3D Printing In TPU - Tips and Tricks 

A good way to remove TPU parts from PEI bed is to drop Isopropyl alcohol at the base of the print before trying to remove it. Make sure the base of the print is surrounded by a pool of alcohol. Once you start to pry it off the bed, the alcohol gets between the print and the bed and it's much easier to remove. I never damaged a PEI sheet since I use this method.

Helpful tip: "Avoid crossing outline for travel movements" is also known as "combing" on other slicer software.

Probably the most important video for 3d printing with TPU filaments to watch. Thanks Joe for sharing this, I have learned a lot from this video and plan to test out these methods on some TPU prints ASAP. Awesome stuff.

Just getting into tpu, I've been messing around with it this whole weekend with no luck. After watching your video it makes so much sense. I will try to dry it in the oven and look into all the settings. Prints have been taking forever but I rather have pristine quality. Many many thanks for this.

Great tips. It was very eye-opening just how much "soggy" filament effects the print. On a side note, when printing in TPU, I go old school and use blue painter's tape. It works perfectly.

I found that faster print setting reduces the sizzling on my Delta Kossel Mini. Because entrapped water doesn't have enough time to burst into the vapor bubbles. My prints at 30mm/s come out exacly like like these bad print examples in the video, but with 50mm/s - the results are perfect. Used fillament is a Hatchbox TPU at 210 deg. Standing open on my desk near the printer for a months already. Also a trick with reducing temperature to 205 deg also does the job instead of icreased speed. So it's all about to find the perfect ballance between the feedrate and nozzle temperature to do it fast enough not let water burst into vapor bubles. Meaning - to give just enough energy to melt a fillament and have bonded layers in the print, but not enough to let the water in the fillament accoumulate so much heat that it bubles it. Some say that this is crazy, because water starts boiling at 100C and nozzle is over 200C. But the physics says that the water boiling temperature actually depends on pressure inside the container in which it entrapped - here we have the pressure of sorrounding TPU material that your extruder motor creates sqeezing it into the nozzle. I have my slicer extrusion rate set at 110..120%, meaning it tries to squeeze more TPU than it actually requires. So I assume that is what creatses this excess pressure on entrapped water and at the right speed and temp it doesn't sizzle. I also have cooling fans spinning at full speed.

Thanks Joe! I just used Amazon Basics Red TPU for the first time and had the filament pop out of the extruder on the MK3. SO I took your advice, and lower ALL my speeds to identical values of 20mm and have had fabulous results.

You literally saved me! The noise you recorded... now I understand why all my TPU prints sucks :D

You got yourself a subscriber sir. Been looking for a simple "how-to" video on settings (starts at 08:40 in video) and basic information on TPU since I'm printing TPU for the first time. This is the simplest, straight forward video I've come across. Thank you.

Excellent and transparent video. You're honesty about sponsors is very refreshing. The information in your video was exactly what I was looking for as I have just ordered my first roll of TPU filament. Thanks again

The absolute best way to stop tpu sticking to the pei sheet is to put a tiny bit of talcum powder on the sheet. It will then stick fine when printing and will be easily removed afterwards.

Thank you for the tips. I start to love TPU even when it is more difficult to print, but this stuff is super tough and durable.

my first TPU spools just arrived and now it all makes sense why it came with a large minigrip bag, definitely going to make sure it doesn't get too wet particularly because my printer is near my kitchen. Should've maybe researched a bit in advance but hopefully I can make some cool stuff with TPU, there's been many flexible prints I've wanted to make

Your channel is awesome, came across it on a forum linking this video. I have been struggling trying to print TPU, watched this, baked my roll, printed a phone case first try out of the oven with 0 issues. Thanks for the video. On to your dehydrator video now as I have 2 that have been gifted to me years ago, now they will have a purpose!

This is magic. I've been having these holes in my print and 10 mins in the oven did the trick! Thank you so much!!

Your tutorial about TPU is just perfect, thanks so much Joe !!

I was having problems with the TPU filament which was left in the open for few days. I cut a meter and heat it in the microwave oven. I set one minute instant power first to see if the filament condition was still OK. I then heat it for another minute. It worked great and gave me very smooth print. You may need to experiment with the time and power settings to derive a good settings.

