Experiment with TPE filament

Snapmaker Showcase
1

Experimenting with tpe filament, not perfect yet, but good enough now.
Thanks to @jjestings for his adapter.

Here is my best result. It’s a grip for nintendo switch.
As you can see, there are still some flaws on the surface.

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It turned out that 0.2mm layer height was critical. I couldn’t print anything with a layer height less than that.
Flow rate was important, too. If less than 80%, the outwall wouldn’t stick to inner shell, and if more than 90%, it’s very possible to jam the nozzle due to the pressure. (The best number might be diffrerent according to other settings such as the layer height and temperature.)
I also used a huge raft to help the model stick to the printing bed, it’s not necessary for smaller items though.
The settings I used are as following (in Cura because I wanted the cubic infill)
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BTW, this grip is not very useful because tpe is too soft and it’s difficult to stick it to the joy-con. The one I made with PLA is much better for this purpose.

3 Likes
2

@jhy Looks promising. Which brand filament are you using?
In case TPU remains problematic, FlexPLA is a good option because it prints at 190-200 degrees C, just like regular PLA.

Don’t Stop Making!
Ralph
Product Designer @ id-z.one

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It’s from iprint-3d
(for the sake of 20 characters)

4

I tried some Ninjatek cheetah filament, and I couldn’t get it to feed into my SnapMaker. I tried several times to feed it in, but it wouldn’t catch.

Has anyone had this problem.

  • Bob
5

hey there!

Semiflex Filament from Conrad electronic works well with the filament adapter.

renkforce-elastic-semiflexibel