, you can remove it, but as @Geof points out it doesn't bother anything so I just leave them in place.
     
    #16 mark tomlinson, Jan 24, 2019
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  17. fredm

    fredm Member

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    so I decided the try the bic pen method before breaking out the drill.

    it was going surprising well....until... the filament backed up in the extruder.

    i noticed the filament was pulled out of the notch in the pen tube. so it was no longer feeding through the tube into the hot end.

    I was printing at 15mm/s at 220C

    any advice?
     
    #17 fredm, Jan 25, 2019
  18. fredm

    fredm Member

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    first attempt was at 25 mm/s
    I thought this was going faster:
     
    #18 fredm, Jan 25, 2019
  19. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Slower...so much slower....hotter....maybe hotter...but for sure ......
    S........l......o......w..........
     
    #19 Geof, Jan 25, 2019
  20. fredm

    fredm Member

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    yeah, I thought that was faster than 25mm/s.
    so I wasnt surprised to have a problem/
    so I slowed it down to 15mm/s. and I had the same problem.

    I am printing now at 230c and 15mm/s. hoping that will work.
     
    #20 fredm, Jan 25, 2019
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