Thanks for the video, trying out tpu today for the first time with an AnyCubic Vyper, gonna try with the other printers later on. However i realised that the settings are important as u said. The first for me was that i had to calibrate the tension of the filament feeder, i had to soften it, otherwise the filament bent inside the extruder, so if anyone have problems with filament not coming out of the nozzle, try this. On the box it says about 220-240, for this filament i bought on amazon, 250 showed to be the perfect for this print and combined with the other settings. This filament isnt like PLA or other harder plastic filament at all, its more more struggle to get it right. I always tell ppl who starts with 3d printing; "if you get the print come out good, always try to make it even better, otherwise you wont go forward. Change the temp, try faster, try slower, open up some new option in cura and try them out, always try to learn more!

Yes it’s sound like bubble inside the nozzle, thanks man I’m learn something now! ✌🏻

Great tips! Personally I found TPU easier to print than ABS or even PETG. Most important setting was to reduce the retraction distance to about 1mm, and I use a lighter spring on the extruder to reduce the pressure exerted on the filament (avoids the filament twisting and coming out between the gear and the hotend

I love these practical hints and tips videos that get straight to the point, thank you. Interesting that 30 minutes was sufficient to dry the filament. It raises the possibility of using a device that actively dries the filament between the spool and extruder - a conduit with a heater and a fan, a second fan for a period of cooling, then enters the extruder. The moisture only has to travel 0.875mm. How long would the device need to be to give 5-10 minutes of drying time?

My prints are looking terrible on my ender 3, direct drive. They used to look great when i was using bowden. As soon as you mentioned the moisture issue it all made sense, my packs have all been open in my celler for about a month! got one in the oven now, im sure it will fix the issue, thanks so much! Subbed

Great tips, thanks for sharing! You should print a door stopper that is on the floor as there are chances that the ring you made may turn and not be able to bounce back.

One of the most helpful explanation on RU-vid within the 3D Printer area, really appreciate your knowledge sharing Joe.

Cura can also move within perimeter to avoid stringing.

Here on sidewinder x1. If you loose the extruder tensión as much as you can maintaining it printable you can crank up the speed. I'm always printing tpu at 40-60mm

I love that magigoo adhesive, especially the mater soluble feature. I've had some big TPU prints that refused to separate from the plate, and with a little water and capillary action it lifted right off.

13:05 from my experience u dont need gluestick when u are already using the textured one the textured one isnt that sticky by design the smooth one is where u gotta be careful ( in my experience )

Hi, it's not the throat that's clogged, it's the 1mm nozzle. I'm printing in TPU, yesterday a very good print and today a key. TPU Sunlu 210 degrees (suggested temperature on the coil 190-210), fan 60%, layer 0.8,moltipicatore 1,originally with the PLA was set to 0.92,flat 60 degrees, speed 25 mm/s, retraction off, first layer height at 90% which corresponds to the gcode 0.762. At a certain point it doesn't extrude any more than just lift off the platter. I disassemble the nozzle and realize that it is clogged. The throat going in with the 0.4 wire is clean. New puzzle... The brim is perfect including the first 3 perimeters and the first lower layer from the second one the trouble starts. I followed this very nice and illuminating video of yours and I put the filament TPU on the heater that heats up to 46 degrees. I also modified Simplify3d like you did. Idea? Thank you! Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

People are saying to dry out tpu before use in micro wave, because is filament bubling in high temperature and is taking moisture from air. But I get my filament unpacking fresh from folia and at temperature 225 C my filament start bubbling. I lower temperature to 190 and it start printing perfectly.

Great work. Just started using TPU. This is very helpful.

This was amazingly informative, thank you. I would have never thought about baking my filament before printing. I leaveit in the bag with desiccants, but now I think I will try baking. Worries me about melting it in the oven, though. I'll have to be really careful and see where I can bake it safely.

I never realized how dramatic the effect of moisture was. Gonna fire up the ol air fryer maybe the violent air circulation will do even better.

I like the descriptions you give and the tips about oven heating to dry out. That's what we do in the industry I work in for a ton of materials. I did laugh though when you describe what the part is for. I used to install a ton of doors and door stops.

You can also configure slic3r to avoid crossing open spaces like Simplify3D

I've just been using pva gluestick on smooth glass. Working well for me so far.

You were trying so hard not to say that all filaments are just as good as your sponsor 😂

Because of the Z-hop enabled I have clogged twice my extruder. Thank you very much. Great video.

