TPU 3D Printing Guide: Settings, Tips & Best Practices (2026)

What Is TPU and Why Print With It?

TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) is flexible filament. While PLA and PETG produce rigid parts, TPU produces rubbery, bendy ones — phone cases, watch straps, drone bumpers, shoe insoles, vibration dampeners, gaskets, and anything else that needs to flex without snapping.

It’s the filament I reach for whenever a part needs to survive being dropped, bent, or squished. I printed a set of TPU bumper cases for my phone — dropped the thing on concrete at least a dozen times, not a crack. PLA would have shattered on the first fall.

TPU is trickier to print than PLA. Not dramatically harder, but it requires different settings and a bit of patience. This guide covers everything you need to know.

Understanding Shore Hardness

Shore hardness measures how flexible the TPU is. Think of it like a softness scale — lower numbers mean softer and more flexible.

Shore Rating	Flexibility	Printability	Example Use
80A-85A	Very soft, highly flexible	Difficult — direct drive only, very slow	Gaskets, insoles, soft-touch grips
90A-95A	Flexible, moderate resistance	Moderate — most printers can manage	Phone cases, watch straps, bumpers
95A-98A	Semi-flexible, firm	Easy — behaves almost like PETG	Protective cases, tool grips, hinges

95A is where most people should start. It’s flexible enough to be useful, rigid enough to print without constant headaches, and the most widely available shore hardness. Most TPU filament you’ll find on Amazon UK is 95A.

I tried 85A NinjaFlex on my old Bowden extruder once. Terrible idea. The filament buckled and wrapped itself around the drive gear like a tiny rubber octopus. Took me 20 minutes to clear the jam. On my direct-drive Bambu P1S? Printed it at 20 mm/s without a hitch. Your extruder type matters enormously with soft TPU.

Direct Drive vs Bowden: It Matters

This is the single biggest factor in whether TPU printing is easy or painful.

Direct Drive Extruder

The motor sits directly on the print head, pushing filament straight into the hotend. The path from drive gear to nozzle is short (a few centimetres), giving the filament nowhere to buckle or bend.

Result: Reliable TPU printing at reasonable speeds. 95A works great, 85A is manageable, even 80A is possible with care.

Most modern printers — Bambu Lab, Creality K-series, Prusa MK4 — use direct drive. If you’re buying a printer partly for TPU, make sure it’s direct drive.

Bowden Extruder

The motor is mounted on the frame, and filament is pushed through a long PTFE tube (30-60cm) to the hotend. That long tube gives soft filament plenty of room to compress, stretch, and jam.

Result: 95A is possible at slow speeds (15-25 mm/s) with reduced retraction. Anything softer than 95A is unreliable at best, impossible at worst.

If you have a Bowden printer and want to print TPU:

• Keep speeds under 25 mm/s
• Reduce retraction to 2-4mm maximum (or disable it)
• Use 95A or stiffer
• Make sure your Bowden tube fitting is tight — any gap between the tube and hotend gives the filament space to buckle

Print Settings for TPU

Here are the settings I use as a starting point, based on testing across several printers and brands.

Temperature

Setting	Value	Notes
Nozzle temp	220-235°C	Start at 225°C, adjust ±5°C
Bed temp	45-60°C	50°C works for most TPU
First layer temp	+5°C nozzle	Helps adhesion

TPU isn’t as temperature-sensitive as PLA. There’s a comfortable 15°C range where most brands print well. If you’re getting poor layer adhesion, go hotter. If you’re getting stringing, go cooler.

Speed

This is where TPU demands respect. Print too fast and you’ll jam.

Setting	Direct Drive	Bowden
Print speed	25-40 mm/s	15-25 mm/s
First layer	15-20 mm/s	10-15 mm/s
Travel speed	100-150 mm/s	80-120 mm/s
Infill speed	30-40 mm/s	20-25 mm/s

I know — after printing PLA at 200+ mm/s, dropping to 30 mm/s feels glacial. A phone case that takes 2 hours in PLA might take 5-6 hours in TPU. That’s the trade-off. Rush it and you get jams, not prints.

Some newer direct-drive printers (Bambu Lab P1S, Creality K1C) can push 95A TPU to 50-60 mm/s. But I’d still start conservative and work up. A failed 6-hour print because you pushed the speed is not a good evening.

Retraction

Retraction is the trickiest setting for TPU. Too much and the filament compresses and jams. Too little and you get stringing everywhere.

