Easily 3D Print Flexible Filaments with the Flexion Extruder - Review

3D Printing flexible materials has always been a sort of Dark Art... Some people manage it, but most of us end up giving up after several failed attempts.

The Flexion Extruder, however, promises to change that, so I put it through its paces.

Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future 3D Printing Reviews, Tutorials or Projects!

Disclaimer: We at Makers Muse seek to provide a 100% unbiased perspective when it comes to reviewing content and new tech. Therefore, we guarantee that Makers Muse has and will never accept cash or items of monetary value when it comes to providing reviews, and that all reviews are free of charge-with any funds involved only covering the costs of delivery.

---

Like what we do?

Say G'day to us on Twitter and Instagram @makersmuse

Ways you can support Maker's Muse:

-Want to buy a 3D Printer but don't know where to start? Get our eBook here!

- Support us on Patreon

-Buy a T-shirt!

- By using our amazon affiliate links

Or a direct donation through Youtube

And lastly, a BIG thanks to the community, and those who have supported us here at Makers Muse!

----

[calden]

I bought a kit for my Creator Pro 2, it’s worth every penny, not only can I print faster and a lot more quite, but I can now print flexible materials with ease without searching for hours on the internet for the exact settings I must use. It now just works. This is also a must have if you are printing filaments with chopped carbon, my models look amazing.

[kraftaculousgreekgodofcraf]

You’re not exaggerating. When I got my first 3D printer I bought flexible filament and it went exactly as you stated.
It’s seriously under a desk somewhere I have to go look for it and take it out and mess with it again after many years, if it even works. Lol.
Thank you for inspiring me to check back into flexible filament printing.

[karlfimm]

Fantastic. I was just considering buying this upgrade for my Wanhao. Partly for flexibles, but largely because my particular machine is a dog when loading filament. About 2 times in 3, I have to partially dismantle the extruder in order to get the filament to load properly. Now I have a Prusa I3 MK2, I've seen what loading filament should be like!

[AmusementLabs]

Is it a bad thing that when I saw that first green pla print that I was drooling and freaking the f out??? I mean... It's so beautiful....

[THEMAKERSSPACE]

Hey Angus, dam man don't even joke . the first filament I ever tried was flexible PLA, as a newbie I didn't even know what it was. I spend hours/ day's trying to figure out why my printer / prints where not printing and jamming up my printer. it was only after a week I decided to try another roll of PLA when i saw that it was not the same and almost kicked my self. I checked my invoice and saw I ordered PLA but two of the rolls where PLA flexible, didn't even notice or know better. Since then they have just been laying on the table gathering dust :(

[nerys]

i have the flexion. its a pain in the ass to tweak when it is not gripping right but my god is it worth it. the quality and precision of the prints are simply stunning! just look at some of my videos especially the rook and the vice where i had it dialed in perfectly.

what it really needs os a stronger stepper. if you tighten too much it stalls the stepper so you have to loosen it but your always on the verge of just about too loose.

but man when you get the bugger dialed in the results are breath taking. most important though is the precision.

i tell it the nozzle is .4mm and that i want a .4mm line and set the multiplier to .97 to 1.0 and golly gee the little bugger delivers perfectly what i instructed it too.

absolutely blown away by this extruder and it is worth the tweaking pain when dealing with pla for the precision and stunning print quality.

apparently this is specific to hard filament such as pla (flexion says the hardst the tweak for) and its much more forgiving with flexibles.

my prints come out just like his does. perfect. scary perfect considering my printer was $310.

install the thicker y plate. install the z brace kit and install a flexion and you will be stunned by the quality you can extract from these printers.

[Dragon]

I have this extruder kit & so far ive only used PLA with it but even so, I can't fault it at all. Definitely recommend it as an upgrade.

[thediscman]

Hi Angus great video as usual . I have two wanhoa duplicator i3 s and i have done all the usual upgrades, one machine more than the other. I put an all metal hot end in one and it does make a difference. 1. The prints seem to come out with more of a sheen to the surface. 2 I have printed wood, metal, pla, abs, petg no problems. I also print TPU, TPE and a flexible filament by Excelvan with no problems at all. I slow the speed down to 30 bed temp 55 hot end 200 and the fan on from the first layer. This all seems to work well. Just one mod you need to do and you will think why did i not do this earlier you need to do the thumb screw mod on the bed leveling. If you use lock nuts as well you dont need to alter the bed after every print it lasts ages cheers Tim

[SBryan]

125 bucks for that extruder is pretty good. I can't wait to buy it.

[MChrisP]

Thanks for a solid review & insight Angus!

[jmunkki]

You're saying that spring-loaded systems squish the filament too hard. However, setting 1 on the Flexion is the highest pressure setting and setting 4 is the loosest setting. If I push the print speed really hard, the compression setting has be spot on. At slightly slower speeds, it's not that critical.

One huge bonus of the Flexion is the ease of filament loading & unloading. You just reverse 40mm out to take the filament out and feed 40mm in to put in a new one. It's all done from the printer UI. I used to keep PLA loaded on my printer even when I wasn't using it, because changing filament on the original Wanhao extruder is a pain. However, keeping the roll exposed to ambient humidity is bad for the filament. I'm choosing filaments now based on what I'm printing instead of what's on the printer at any given time. I'm also making prints where I change the filament color halfway through the print.

Finally, you can almost completely eliminate the ringing artifacts from Wanhao prints by using the firmware configuration to set the XY Jerk to anywhere between 8 and 12 (default is 20) and XY acceleration down a bit to something like 800 (default is 1000). Easy to try (no computer connection needed) and instantly reversible. Slightly slows down print speeds.

[aumkar]

The results look astonishing, I've printed NinjaFlex with great success on Bowden systems after fine tuning but due to TPU's water absorption property, the filament is unusable after a few weeks.

[AlanBiffable]

Great review, I had issues with ninjaflex on my gregs wades with a bowden setup. I switched to direct drive, and rammed a PTFE tube through the whole extruder, and cut a C shaped slot out of the tube where it meets the drive gear, it works great now!

[JulianBartlett]

A few years later do you still have this extruder? Did it stand up to the test of time?

[JamesBrown-zfky]

I have one of the first CTC Dual printers and I have been using TPU straight off the roll. The prints are perfect. I don’t need this expensive bit of kit.

[ionikiosslone]

Thank you for a good review; watch your show a few times a week and you do a good job. Have my Tarantula ordered, but it is out a few weeks.

[Mickice]

True, my success rate with the Aurarum TPE is quite low. The problem for me is the filament is so soft that it tears or sticks.

[secretagb]

Thanks, now I want one for my Rostock so I can finally use the three rolls of Ninjaflex I bought before I knew better!

[pabloglez]

Hi Angus, How would you print something that need support with flexible filamente and only one extruder? not dual I mean, TY nice videos BTW

[spikekent]

Great video as always Angus.
I got the E3D Titan when it was released and I have the same improvements in quality the you have with the Flexion. I also had the spare roll of flexible, exactly as you were saying. But not any more, the Titan printed it as easily as the Flexion did for you.
The Flexion is clearly more rigid than the Titan though and it has some very nice touches, like the gear brush etc.