Thanks for the great tips by changing the speeds on all the settings cut my print time from 3+ hours to 2 hours with a lot better looking print

Great info, the tip to set all the printing speeds to the same number made a huge difference for me. I'm printing on a JG Aurora A5 and was about to give up printing with NinjaFlex, but after checking all my speed settings and seeing the ups and downs in the speeds I set everything the same and can now print very detailed pieces as fast as 20 mm/s. THANKS !!!

I have a spring steel pei sheet, on one side it is smooth and the other has a rough texture. The rough texture sticks well for the print and comes off without hurting it.

Hairspray works nicely on TPI for TPU. It is easy to get an even coating, and it also works for PLA, plus cleaning with IPA is no longer needed so you can use your alcohol for other purposes. Make sure you have a good coat for TPU, for PLA it doesn't need to be refreshed very often, I've printed many, many prints on a aquanet coated PEI sheet with no cleaning between prints. I think this works for PETG as well but haven't done much testing with that yet.

Great advice on using the oven. Thank you kind sir

Ahhh.... I hear it too. Thank you for explaining in absolute detail. I'm half way through a print, but will cook after..

Finally the TPU answers I've been looking for. I've been experimenting with it for printing the casing for my dog collar light and even though I was getting decent results the perimeter crossing was leaving nasty strings in the middle of the print. Didn't realize there was a setting for that :D

Amazing video! The best tips for TPU I've found. Thank you so much!!

Thanks. Just dried some TPU. Printing right now. Already looks a bunch better.

SHORE HARDNESS and printability ??? why is no one talking about this ? to me the harder TPUs D55 / A90 seem way easier to print than the snot that many of the softest filaments are like. it should be a significant factor for printability, I guess at least on bowden extruders. I think its a parameter that needs to be discussed!

This video really helped. I feel like no one really covers tpu in printer reviews or anything.

Followed your advice , THANK YOU, first time out printing with TPU and im getting wonderful results, with a Anet 8. Thanks again for your videos. I Hit the Like button of course.

Great Video. Instead of using my oven I bought a cheap (£30 ish) food dehydrator from Amazon, just modified the shelves. It's much cheaper to run than a full electric oven. If you have a gas oven then that's probably cheaper, well at least here in the UK as gas is normally cheaper than electricity.

Thank you so much was trying to figure out why my prints look so bad, i live in hawaii in tropical environment so desiccants arent enough

Thanks mate, you know door stops were invented a long time ago and your local hardware store will have them for a couple of bucks. Live life easy bro, take care and thanks again for the video.

you nailed it! awesome. Thank you!

You can use the word hydroscopic to mean hygroscopic of you want. The more people do it, the more correct it will become, at some point it will become an official synonym. For example, the word literally at some point became a synonym for its initial antonym: figuratively. I don't know if there are other examples for a word meaning both something and its opposite.

Very informative useful video! THX!

Good tips, gonna put em to use right about now.. I wasn't doing too bad either, kinda on the right track, but I hadnt slowed it down quite enough, and the z hops, since you mentioned it I kinda realized it makes sense with such a stringy stretchy material why it would be problematic. Great vid.

for PEI sheets and TPU I use a very cheap fluid children's paperglue , easy to get on, and easy to get off cheep as hell and works sooo fine for TPU and PETG on PEI

Man, thank you so much! I had never tried drying it in the oven - I'll give it a shot :D

I print with tpu on mk8 extruder at 40mm/s with retractions without a problem. The trick is to insert a ptfe tube as close to the gears as possible. No need to print at 15 or 20 mm/s. All different speed settings. It is possible!

It's funny how nowadays you need to use anti-adhesive to prevent your prints from ruining the build plate. I use a glass surface, and my favorite method is to use wood glue diluted in water and smeared across the plate in little amounts until it evaporates. If you have a small vial to keep the stuff in, it's less of a mess than many other methods. Some people also use sugar or salt instead of the glue.

You were spot on when you said I would be getting my printer soon! Heard from Prusa today that it shipped! Can’t wait! Nice swag by the way, and great info in this video!

I have just started printing flexibles, so this video comes handy.

Now I’m going to have to fire up the dehydrator for my tpu.

Wow you nailed it bud... Thanks so much! That sizzle!

Thanks for the tips! I use a very light coating of parting dust for metal casting on my PEI sheet and it works great for removing the print. (basically talc powder with out any additives)

I print Ninjaflex over BuildTak and LockBuild with hair spray, and remove the printed object using water or alcohol. This dissolve hair spray and let me remove the printed object withou effort. Regards.

great video! I print NinjaFlex and other Flexibles on my Mk3. if its coming out its because its going too fast. I print 10-15mm/s

The highest speed on my voron 2.4 is around 20mm/s because dragon hf have a lot of back pressure and the cold zone isn’t exactly cold either.

