A bit of printing with some of the industries flexible filaments and tips on how to get successful prints.
Originally shared by David Clunie
Finally I’ve been able to make a couple of prints with my Flexible filaments, such as NINJAFLEX and 3d2Print’s TPE.
http://www.dbclunie.com/2014/11/3d-printing-video-printing-with.html
Looks nice. I just ordered a Bowden E3D hot-end and hope that I don’t regret giving it a try vs. a direct drive when it comes to the flexible material.
@Tim_Sills
Bowden with flexible filaments? Have you ever tried to push a rope? I predict you’re going to be terribly frustrated.
@Carlton_Dodd , yeah, I kind of was thinking it’d be like pushing string from what I’d been reading. Ironically I just ordered it and was googling it this morning and it seemed like a mixed bag. Most findings seemed to indicate you could get away with it assuming you really slowed the print down. But I also liked the idea of lower mass on the print head for when printing PLA.
<edit: not to hi-jack the thread, but is it wrong to assume that I could just use the bowden model as in a direct drive as well? I see the chambers are slightly different for the E3D>
@Tim_Sills
The 1.75mm E3Dv6 models are the same. “Bowden” just gives you a length of tube and another connector.
When I got my rostockmax2 from the seemecnc guys they indicated that they were able to print with flexible filaments, a bowden drive just moves the stepper motor off the effector head, and if you run it slow enough i believe you’ll get enough pressure if you use a smaller diameter tube to deliver the filament, like the @Carlton_Dodd mentioned the skinny tube on the e3dv6 model, for the 1.75 mm version extends directly into the hot end to the melt zone of the extruder, so you should be able to run it as both a direct and a bowden and print with flexible filament, if you use the skinny guide tubes like I have the filament can’t really buckle on the sides of the walls of the tube.
Thx @David_Clunie , I know I was flip flopping this morning when ordering and had come across someone’s site that covered the diameters of ptfe tubes they were using for their Bowden setup. I just figured that worst case I’d just revert back to a direct drive if need be. It was kind of like paralysis through analysis in comparing the pros/cons of each drive type.