Filament Friday: Tough Ink Gives Your Prints Flexibility

M3D makes a tiny little printer — so tiny that I want to put it on a chain and wear it around my neck like Flavor Flav does a clock. To compliment this printer, they have come out with their own range of filaments also and this week we are taking a look at their Tough Ink.

The marketing lingo on Tough Ink can be a little misleading but it boils down to a flexible filament designed for the M3D Micro or any other printer you want to use it in. Flexible filaments can be considered “tough” because the flexibility will allow your print to give in situations where traditional filaments like PLA could break due to their brittleness.

I printed my standard test print on the Micro, which normally feels small on other printers but fills almost the entire Z print space on this machine. The Micro’s extruder has a very short path and M3D has created a profile for their Tough Ink that prints at the same speed as their PLA. My print showed some defects and I think these could be fixed with some work on the profile. The overall print isn’t quite as soft as a NinjaFlex print (the most popular flexible filament on the market) but this added stiffness helps with printability.

If you are an M3D owner and interested in printing with flexible filaments, I would recommend giving Tough Ink a shot. If you own another printer, Tough Ink might not be on your radar but it has a great range of colors available and comes in small 250 gram spools making it easy to expand your flexible color pallet.