Upgraded softer TPU Gaskets for Vacuum Chucks

Boost Me All boosts are greatly appreciated as I'm building my 3D model library. Thanks! These are the TPU gaskets I made to go along with my 3.5" , 4.5" and 5.5" vacuum chucks. You could use closed cell foam instead of this gasket but I wanted to see if a printed gasket would work. I specifically printed these with my 0.6 nozzle and tuned the profile to that size. I'm sure you could adapt these to a 0.4 nozzle.

95A TPU was too hard. I used 85A TPU and it was finicky, you basically have to feed it directly into the extruder, if it has to pull at all the filament stretches so I had to baby sit the printer even though this was on an external spool. Some have suggested using TPE but I haven't done that yet. My V1 gaskets were still too hard and so I spent some time refining the design and the print settings and these are much softer and do a better job of conforming to the bowl. They are thicker and taller to allow for more infill, but also I thinned the top layer as much as possible but still keeping a smooth finish over the infill to keep the interface softer.

If you'd like to leave a tip/buy me a coffee I'd appreciate it!

It does need to be glued on with silicone/flexible adhesive to maintain an airtight seal. I did also wipe it down with DMSO to smooth it a bit but that's optional. If you're printing my chuck models you'll need to smooth or finish the chuck as well to make it airtight.

85A TPU Settings:

215 Nozzle Temp

Aux Fan off for the first 2 layers, and then 30%

Min fan: 30%

Max fan: 50%

Retract Length: 1mm

Retraction speed 25mm/sec

The speeds in the file are important- 30mm/sec for most parts, 40mm/sec for infill.

Walls are 3, top layer is 0.7mm thick

All the patterns need to be concentric so the gasket can compress properly.