Extruder Type	Distance	Speed
Direct drive	0.5-1.5mm	20-25 mm/s
Bowden	2-4mm	15-20 mm/s

Some people disable retraction entirely for TPU and accept the stringing. Honestly? Minor stringing on TPU is easy to clean up — a quick pass with a heat gun or lighter melts the thin strings away. Dealing with a jam mid-print is much worse.

Other Settings

• Layer height: 0.2mm standard, 0.16mm for detailed parts
• Infill: 15-20% gyroid or grid for flexible behaviour. Higher infill makes the part stiffer
• Walls: 3-4 perimeters for durability. More walls = more rigidity
• Cooling fan: 50-80%. TPU benefits from some cooling but doesn’t need as much as PLA
• Z-hop: Enable it (0.4-0.6mm). Prevents the nozzle dragging across soft, freshly printed layers

Best TPU Brands in the UK

Overture TPU 95A

Currently around £18-20 per kg on Amazon UK. Solid mid-range option with consistent quality. Prints well at 225°C on my setup. Colour range is decent but not spectacular. Good value.

eSUN TPU 95A

About £17-19 per kg. Similar quality to Overture. I’ve used their black and white extensively — both print reliably. Slightly more flexible than Overture’s 95A, though both are nominally the same hardness.

NinjaTek NinjaFlex 85A

The premium option, around £35-40 per kg. Noticeably softer and more flexible than 95A alternatives. Beautiful print quality when you get the settings right, but requires direct drive and patience. I use it for gaskets and vibration dampeners where maximum flexibility matters. Not cheap, mind.

Polymaker PolyFlex 95A

About £25 per kg. Excellent consistency, very low moisture absorption compared to other TPUs, and a wide colour range. If I could only pick one TPU brand, it’d be this one.

SainSmart TPU

Budget option at around £15 per kg. Adequate quality for the price. I’ve had occasional diameter inconsistency (1.72-1.78mm on a spool labelled 1.75mm) which can cause feeding issues with tight extruder paths. Fine for non-critical parts.

TPU Storage

TPU absorbs moisture faster than PLA. Wet TPU produces bubbly, rough surfaces and poor layer adhesion. You’ll hear faint popping sounds from the nozzle if your filament is wet — that’s moisture boiling off.

Storage rules:

• Keep sealed with silica gel packets when not in use
• If it’s been sitting out for more than a week, dry it at 50°C for 4-6 hours before printing
• A filament dryer is genuinely worth the investment if you print TPU regularly — the SUNLU FilaDryer S2 is about £40 on Amazon UK and does a proper job

I left a spool of Overture TPU out for three weeks last summer during a humid spell. The print quality was awful — stringy, bubbly, weak layer bonds. Four hours in the dryer and it printed beautifully again. Don’t skip drying.

Common TPU Problems

Filament jam: Slow down. Reduce retraction. Check for gaps in the filament path. If you’re on a Bowden setup, switch to 95A or stiffer.

Stringing: Increase retraction slightly (0.5mm increments). Lower temperature by 5°C. Increase travel speed. Accept that some stringing is normal with TPU.

Poor bed adhesion: TPU sticks well to PEI. If you’re on glass, use glue stick. Bed temp 50-60°C. Slow first layer to 15 mm/s.

Elephant’s foot (bulging first layer): Lower bed temp by 5°C or increase Z-offset slightly. TPU stays soft longer than PLA near the heated bed.

Weak layer adhesion: Increase nozzle temp by 5-10°C. Your layers aren’t fusing because the material isn’t hot enough.

What to Print With TPU

Once you’ve got TPU dialled in, it opens up a whole category of parts that rigid filaments simply can’t do:

• Phone and tablet cases
• Watch straps and bands
• Drone propeller guards and bumpers
• Vibration dampening feet for printers and electronics
• Flexible hinges and living hinges
• Shoe insoles (95A for firm, 85A for cushioned)
• Cable management clips that snap on without breaking
• Gaskets and seals

For more on how TPU compares to other filaments, see our complete filament types guide. And if nozzle choice matters for your TPU work (it does for abrasive-filled TPUs), our nozzle size guide covers the options.

The Short Version

TPU is brilliant once you respect its quirks. Direct drive extruder, slow speeds, minimal retraction, 225°C, 50°C bed. Start with 95A from Overture or eSUN, keep it dry, and don’t rush the first print. You’ll be hooked once that first flexible part peels off the bed.