http://www.fennerdrives.com/ninjaflex3dprinting/_/3d/
I still haven’t tried it in my Zortrax yet, though; I have an Up dedicated to Ninjaflex.
Julia, I have a couple of rolls to try, what setting do you recommend on the UP and what do you print it on?
Thanks
David
Hi David,
The most important things are to have a perfectly clean nozzle, slow head speed, and no tension on the filament. On the Up I use Fine mode, 220-230C, 0.25mm layers, and no raft. I usually use glass but perfboard is fine, too, it sticks quite well and has no warpage. The Up generally move the printhead quickly when building support and rafts, and this is where Ninjaflex fails - the layer being extruded doesn’t have time to stick to the one below, and the material isn’t extruded quickly enough by the Up’s machine control. This is not to say you can’t build objects requiring support - I do use support, but be prepared for it to not be pretty; it usually recovers enough by bridging its own mess to print the part. Zortrax’s slow head movement would probably be great for it, but I worry about the temp being too high.
If there’s any tension at all on the filament as it’s pulled off the spool, it will “thin out” and slip in the feeder. I babysit my prints and pull off 6 feet of filament at a time by hand, but a ball-bearing spool spindle would probably work as well. I also use a spring-loaded “Drew Petitclerc” feed pressure bearing mechanism; I’m not sure if Ninjaflex can be successfully printed on the Up without it as it’s been a long time since I tried that.
I have a hypothesis that its feed characteristics may improve after exposure to air for a while. I had a spool that I just couldn’t get to work at all, but a month later I tried it again and it worked fine. That could be because I changed nozzles or something in the meantime, but it could also be something in the chemistry aging or drying out - I think they make claims for it being treated with something to reduce friction in the downtube, which could exacerbate slippage problems at the feed gear.
On the Up, you want to make sure the hot-end feed tube is pushed all the way up against the feeder so that there’s no unnecessary distance between the feed gear, which is pushing, and the nozzle, which is providing back-pressure. You don’t want any place where the limp noodle can buckle. This may be a problem on the Zortrax since the feed gear is a long way from the nozzle.
Good luck!
Thanks Julia
Nice colors! Once the Zortrax has temp settings it would be cool to try those. Of course they don’t beat the price of ZABS but for colors that Zortrax doesn’t offer it’s good to have other options…
Particularly Sapphire, Fire and Flamingo (for the ladies) 
EDIT: Oh, I just realized these are flexible filaments, not ABS! Still pretty cool stuff and would be cool if the Zortrax could print with it.