Flexible PLA questions

[vadim-doman 1]

Hi folks!

I am quite new to small printers like Ultimaker and I just got one myself. I am quite experienced with industrial machines from stratasys. But got myself an Ultimaker 2.

I really need to print stuff from Flexibla PLA (purchased from Ultimaker). But I am having real issues with it... Feeding mechanism keeps on chewing it.

I was lucky enough to have some parts printed half way and then feeder starts chewing the material.

Anyone can guide me through this, would really much appreciate it!

 

Also a tiny question about CURA, when printing with flexible PLA- well, as I understood you want to print Flexible PLA pretty slow with slightly higher material flow, but do you guys change anything in ADVANCED settings?

I mean I am using FULL SETTINGS option, but not really changing anything in ADVANCED settings.

Oh and I also actually need to print my stuff with 100% filling. Because I need to see how hard the part would be, because later on this part should be injection molded...

 

[personal-drones 44]

Well if you want to change the speed of the print when in full settings, you need to go to the advanced tab and change the speeds there. The speed in the basic settings will do nothing unless you have some speeds set to zero in advanced.

To print slow you could go in the advanced tab and set infill and inner shell speeds to 25 and outer shell speed to 20 for example, while leaving the other values as they are.

For infill 100% you can set this in the basic settings, "Fill density".

To avoid the chewing you can put a little mineral oil in the bowden tube and maybe raise printing temperature a bit. Chewing happens when the filament meets resistance while advancing.

 

[vadim-doman 1]

Thanks for the info! Will work more in Cura.

I was wondering- should retraction be disabled when prinitng with flexible PLA?

 

[3dmaker4u 0]

I would recommend:

- constant speed for any part of the print

- slower speed

- reduced acceleration

- no retraction

- greased Bowden

The whole idea behind all the above is to have the filament being pushed though the Bowden as constant and soft as possible/acceptable.

 

[vadim-doman 1]

Thanks!

Finally got my part printed.... takes time to get used to all those tweaks ...

 

[joar-t-brunes 2]

Thanks!

Finally got my part printed.... takes time to get used to all those tweaks ...

 

Could you share your settings? About to try this out myself and I'm new in the game....

[gr5 2,178]

short answer: 10mm/sec; .2mm layer; 240C; use oil!

More details in these links:

https://ultimaker.com/nl/community/view/16058-ninja-flex-cheddar-cheese-texture#reply-107856

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/view/4904-flexible-filaments-comparison?page=11#reply-68759

Edited July 23, 2015 by Guest

[joar-t-brunes 2]

short answer: 10mm/sec; .2mm layer; 240C; use oil!

More details in these links:

https://ultimaker.com/nl/community/view/16058-ninja-flex-cheddar-cheese-texture#reply-107856

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/view/4904-flexible-filaments-comparison?page=11#reply-68759

 

Thanks! I'll give it a go,when I have built up some courage with a few simpler successful prints :-)

[joar-t-brunes 2]

short answer: 10mm/sec; .2mm layer; 240C; use oil!

More details in these links:

https://ultimaker.com/nl/community/view/16058-ninja-flex-cheddar-cheese-texture#reply-107856

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/view/4904-flexible-filaments-comparison?page=11#reply-68759

 

I tried your settings, but I got a lot of under extrusion. Finally I tried boostig the material flow to about 140% and it started printing more or less fine. The phone came out looking quite messy, but at least it sort of worked. What material flow do you use? What's the easiest way to figure out the correct setting for me?

[gr5 2,178]

Increasing flow is an option I avoided when I last printed ninja flex but I've learned things since then and I think that's a smart way to go. I used only 100% at the time.