To print using ninjaflex, you will need to fine tune your 3d printer. This will take some fiddling around.

A heated bed is not required.



Check Your Extruder

Ninjaflex is a bit tricky to print out and will only work on printers that have the right drive block for the extruder. For an older Replicator 2 you must install Makerbots upgrade kit which includes a spring and a roller bearing. You must also download from Thingiverse the new drive block for the kit and print it out.



If you have a different 3d printer, you should check out Thingiverse for drive blocks that use a spring and roller bearing that will fit your printer. There should be a very small gap (orange arrow) below the bearing and drive gear and the hole where it goes into the hot end of the extruder. Ninjaflex is like a wet noodle and an excessive gap here will allow it to flex and jam.



Level The Bed

There is a very small margin of error for printing a thin coating on copper. To close and the extruder will clog, too far, and it will not stick well enough to etch.



Your bed has to be very flat and very, very level. Nothing else will do.



Use calibration.stl to fine tune the leveling of the bed. Print it onto the middle of the bed in PLA. Measure all the ends and make sure they are within .002" of each other in thickness. Do Not skip this step.



Make A Trial Print

Using circuitpat.stl, print the circuit board pattern in Ninjaflex directly on the printer bed. Mark the edges of the pattern on the bed and then peel off the pattern. Use it to cut flexible circuit board material larger than the pattern.



Replicator 2 Settings

These settings work well for a Replicator 2. If you use a different printer, you may have to play with the settings.



Infill: 100 per cent

Shells: 2

Layer Height: .2mm

Temp: 225 C

Speed Extruding: 15 mm/s

Speed Traveling: 150 mm/s

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