Prusament TPU 95A is a flexible material with high mechanical resistance and print reliability. Although it’s one of the easiest flexible materials to print, it still requires some print preparations. This article sums up printer requirements, recommended sheets, correct surface preparation, and some basic troubleshooting.
Learn more about this material and its properties in the announcement article.
Print settings
Nozzle temperature: 220-240 °C
Heatbed temperature: 55-75 °C
You can find print profiles for this material in PrusaSlicer.
Printer requirements
All our printers with the Nextruder can be used with little to no tweaking. We prepared profiles for Core One, XL, MK4S, MK4, and Prusa Pro HT90 (see profiles in PrusaSlicer). Other printers (MK3S+ and older) are compatible as well, however, print profiles may be missing and some tweaking (such as loosening the idler) might be required.
When printing on the Original Prusa XL, you may struggle to feed the printer with TPU through the filament sensor on the side. It is recommended to unplug the PTFE tube from the sensor and feed the filament directly into the tube.
It may also be difficult to feed the filament through the PTFE tube on the Original Prusa Core One. If you find any difficulties doing this, we recommend unplugging the PTFE tube on the Nextruder side, pushing the filament through, then pushing it manually through the filament sensor, and plugging the tube again.
If you print with a high flow nozzle in an enclosure, leave the enclosure door open. Opening the ventilation grill on the Core One is sufficient.
It is recommended that you use a filament guide on your printer (MK4, MK4S) to keep the filament slightly tightened during the print.
Recommended sheets and correct print surface preparation
PA Nylon sheet: The most recommended print surface. Clean the surface with water as described in the handbook or this article.
Satin sheet: The most recommended print surface. Clean the surface with IPA as described in the handbook or this article. Larger models may require a brim and a slightly raised nozzle and heatbed temperature.
PP sheet: Recommended print surface. The adhesion is slightly higher than with the satin sheet. Clean the surface with IPA as described in the handbook or this article.
Textured sheet: Recommended print surface. Clean the surface with IPA as described in the handbook or this article. Note that adhesion to this print sheet might be too strong. If you struggle to remove the model after printing, you may heat the sheet to 40 °C and remove the model using a spatula.
Smooth PEI sheet: Not recommended. If you decide to print with this sheet, be sure to apply a separation layer (glue stick). Otherwise, the adhesion is too strong and removing the print will damage the sheet.
Drying before printing
Drying is usually not necessary. However, under some conditions (typically poor storage), material can eventually absorb moisture and print issues might occur. In that case, we recommend drying for at least 4 hours at 60 °C and storing the filament in a drybox.
Troubleshooting
Filament entanglement: If the filament entangles and gets stuck in the gears, try loosening the idler screws by 1,5 spins.
Stringing: If the stringing occurs, try drying the filament as described above.
Nozzle clogging: There may be several reasons for nozzle clogging. We suggest making sure your nozzle is clean and filament dry. If the problem persists, you may try loosening the idler, raising the temperature and lowering the fan speed. Also, when the filament is loaded into the extruder for a long time between the prints, it may eventually deform. Simple unloading and loading the filament would resolve this issue.
Skipped layers: The nozzle got clogged at some point. Deal with it as you would deal with a clogged nozzle.
Filament doesn’t stick on the print surface: Degrease the print surface as described in the handbook and here. If the problem persists, try printing with a brim and consider increasing the heatbed temperature.
Bubbles in the filament: These are usually caused by the moisture inside the filament. Dry the filament and check the nozzle temperature. If it’s too high, lower it a little.
Poor bridging performance: Try to increase dynamic overhang speed for 0% overlap. This setting can be found in PrusaSlicer / Print Settings / Speed. This is only visible when in PrusaSlicer Expert Mode.