How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user  

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

printing TPU is a definitely taking things to another level.  Things that are straight-forward to do with PLA or PETG are not trivial with TPU.  you might try zipping up your .3mf file and attaching it here for others to see.  At this point we would have no idea how to help you.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

Additional info that would be helpful:

have you printed anything else?  Like a simple cube or cylinder to ensure you've got basic tpu printing working?  

I would say that in general you should:

Start with using the Generic Flex filament profile.  Adjust the temp for the filament to the top end of the temperature range marked on that spool.   You may need be able to print at a lower temp, but it depends on if your filament has absorbed moisture or not. TPU needs to be DRY.  If you don't have a filament dryer you'll need some way to squeeze any humidity out that may have been absorbed.  

Pick something like the 0.2mm speed built in profile as a starting point.  The key to TPU is definitely SLOW, like no more than 20mm/sec. 

Loosen your idler tension screw to very loose, to the point where it nearly comes out of the nut.

When printing with a new tpu( or tpu for the first time) you'll want to babysit your print.  Listen for clicks inside the extruder or you could end up with tpu clogged up in your extruder gears.  Ask me how I found that at out 🙂  I did that no fewer than 4 times the first time I was trying to print with tpu.  And each time I had to open the extruder to untangle.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

@ssill2

Sorry,  I thought I Had uploaded it.  Please find it attached here 2285_mighty_rubber_remix.stl

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

@ssill2

Thanks for the breakdown, I'll definitely keep those points in mind during the print.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

also the 3mf file in case it help

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

@j33t

So that model is going to present challenges to print in TPU.  As you pointed out, There is definitely going to be the need for supports.  In my experience you tpu works best when the print requires little to no supports.  The latest alpha of the prusa slicer(2.4 as built from master branch) has a great number of improvements and tunables in the area of supports.  I've not had a chance to these on tpu yet.  But I'll use your model as a test.  I got a batch of 3 satin steel sheets in yesterday that I'm keen to try as well.  I'll try this out this morning and see if it yields any better results than I've had previously trying to print things in tpu that require so many supports.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

So I'm not holding out a lot of hope for that model.  Virtually everything needs to be supported.  Even if it prints, it will probably not look very good after you peel off all the supports.  Those large areas of bridging will likely not look very good.  I tried to print a gopro mount once that had a very similar problem of having no good way to orient it on the build plate.  The results were not very good.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

Alright I'm printing this.  MAYBE the new supports in 2.4 version of the slicer will improve things.  Though I already like this satin sheet though lol 

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

@ssill2

YOu are a star, thank you for taking out the time to try out this print. I saw your other posts with the gopro so really hoping this one works out.

I am keep to learn more about tpu so I think I will spend more time printing it and getting to know it better! This should be a good test case as you said. 

If this doesnt work, I might try and find a way to "cut" the model in hald length wise and then find a way to make a snap-on type case in two parts. That was I could print each half indivudally sideways to reduce supports or maybe even eliminate them altogther.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

So far.... this seems like it's working.,  still another 14h to go.

I'm kind of curious how this will turn out since my wife does like stuff printed in TPU and I'd like to see how doable things like this and the gopro mount are.  I've printed a number of things in TPU.  I'm printing this in NinjaFlex which is 85A.  That stuff you have I think is 95A, so more stiff.  My guess is that it might be too stiff for this application.  The ninjaflex can stretch which is what you need to fit the cover around the device.  But since you're printing tpu for the first time, the more rigid is probably better.  TPU can definitely be a royal pain and I know I got very frustrated with it at first.  

Here's what my print looks like so far.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

@ssill2

looks great so far! I have just spent the last hour in tinkercad cutting the model as i said and had just exported an stl so will try and print that in pla and see how the snap fit works.

Im excited to se the TPU finish as there are so many cool things to print in TPU! Looking forward to seeing the finished print!

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

@j33t

Yeah, Tpu presents unique challenges.  I'm curious how clean the outside is going to look when this is done after pulling away all the supports.  The inside surface doesn't have to be perfect since you won't even see it when it's on the device.

If you're doing a snapfit, folks often do that in PETG since it has some flex.  PLA can be brittle.  There are definitely mutliple ways to approach this.

As with any material though, just because you can model it up doesn't mean it will be easy to print lol.  This thing should finish in 13h 19m, so probably post an update here then.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

Ok this finished.  it sort of turned out how I expected...   Even with clean up I'm not super happy with it. You really need a way to print soluble supports/interfaces.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

@ssill2

Hi mate!

Thanks so much for printing it and going through it all. I can se the print will have many bits sticking out due to the supports..i might leave this TPU print and focus on some basic TPU printing first to get the hanfg of it before going for something so big and complicated.

Thanks fro all your advice, really appreciate you taking time out.

RE: How Do I Print This Mighty Vape Case In TPU? First time TPU user

@j33t

yes I would definitely recommend doing some more basic prints in tpu until you get the hang of it.  And as you can see even some things will be difficult/impossible to print cleanly.  I'm hoping that prusa updates the MMU to work with TPU at some point where it opens up the possibility of using soluble supports.

Cheers