flexible filament

View our range of flexible filaments.

Flexible filament is often made from TPE, which is a mixture of hard plastic and rubber. As the name suggests, the flexible filaments are elastic. They can be easily stretched or bent. There are various types of TPE, of which TPU is the most popular for 3D printer filament. The elasticity of the filaments depends on the type of TPE used and the manufacturer's recipe. One filament is flexible like a car tire, while the other is more like a rubber band. Below we give tips for both types of flexible filament.

Advantages

✔ Flexible and soft.

✔ Excellent vibration damping.

✔ Opened packaging has a long shelf life.

✔ Good impact resistance.

Cons

✘ Difficult to 3D print.

✘ Possibility of blobs and stringing.

✘ May not work properly with Bowden extruders.

Hardware requirements.

Before ordering flexible filament. It is advisable to check whether your 3D printer has the correct hardware. So that you can also achieve optimum print quality with flexible filament.

Bed

Heated bed is optional.

Temperature: 45-60 °C

Closed printer is not necessary.

Construction area

painters tape

PEI sheet

extruder

Temperature: 225-245°C.
Direct drive extruder is recommended.

cooling

Fan is necessary.

Pro Tips.

Optimize the feed rate by printing with a lower layer thickness of 0.1 – 0.2mm. This means you use less filament per layer and the printer needs filament at a slower pace. This ensures that the filament is better fed to the extruder.

Try not to use a raft when printing with flexible filament. Because the raft is often printed at high speed, which can cause problems.

When you want to place a flexible part on another part. It might be wise to print this just too tight. So you have to stretch the flexible part a bit to put it over it.

Avoid problems when printing.

With these tips you will reduce the most common problems when printing with Flexible Filament.

Direct drive extruder.

In general, a Direct Drive extruder works better than a Bowden Extruder. Especially when the filament is very flexible. The filaments that are a bit flexible can often be printed with a Bowden Extruder. With very flexible filament it is nice if the distance between the drive gear and the hot-end is as short as possible.

Quiet, constant feed rate.

Fast printing with flexible filament is actually impossible. At high speed, the chance of a blockage is very high. By keeping the feed rate steady and constant, you prevent the filament from coming out of the extruder. Finding the right speed for your filament and 3D printer is mainly a matter of trying. A good starting point is 20 mm/s.

retraction.

Rapid movements such as retraction can cause problems when printing with flexible filament. Therefore, it is best to start with the retraction turned off. With the retraction disabled you can fine-tune other settings such as the correct speed and extrusion rates. When you are happy with this, you can set a little retraction, but make sure the retraction speed is slow.

Overview different filaments