I have some NinjaFlex TPU filament that I want to use to make gaskets. Has anyone done this in the past? If so, how did you print it and did it even work? Let me know if anyone has any experience with this.
yes TPU is great for gaskets, washers, all sorts of squishy things. how did I print it? hit print!
nuff said? do it!
where are these gaskets being used?
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Between the board and enclosure. Also I tried “hitting print” and it came out a steaming pile of shit
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lol what happened? I’d feel good about using it between the deck and enclosure for sure. I had planned on this myself a couple days ago.
but what did you do to make it turn out shit? did it not hold up? did the print come out realllllly shitty? something else? what printer do you have, and is your nozzle/extruder tuned for flexibles (if printing is the issue and this question is even relevant)?
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Wanhao duplicator I3. I think I just need to tune it better
It just printed rough, it was like it wasn’t completely filling in (I already dehumified it)
I use TPU for all of my enclosure gaskets. It works great. Dial in your settings. a direct drive extruder helps print TPU. type of TPU, infill and wall thickness will all have an effect on squishyness.
What slicer do you use? Any chance you could send me your settings?
I’m using NinjaFlex TPU
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I use Cura mostly, sometimes PrusaSlicer on a heavily modified direct-drive Ender 3 I doubt it would help you out, but if you could figure out a way to get it to you I could.
A better solution would be to tune your printer, find a user group for your specific printer, and watch some YouTube videos on flexible filaments, that how I got to where I am.
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I know it’s different for every printer, I was just curious as to what settings you changed to get it right
Temperature (by filament)
Retraction (down to 2mm, remember I have a direct-drive extruder)
Speed (TPU needs reduced speed to print well)
I also fool around with combing, distance and type depending on what the print is doing
also I find it beneficial to dry (dehumidify) TPU filament as it tends to absorb water
good luck
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I couldn’t reliably print anything flexi until I upgraded to a Titan Extruder. It was most often a nightmare of a failed print with a filament jam. If there’s any room between the feeding gears and the hole of the hot end, the flex filament will more than happily spaghetti in there!
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Ninjaflex is quite soft and squishy. You can try another flex, like 95A or 98A TPU. Should be easier to print.
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I’ve got a direct drive. I’ll look into my settings more. I haven’t messed around with the slicer settings in a while so I’ll have to remember what everything does lol
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I have a wanhau duplicator i3 as well. I couldn’t print any TPU by default. I had to print out an ABS gasket thing that replaces the stock plastic price between the extruder and the fan (I think) that guides the filament from the extruder to the PTFE tube (or aftermarket hotend). I’ll try to find it on thingiverse, one sec.
I printed some gaskets in the past. But they havent really been tested in rain yet. However, Ninjaflex should work as a gasket as stated on their website. I made sure the printing speed was pretty low (1200 mm/min), extrusion multiplier at 1.3, Nozzle temp at 230 and bed temp at 40 degrees celsius.
I’ll look into that, but I have no issues with the actual extruder itself
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