Printing with TPU using the S5 with material station

[DBDalgliesh 0]

Anyone have difficulty printing with TPU via the Ultimaker material station?  Background: first print went fine, everything loaded up and the print was successful.  I went to print a second time (same thing) and got error 56 - printer feeder filament pickup unsuccessful.  note: the filament had retracted back into the material station by the time I started the second print.  I tried 3 more times, checking the feeder tension, obstructions etc.  Then I ran a small PLA print and it fed no problem...I'm thinking that last meter or so of the TPU filament, because it has been fed through a couple of times, is no good(?).  I will try cutting off 2 meters and try again.  

[UlrichC-DE 109]

I have had various problems in the past with TPU and material station or Bowden feeder.

If the tension in the feeder is too high, the material winds up in the feeder and leads to errors.

I print TPU mainly with 0.8 nozzles. Because that way the feeder has to build up less pressure.

Another thing is... if I have problems with TPU, I immediately clean the print head thoroughly. This is because the TPU likes to paste the print head above the print nozzle. If it is not cleaned, this causes a whole host of problems.

 

Many greetings

[DBDalgliesh 0]

Thank you!  

[LeonardoFlorianAMG3D 1]

Yes, TPU is a difficult one. 0.8 nozzle certainly helps.

When you insert the filament in the material station, make a point at the tip of the filament.

Make sure you are running the latest firmware.

 

Print as slow possible (20mm/s) and small layer height: 0.1mm.

 

If this doesn't work, you can have a look here: 

 

 

They are two ways:

1) Custom like ultiarjan did (has some issues with flow rate and doesn't seem to work with material station like yours)

2) Or our solution works well and is compatible with the material station.

 

If you still have trouble loading the material with the material station post here so we can help!