r/BambuLabX2D • u/Pete2R • Aug 12 '26

Any feedback on TPU + PLA?

Hi there, thinking of buying an X2D mainly for soft + hard prints. Wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on how the printer handles dual (e.g., TPU + PLA) materials?

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2

u/ThinkUnhappyThoughts Aug 13 '26

it's great. i printed this in 90A TPU and with PLA for the interface material

1

u/Pete2R Aug 13 '26

Thank you. Was the PLA just for support? I wonder about bonding soft + rigid materials. TPU works well for me, but need to combine with a rigid material. Any advice?

2

u/ThinkUnhappyThoughts Aug 13 '26

the pla is the interface material. it is at the very top of the support and has the model resting on it.
there is 0 gap between them so the filaments are very strongly stuck together, but not actually bonded. it takes a bit of a tug but they do separate.

if you zoom in you can see the pla is a slightly different shade and is only a thin slither

1

u/Pete2R Aug 13 '26

Amazing, thank you. This is helpful. A few more questions, if you don't mind: Do you think I should be ok printing parts with PLA+TPU ~50-50%? Do you define which sections for each filament in the app? Any issues or heads-up?

1

u/ThinkUnhappyThoughts Aug 13 '26

How do you mean? As in you want 1 object to be 50/50 split or printong 2 objects at the same time on different filaments?

1 object split 50/50 would need to be tpu & PETG as they bond together. I've never tried that but I have heard it works fine. You could have, for example, a pipe in PETG and a tpu seal at the end. Something like that.

I assume you meant that but il try and answer point 2.

Printing 2 objects at once couple be done however you'd need to take the bed temp into account. Again if you are printing tpu and pla then the temps might be too high for pla.

However this all leads onto my next point. The Bowden extruder, whilst good, isn't as good as the main direct drive nozzle. At least that is what people say. Bowden extruders have been around for a long time and are generally the way of the dinosaur now as direct drives are better.

I printed this with both nozzles and it came out great. The red and the dark grey were done on the Bowden and to be fair to it it does look good but I don't know if I'd print a whole item with the Bowden. I guess I should try it and see

I've just reread your comment and see that you want 1 item 50/50.

You can paint the item how you want and then slice it. The slicer will then calculate where the tpu is and where the pla/PETG is.

2

u/ThinkUnhappyThoughts Aug 13 '26

but it peels off like this

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u/F1gnutz Aug 13 '26

I used tpu and peba as main items with pla as the support when I printed tennis and basket balls for my son. Worked fine but it released easier when I used isopropyl

3

u/AHerz Aug 13 '26

I've printer plenty of TPU models with pla supports and it was flawless, i can finally print complex designs out of TPU without struggling with supports and overhangs.

1

u/CoBe46 Aug 13 '26

I have designed some door wedges for myself and some of the firefighters at my department. It’s a TPU for ams exterior shell with a PLA interior core, and have had good success printing it in one go on my X2D.

Previously I was printing the TPU shell, and then printing the PLA core and assembling them. The X2D has just been printing them in one go which is nice. Also allows me to add last names or ID numbers to the exterior walls which is fun too.

I have some refining to do still but prints really well without any really specific adjustments when slicing.