Is there a plan to release hotends with a PTFE tube inside? I know this would lower the max temperature to about 240°C.
Alternatively, is there a way to customize the current all-metal hotend to fit a PTFE tube?
Also, any recommendation for an alternative flexible filament with a shore index between 60A and 85A (the closest to 60A the better for my application).
+1 from my side for a PTFE lined hotend for the J1 - let the users choose what they deem best for their use case - even if this means a decrease in both max. temperature and printing speed (PTFE lined hotends cannot melt the filament as fast as metl ones do). There is a reason why these two variants exist
I tried FilaFlex 60A some days ago on the A150. First, I could not load the filament. Then I opened the feeder flap on the hotend. I threaded the filament manually in, until it was past the feeder gear. Then I closed the flap, and all worked fine. I don’t know if the J1 has a similar hotend, but it may be worth a try. I think the FilaFlex is just to flexible to be gripped by the feeder gear.
I have tried this option as well. Unfortunately, the best I could get was inconstant extrusion for a few minutes before getting a jam in the feeder gears. I have tried with both left and right extruders.
I was quite satisfied with the print. I had the temperature set at 225°C. Oh, by the way, I used Cura as slicer. (I am using Cura for many years with my Ultimaker)
I printed my models with varioshore and SainSmart. They are soft. When I load filament on the lower temperature like 210 degree, the filament jammed, but I tried in higher temperature, it was OK. Please try loading and printing in higher temperature. Acturally, there are several issues, but I want to try printing soft materials in J1.
Some update.
Thanks to anyone who tried to support. This was very helpful as I was getting desperate.
I finally managed to get some 60A print. The quality is not as I would like for now, but maybe I can improve by tweaking the slicing settings.
To get there, I did a combination of things:
I loaded the filament manually as described earlier, until the filament would not enter further. No filament gets extruded through the hotend at this point.
I set the temperature to 235°C
Then I start the Load Filament from the screen. I let just 5-10cm extrude and immediately stop loading. If I let it load for longer, I get a jam.
Next step is to start the print while the hotend is still hot.
Slicer settings (I also use Cura): 335°C, 30 mm/s max, retract 3mm@25mm/s, line width 0.4, Flow 115%, Initial layer flow 120%.
On my case, nozzle temperature was low, soft filament clogged. I use eSun TPE(83A), ColorFabb VarioShore(55A @maximum foamed), and SainSmart TPU(95A). When I load on lower temperature, they were clogged. And also I don’t use filament guide PTFE tube for these filament to reduce the friction. I hope these comment would be your help.
By the way, on the fifth step, is the temperature 335°C?
Thanks for the additional information. The FilaFlex is probably softer, stickier and more elastic as raw filament than the ones you’ve mentioned. Although I have no experience with them… I need a material close to silicone.
The loading temperature was actually 235°C and not 335°C. Good catch
I’m running some test towers to see if I can lower the temperature and what would be the best retraction settings.
One more information. I failed on SainSmart today. Several times of failuer by clogging. The temperature was 210 degree. I tried on higher themperature like 225 degree, succeeded. Can you try with higher temperature?
I have successfully run Fiberlogy Fiberflex 40D (shore D scale) About 85A flexible filament on my standard J1S. Works like a charm at 220 deg. Not tried anything below that yet.
