About TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) 3D Printing Filament: Flexible Strength, Easy Printing

Benefits
  • Exceptional Ease of Printability: Its optimized rigidity makes it one of the most user-friendly flexible filaments, allowing for more reliable extrusion and successful prints.
  • Extreme Durability & Impact Strength: Creates highly resilient parts that can withstand significant impacts, drops, and continuous stress without deforming permanently or breaking.
  • Maintains Flexibility: Offers excellent elasticity, allowing prints to bend, stretch, and compress while returning to their original shape.
  • Ideal Hardness: Possesses a carefully balanced hardness that ensures broad compatibility with a wide variety of 3D printers, from direct drive to Bowden setups.
  • Vibration Dampening & Shock Absorption: Perfect for functional parts that need to cushion impacts or reduce vibrations.
  • Versatile Applications: Ideal for printing custom phone cases, rubber mats, stress toys, gaskets, seals, protective covers, flexible hinges, tires or shock absorbers for R/C vehicles, wearables, and more.


Warnings and Advisories
  • Print Speed is Key: The most critical factor for success. Always print significantly slower than with rigid filaments (start around 20-30 mm/s) to prevent tangling or buckling at the extruder, especially if you experience feeding issues.
  • Manage Retraction: Minimize retraction distance and speed. Excessive retraction can lead to filament stretching, clogging, or tangling. For some prints, disabling retraction entirely may yield better results.
  • Secure Filament Path: Ensure a direct and constrained filament path from the extruder gears to the hotend, particularly for Bowden setups, to prevent the flexible filament from buckling.
  • Moisture Control: TPU is highly hygroscopic. Store filament in a dry, sealed environment with desiccant. If prints show signs of bubbling, steaming, or poor layer adhesion, dry the filament thoroughly before use.
  • Bed Adhesion: While generally good, a light application of glue stick or painter's tape on your heated bed can improve adhesion and aid in easier print removal for certain surfaces.


Recommended Starting Printing Settings
  • Extruder Temperature: 225°C - 235°C
  • Bed Temperature: 60°C - 80°C
  • Print Speed: Slower speeds are crucial for flexible filaments. If you encounter issues with filament feeding (e.g., tangling or jamming at the extruder), significantly reduce your print speed. A common starting point is 20-40 mm/s, and even slower for complex parts.
  • Retraction: Minimize retraction distance and speed, or disable it entirely if issues persist, to prevent tangling within the extruder.
  • Direct Path: Ensure the filament has the straightest and most constrained path possible from the spool to the hotend to prevent buckling.

The above settings are general guidelines. The exact optimal settings can vary slightly depending on your specific 3D printer model, the brand of filament, and even environmental factors like room temperature. Always refer to any specific recommendations provided by the filament manufacturer on the spool or packaging.