One Tip for PEI sheets. Dont use any powder or glue. Just print it and when finished put a few drops of Isopropanol around the edges of the object and wait for 5 minutes. It will pull the alcohol in and come off without much force.

Pro tip: Larger nozzle helps (as it reduces the resistance)! On my Ender 3 (bowden extruder with a little mod - ptfe cut to fill the gap near gear - check Filament Friday) with 0.5mm nozzle I can print both 20D and 40D TPU with 30mm/s speed.

I'm genuinely curious if reinventing a worse version of a door stop was a genius idea to encourage viewer engagement in the comment section, or if you really weren't aware that door stops already exist. I'm not trying to be a smart ass... We have door stops on almost every door in our house... and recently we got a spring loaded magnet one that locks open, so our cat can't lock himself in the bathroom. Generally these are mounted to the wall or baseboard so they are out of of the way and sort of out of sight. Great video / tips about TPU. Thanks !

Good quality info ! thanks man

Wow. Very informative. Yes. It is quite realistic to not have moisture in any filament. I print in the Pacific Northwest, so I am alway battling moisture. I need a little flash dehydrator that my filament runs through as the printer feeds the nozzle. I guess those machines start as low as $49.99 USD. Always buying something to make my prints better. 🙄

WOW! Very nice video. I'm just starting at 3D printing, Actualy I don't even have my printer yet. It's the first video a see from you, the voice is not anoying, your ideas are clear, your not doing heuuuuuu! or "you know you know" all the time. Even with a 15 min video I don't want to change because you sound good and the explanation is good and clear. I subcribed right away. Hope all the next video I see from you will ba as good. :-)

My record at printing TPU is 2 microns. It was that thin you could not even see it on the PEI sheet.

This video is very informative and makes total sense I was wondering where these air bubbles in my filament was coming from I even cut up a section into little pieces thinking air bubbles were in it. But it was moisture steaming out I live in Hawaii so printing TPU is very difficult

The consences is to print as slow as you can for the material and design of the part along with driest material as possible.

i storage my tpu on a vacuum chamber, the same used for wood stabilizing.

Concise and informative! Thank you

Wow, knew the stuff was not tolerant of moisture but it looks much more sensitive than I thought. Well there's always the trick I been using with CF-PLA. Add an extra wall, top and/or bottom where needed as sacrificial material to eat the deformation and get shaved off after print. Even with the CF enhanced stuff, plastics are by far the easiest material I've done any surface finishing on. Most of the time you just need a half decent whittling knife to shave a whole layer off with one smooth cut.

Loving the 4k :) Really shows off the differences in those prints so well! Great little "gadget" idea for your door too :)

solutech makes a flexible pla that doesnt jam up in your extruder. also uses pla settings.

thanks lot for this video I learnt a lot!

Thanks for sharing!

Do you have an electric oven? A gas oven produces water vapor when the gas burns.

Crazy I'm doing completely opposite than what's in this video, and my prints aren't too bad. Maybe I'll give these a shot to try out.

Great video good advice. Have you heard of a door stop 😂

Great video. A lot of work to print a door stop though...

Watching becuase i just printed two wheels and one came out nice and shiny asnd smooth, and other was all rough and had lots of cobweb stuff in center. Same exact settings, not sure why differnt results yet. Hm,mmm, it must of absorbed moisture, but it was open less than 24 hours!

Thank you good review I'm about to start using TPU on Flash Forge Finder

I had this quality problem with tpu and soon as i got overture tpu its all fixed no more problems

Finally some great advice

how about a door stop on the floor instead of something on the handle that is sightly and will be bumped every time you use the handle?

this is going to change thanksgiving forever!!!

What about printing multiple parts on the same plate? Any advice on that?

I bought the sunlu filament dryer,I think it will be worth having when I start trying tpu

You are the first video I watched on TPU as I have to print some parts..... My take away is: Print sloooowwly, dry out the TPU, and use Magigo on a PEI bed. Does that about cover the basics?

I thought all TPU were flexible. I am very new to this. I want to make hand split but I want to be flexible, not too much, but something that will allow me to do my everyday tasks without the R-artrites pain

so just to confirm what he is saying. put the entire spool in the oven first...then print with it? or put the prints in the oven when they are done?