Using TPU Filament on the Creality K1

I am using my Creality K1 printer to test other filaments whenever I get a chance. Today, I would like to introduce the test results for TPU filament.

Please refer to the following YouTube video for the full review content.

First, the TPU filament I used was not a new product I bought this time, but a product I purchased about 2 years ago to test on a KingRun printer, and it was a product that was just managed in a mess.

This is a product I purchased in the past that was available for shipping on Coupang, and as a result, it seems to be printing well now, so it appears to be a good product.

 Purchased Premium 3D Coupangball Filament Purchase Linkhttps://link.coupang.com/a/7n9vh

And on the K1 I'm using, I have the Copper Alloy nozzle installed. Since it has a higher thermal conductivity than the default nozzle, it might have provided a more favorable environment for TPU printing, even at lower temperatures.

Before conducting detailed tests, I printed TPU with the default settings. The Creality slicer on the K1 provides a TPU filament profile by default.

值得注意的是，输出温度设置为230°C，最大体积速度设置为3.5 mm/s，相比之下Hyper PLA设置为23 mm/s，看起来几乎低了7倍。

It is common knowledge that for TPU filament printing, you need to print slowly at a higher temperature. However, it seems the Creality K1 takes these characteristics into consideration.

An XYZ cube printed with the default TPU settings. I was surprised at how well it came out.

I conducted a temperature test.

It seems to be because I used the alloy nozzle... at the default spec of 230 degrees, the print quality was quite poor... (Why?) The print started to come out well from around 210 degrees, and 200 degrees seemed best, but considering adhesion, I set it to 210 degrees and printed.

Conducted a flow test.

I thought I needed to reduce the Flow since it seemed a bit over-extruded during the initial print, but a reduction of about 5% looks best. So, I set it to 105%.

Next, I performed a PA test.

For the PA test, the results were a bit unusual, as they were similar across most heights. To conclude, it seems that PA should be printed at a significantly lower temperature.

Maximum Volume Speed Test

It seems that a lower maximum volume speed is ultimately better. It seems that the default setting of 3.5mm/s is not for nothing. You can increase it a little, but if you raise it above 5mm/s, print quality degradation occurs depending on the shape, so... It seems safer to use 3.5mm/s or less.

So, after the basic calibration, I compared the results. It definitely looks much better than before. Since the PA and volume speed are almost the same as the defaults, the temperature settings based on the nozzle seem to be the biggest change.

I ran a benchy print, and while it's a shame that the vibration patterns from the slow printing are so clearly visible.. that seems to be a characteristic of the K1, and overall, I can see that the spiderwebs aren't forming well and it prints very beautifully.

I also printed the simple figure I've been using as a reference, and it turned out not bad, but the bottom part with large overhang angles didn't come out well. Perhaps this is because TPU printing tends to shrink a lot. Reducing the speed in that area might be okay...

This concludes the TPU printing test results I tested intermittently last week.

Ultimately, the K1 is clearly an all-rounder, so as long as calibration is done well, it seems that difficult-to-print TPU can be printed easily.

Of course, while conducting the print test, unlike other filaments, I had the misfortune of the nozzle clogging twice.. It turned out that I wasn't managing the filament properly, so the uniformity was inconsistent in the middle, which caused the clogging. It doesn't seem to be a problem with the K1.

During this test, I was reminded again of how high the potential of the K1 is. If issues with the slicer and vibration patterns are resolved, I feel it will be re-evaluated as one of the most cost-effective devices among existing chamber printers...

Finished writing the post.

Using TPU Filament on the Creality K1

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