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How to Print Using Arnitel Eco Flexible Filament
10 Sep2014
Arnitel is a high-performance ThermoPlastic Copolyester (TPC) that offers you a unique combination of flexibility, high temperature resistance and strength. Arnitel Eco is manufactured using renewable feedstock, in fact 50% of its content comes from renewable resources, and in particular, rapeseed oil instead of mineral oil. This elastic product outperforms conventional rubbers according to the manufacturer across a variety of applications, and is available in hardnesses ranging from 40 to 70 Shore D. The Arnitel Eco 3D printer filament can be used with any 3D printer that supports PLA filaments as you need to have an extruder temperature of about 230 degrees Celsius for the Arnitel when printing, the same as for PLA.
The higher melting and printing temperature of the Arnitel Eco compared to other flexible filaments that can be used with 3D printers means that you can you can use the printed parts under higher temperature conditions where standard PLA for example will not be suitable. Arnitel Eco has a melting point of up to 200°C, depending on hardness, though at over 100 degrees Celsius it should not start melting for sure, unlike PLA that can start getting softer at over 65 degrees. Even at high temperatures the flexibility of the printed parts using Arnitel Eco the flexibility of the printed elements remain pretty good, so you do not have to worry about that either
As with other flexible filaments you may have trouble on some 3D printers that do not have filament feeding mechanism capable of properly using flexible filament, so you may need to upgrade or modify your filament feeded. The latest MakerBot Replicator 2 printers do not have problem using the Arnitel Eco flexible filament, though you may still get filament jams in the extruder if you are not using the proper printing settings. The rule that generally applies for using flexible filament is also in action here – use slower printing speed of about 1/3 of the normal speed you would use for standard PLA filament. So for example if using a Replicator 2 3D printer you will need to lower the parameter “Speed while Extruding” from 90 mm/s to about 30 mm/s. Depending on your 3D printer you may need to tweak a bit more the speed setting, especially if you are also printing small details where the movement of the extruder is not long enough to allow the cooling of the previous layer before applying the next one over.
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6 Responses to How to Print Using Arnitel Eco Flexible Filament
The Project House
November 18th, 2014 at 00:50
Extruding on itself does not seem to be an issue with this material on my printer. But it has a huge warping when cooling. Nothing seems to keep this material stuck to the build platform. It simply tears itself off when cooling down.
Any suggestions?
admin
November 18th, 2014 at 20:59
Never had trouble with the material sticking to the build plate, maybe you need to do some tweaking of the level of the build plate. What 3D printer are you using, do note that the material does not need a heated build platform.
The Project House
November 19th, 2014 at 01:44
Orcabot v0.4
Tried printing with a rim, on glass, on blue painters tape, warm plate, cold plate, nothing seems to work. In a stupid attempt I printed on triplex (wood). This worked the first few times since the material actually gets stuck inside small gaps in the wood. The bottom of the part is ugly, but at least it did stick to the plate. But after some prints the gaps in the wood were not there anymore (stuck in my printed parts ; ) making the part warp again and tear itself loose.
admin
November 20th, 2014 at 17:50
It should print like PLA, you just need to lower the extrusion speed. We never had trouble like that on Makerbot Replicator 2 with this material, have you tried playing with temperature and speed of extrusion, might be something specific to your 3D printer. It seems that you are having trouble exactly like you would expect from a printer without a heated built platform not designed for ABS and trying to print with ABS filament. Not sure if your 3D printer has a heated bed, the 0.44 seems to have it and you do not need the build plate heated when printing the Arnitel Eco flexible filament.
Lars
November 4th, 2015 at 19:34
I print arnitel eco flex at
240°C nozzle
90°C bed temperature
25-35 brim lines
15mm/s first layer speed
even with fans full on at 1mm, parts stick nicely to the glass bed.
Anton Verburg
February 2nd, 2016 at 12:09
When printing flexible material with bowden tube printers, you should think about a modification of the bowden tube. Example: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/ultimaker-2-straight-tube-flexible-filament-spool-holder