SCA TPU Bearded Axe V1.0 (Experimental)

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SCA TPU Bearded Axe V1.0 (Experimental)OverviewThe SCA (sca.org) does not currently have specific rules addressing 3D printed TPU weapons.The Kingdom of Northshield (northshield.org) is in the process of starting up an experiment to determine their viability, and establish repeatable standards for producing them.MaterialThe experiment will be using Overture Grass Green High Speed TPU. Theoretically any TPU material with a Shore hardness of 95A should produce similar results, but the selected brand does well with retraction and fast printing, the grass green pigment is more typically in stock, it presents an obvious contrast to weapons constructed using another method, and the pigment does not overly stiffen the material (for instance, the black appears to be harder to bend).It should also be noted that TPU becomes quite brittle when approaching 0°CAmazonOverture SitePrinterThe initial prints for the experiment were done using a modified Flsun Super Racer with a 0.6mm volcano nozzle, Bondtech LGX Lite extruder and Klipper firmware. Theoretically, a 0.4mm nozzle could also be used, but the 0.6mm line width likely has more layer adhesion and better layer overlap for overhangs at the same 0.2mm layer height.Print Settings240°C nozzle temp100% cooling starting on second layer0.6mm line width1.8mm outer thickness (3 lines)0.2mm layer height2.0mm top/bottom layers (10 layers)10% gyroid infil1mm retraction at 25mm/s90mm/s velocityGlass build surface with glue stick for better adhesionPrinting at the higher temperature helps improve layer adhesion. The thickness of the top/bottom and outer walls has a significant impact on the amount the material will flex, and the 10% gyroid infil provides a mixture of xyz reinforcement and flex as well.