I currently have a P2S and I love it. To speed up the TMT print process, I am debating on getting a 2nd printer just for TPU. This way I can dedicate it to just TPU and I will not have to set up and take down my TPU external spool holder when switching back and forth. This should also cut down the total printing time almost in half.
I am looking at either the A1 or a P1S. My local Microcenter has a refurbished A1 for $263.99 and a P1S refurbished for $339.99 and both come with 1 year warranty and free 60 day tech support.
I’m thinking about getting another also. Not just for capacity and speed, but also for redundancy. I had an issue I’ve been working through for a few weeks, and I’ve been stuck without a printer that whole time.
If you have the space and the funds, I’d say go for another. I’d lean toward the PS1 personally, as I think the enclosure and the fixed bed are a big upgrade.
Either printer will do just fine. I would lean more towards the A1 just to save the cost. Currently I am printing all of my TPU on one of my A1’s and its doing great.
How does the A1 do with the handle cushion? The print I just finished it was pretty floppy while the print head moved over it. I was thinking the bed slinger A1 would make it wiggle more. It could just be the softness of the TPU I was using. It was a 95a but pretty flexible. Thanks for the input.
Humidity has been an issue for me so I have my A1 in a very large enclosure and monitor the temp so it never even gets close to the 83 degree operating limit (how do the people down south even deal with that low of a number?) I run a small dehumidifier I got off Amazon inside the enclosure (don’t know if it actually helps yet) My A1 prints TPU very well. I still swap out Spools every two prints and put them back in a dryer between prints. I haven’t even tried TPU in my P2S.
That thing is a PITA to print on any printer in my opinion. The fillet on the ends is just not good. But it does ok with it.
I am in FL, so high humidity and high temps in the summer. But my printers are all in an airconditioned room and I have a very large dehumidifier that runs 24/7 and keeps the room around 40-45% humidity. It takes a while for the filament to soak up enough moisture at that. I am not dealing with an enclosure and all that for the A1. Kudos to you for going through that hassle lol.
I have a P1S and an H2D. The P1S prints all my TPU including the foaming TPU and the H2D prints all the PETG. It significantly improves the printing time to have two.
I am blessed to have 4 older 235x235 printers with direct drive. Those are my TPU machines. Its so helpful to have the ability to get them all to share the TPU work which is a slow and steady wins the race kind of thing.
I went to 5 bottom shell layers, just like the top is set at, and it has solved that issue. Eliminating the holes in the back cushion solved the rest.
I tried cutting off the very bottom fillet in the slicer, but the edge then seemed sharp. By keeping the fillet but making the first five layers solid, the edge still seems soft, but I don’t have any issues with the overhanging unsupported first few layers.
I have my X1 dedicated to TPU until that’s done and then it goes to random PETG parts remaining. My X2D runs the main PETG, although I wish I had gotten the H2C now instead of the X2C for all of the multi color printing going on…plus, it’s really cool.
I would go with P1S—it’s more versatile than A1 (enclosed core xy) and it takes less space. The main advantages A1 has is the speed with which you can swap nozzles, but it is only a slight QOL improvement.
I have my A1 mini and Prusa MK3 as dedicated TPU printers. The former fits 4 tires and the latter 6.
We have about 100 P1S’s. they are work horses. i prefer enclosed to open. on tall stuff like the back unit you’ll have better luck on a core XY instead of a bed slinger.