I don’t have the print speed super high, but when I wanted to slow it down I reduced the volumetric flow speed limit to 4 mm³/s rather than change the travel speed. Does that actually make sense? I had assumed because the slicer seemed happy with it that it would just slow everything down but now I’m wondering if maybe it just stretches the lines really thin
1 Like
Lol maybe not but supports can be really annoying on TPU. I would have offered but I have not tuned TPU supports whatsoever
What does the .3mm mean in the print settings? Is it nozzle diameter or layer height? If it’s layer height, it’s on the high end of what a .4mm nozzle can print at, which could explain the gaps.
2 Likes
Yeah it’s 0.3mm layer height for 0.4mm nozzle, I agree it’s on the high end, I had assumed because I’ve managed to print it before with a 1 filament each of PLA, PETG, and TPU, that it’s fine but maybe I just got away with it with those specific filaments. To me that seems fairly unlikely though, and it seems more likely that either I’ve changed something in the slicer or something shifted in the hardware that goosed it
The only HW change I can think of is an extruder modification. That mod was made before printing any TPU, and it produced 2-5 good prints each in PETG, TPU, and PLA. Maybe it isn’t long lasting enough and something non-obvious has worn out of alignment? I’ve done a few inspections of it now, and the only thing I can think of is if the marked section has given way a bit, rotating the whole thing a small bit clockwise, reducing pressure from the non-driven pulley, and reducing the traction on the extruder gear as a result, but that feels like a leap
(example pic from the thingiverse page, not my printer)
0.32 is the max layer height for a 0.4mm nozzle, and if you haven‘t fine tuned your extruder/printer even 0.3/0.25 is stretching it…
This would also explain the underextrusion, going to a 0.6mm nozzle might be the best option for what you want to achieve.
1 Like
Oh thanks that’s good to know, I’m still a bit confused about how I got away with it for about 3 spools of filament and not now but maybe I just happened to stumble on settings that worked well for them
Many thanks for the help above folks, the present went down a treat among the family because they’d never seen a print before
Damn it. Should’ve gotten the blue car 
1 Like
There’s always time lol
Has anyone tried out high speed TPU before? Supposedly there’s a hard outer coating on the filament which helps it retain shape while being fed in, allowing for faster print speeds and use in Bowden extruders possible without crazy retraction settings.
4 Likes
Never used that stuff but I had good luck with Rosa (just some generic stuff from whatever my local supplier had in stock I think) TPU on an almost-stock ender 3 with no retraction. The only mod was a small PETG part on the extruder to feed the filament directly from the extruder gear into the PTFE tube. It was 96A so not the floppiest stuff out there, and there was some stringing without retraction, but pretty painless
2 Likes
Do you have a link to the part? I could only find full extruder bases, and no inserts or anything that could attach to the existing extruder.
Yup this is the part here, the issue might be my dodgy description though. It replaces the plastic plate that mounts the extruder motor, and gives a slot to put a very short length of PTFE right next to the gear. It solves the issue of the filament having to clear a bit of distance in free space before it goes into the tube, where it can curl up on itself
1 Like
looking to find a good filament and brand
need a strong material
smallish parts
needs to print nicely and look ok
reasonably cheap
thanks a lot
Spoiler
learn to use a search please
6 Likes
PETG. Make sure to dry it.
1 Like
never really found it strong enough
will try again though
If you don’t explain what you are actually doing noone will be able to help you in any meaningful way.
5 Likes
xt60 panel mount and similar parts