Mod to enable Up!/Afina to print Ninjaflex

thingiverse

This is a simple printed block that replaces the bearing tensioner with a 4mm/2mm OD/ID PTFE tube cut to make room for the extruder gear. Chamfer the end of the tubing with a sharp exacto blade so you can push your hot end up for a gapless seal between the PTFE and the metal tube. Push your PTFE tubing through the block from the top of the assembly until the full chamfered portion sticks out below the printed block (Afinia printers will need special care to ensure that your hot end is able to push against the PTFE and fully seat into its heat sink, check this before you make the extruder gear cut). Cut a window to make room for the extruder gear. The bottom of the cut should be as close to the OD of the gear as possible, the top can be sloppy and leaving a wide gap is not a problem. While this mod kept the filament from buckling before it got to the nozzle, it did stop printing after a few minutes at 240 degrees or colder. At 250 I have gotten two successful prints and no failures. Parts look good. While I have not tried to print ABS or PLA with this setup, I have doubts that that will work due to the highly constrained filament path. Loosening up the path and using a screw to tension the PTFE directly across from the gear may give you the ability to print hard and soft materials without having to swap back to your standard extruder setup. I found mordiev's project helpful in making this thing. DrewPetitclerc's project and feedback helped a great deal in getting this done. Printer Brand: Afinia Printer: AFINIA H480 Rafts: Yes Supports: No Resolution: 0.25 Infill: high Notes: Used Z-Ultrat filament for strength and low warp. To print Ninjaflex I used fixup3d with the following settings: Heater Temp. Layer 1 250, Layer 2 250, Layer 3 250 Set 2 (layer thickness 0.25) Scan Speed 25 Hatch Speed 25 Support Speed 25 All other values left at their default. 3/4/16: While I got two good prints out of this yesterday the same setup today is skipping a couple times then extruding, skipping then extruding, leaving my part printed but at only about half the density of the parts I made yesterday. Have tweaked the scan speed to 15 on all three of the values above, hoping this print comes out complete. 3/15/16: Working with the above settings. My prints have been small gaskets. Please share if you make this work for you for small or large parts. Change the spacing between your hot end and your extruder motor. For the filament path to go directly into the top of the hot end, you will need to space out your hot end/heat sink from the extruder motor. See photo showing 1mm washers left and right and in the middle where the top of the hot end is held in place (middle washer is on top of two spacers I need to keep the hot end tightly captured). Be careful not to strip your holes out, you have 1mm less thread engagement. I stripped one of mine and had to get a longer 3mm screw to engage deeper in the hole. Designed in Solidworks 2015