Today, for the first time I tried printing with Ninjaflex. Having not printed with it before, I was a little concerned that it might prove a touch difficult. It really didn’t, but I did learn that most people set their printers to run a lot hotter and faster than I do.

Before I started I did a bit of reading around the subject:

Based on the advice in those articles (and a test print at 195°C which failed to extrude properly) I tried the following settings:

  • Print speed: 30mm/s
  • Printing temperature: 210°C
  • Bed temperature: 50°C
  • Retraction:
    • Minimum travel: 1mm
    • Z hop when extracting: 0.1mm

If you would like the full profile I used it’s here: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HACManchester/cura-settings/master/ninjaflex.ini I coated the bed in dilute PVA just as I would if I were using PLA in the printer although it appears you can also get good results using blue printers tape or possibly even nothing on the bed.

The base of the octopus as it's being printed

The final print is a bit bobbly in places but has generally come out pretty well:

Closeup of the finished octopus Closeup of the finished octopus with its head being squished.