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Hi,

I have been printing for over a year, and now want to start to experiment with flexible filaments.

So three questions…

1. I understand that some flexible filaments need an attachment feeder to the extruder. Is this the case for ALL flexible filaments?

2. What brands do you have success with? The main brands tend to be pricey, are there reliable alternatives?

3. What else do I need to know about flexible filaments?

Thanks Hubbers.

Cris.

1 Like
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I use polyflex and filaflex seems to print fine with no mods at slow speeds 10-15 mms

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1) For quality print, yes. The longer the tube, the longer the section where filaxflex can stretch thus interfering/cancelling part of the push/retraction movements from the extruder. VASE style prints, though, should be fine!

2) I had success with my FF Creator dual extruder. Inside shot here: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-\_bA1bsxJM5w/U03mPTYPMLI/AAAAAAAAN10/RP4HPuqn0Og/w1502-h845-no/20140416\_111653.jpg there is no much room for the flex filament to bend. At least the usual “good, reasonable” filaflex. I once had from a customer a sample of flex that was SO flexible that it was impossible to print with. But I recently replaced my center wheel (the striped wheel that grips the filament) with a slightly bigger one that I suspect would even improve the filaflex compatiblity.

3) You need to understand that there are various flexibility levels from brand to brand. I would focus on one brand only, ninjaflex seems to be a good start. Also, If you would like to keep a “bowden style” extruder, (keeping a lightweight mooving part with an stepper away from it) then, you may consider something I saw that would like to implement one day: A bowden configuration where the stepper rotation is transmited to the distant extruder using a flexible cable…

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Good poitn about the speed: The lower the better fith flex.

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I recently got samples of three flexible filaments from eSUN.

They have “Flexible Filament,” “eLastic,” and “eFlex”.

Their Flexible filament is kind of a hard rubber like filament. The raw material is pretty stiff, and I had no problems printing with it on my unmodified machine. You can’t really build supports with this material (or any flex material), and the possible details are kind of low. The resulting part is kind of a like a hard plastic, similar in feel to PLA, but its bendable. Its cool.

Their eLastic is a rubber basic compound that is super stretchy. Their eFlex is a Ninjaflex competitor, it is also super flexible. I could not get either one to work on my machine, they are just too stretchy and flexible.

I have heard of a few people that got ninjaflex to work, but so far I have not been able to have good luck.

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Hi! I am having the same problem. I use ninjaFlex with my FF Creator Pro. When it begins to print, the extruder has trouble feeding in the filament. I see that you changed your center wheel to get a better grip. Where did you get that/where can I get one? I think this may finally be the solution to my problem. Thanks!!