MH Build Series TPU Review

I’d consider MH Build Series TPU if you want flexible covers, bumpers or other hobby parts and your printer supports flexible filament. Based on its specifications and reported prints, I’d consider one spool a reasonable first step into TPU. The main tradeoff is setup: expect to manage moisture, check the feeding path and adjust settings before tackling a long print.

This is firm, 95A TPU, so don’t buy it expecting every shape to feel squishy. It also isn’t suitable for automatic feeding through Bambu’s AMS filament feeders. Those limits matter more than its place in a budget range.

What Can You Make With MH Build TPU?

TPU stands for thermoplastic polyurethane, a flexible printing plastic. MatterHackers lists MH Build Series TPU in 1kg spools, with 1.75mm and 2.85mm diameter options. This review focuses on the 1.75mm version; the reported print examples below used Translucent Purple. Don’t confuse it with MatterHackers’ separate PRO Series flexible materials.

The listed hardness is Shore 95A. Shore hardness describes how much a material resists being indented. Within the Shore A scale, a lower number means softer material. At 95A, you’re considering a relatively firm flexible filament, not something that automatically feels like soft silicone.

Hardness doesn’t tell you how easily a whole printed object will bend. Your design matters, too. Thin walls can bend more easily, while thicker walls and more infill—the plastic structure inside the part—make it harder to squeeze. That’s general flexible-filament behavior, not a measured MH Build result.

Print a small sample with your intended wall thickness before deciding whether it feels right. A slip-on cover or a small bumper is a sensible project to try.

A bracket that must stay rigid calls for another material. The available evidence also doesn’t establish a safe load, impact-protection rating or service temperature for an MH Build print, so keep your first projects to jobs where failure would be an inconvenience.

Will MH Build TPU Work With Your Printer?

First, match the filament diameter to your printer. A printer designed for 1.75mm filament cannot use the 2.85mm spool simply because both are TPU.

Also check that its extruder—the mechanism that grips and pushes filament—is intended for flexible materials. MatterHackers’ compatibility guidance specifically calls for that capability.

A direct-drive extruder puts the feeding gears close to the heated nozzle. A Bowden setup pushes filament through a longer tube between them. The shorter path generally makes flexible filament easier to control, but neither label guarantees success or failure. Gaps around the gears can let soft filament buckle, and a dragging spool can make feeding harder.

For a Bowden printer, check its own TPU instructions before buying. The Kobra Go example below shows that MH Build TPU can work in one Bowden configuration; it doesn’t establish support for every Bowden machine.

The original Bambu AMS, AMS lite and AMS 2 Pro don’t support automatic feeding of ordinary soft TPU. With these systems, feed MH Build 95A TPU through the external-spool route described in your printer’s instructions.

The AMS HT offers another route: its bypass outlet lets generic TPU leave the unit without going through its automatic feeder. You still have to load and unload MH Build manually, following Bambu’s instructions for your printer.

If automatic feeding is essential, Bambu TPU for AMS is the relevant alternative. Its 68D hardness uses a different Shore scale and represents a much harder material. It isn’t a direct substitute when you need the feel of 95A TPU.

Getting Your First MH Build TPU Print Right

Start with your printer’s flexible-filament profile in the slicer, the software that prepares a model for printing. Treat it as a starting point, not a tested MH Build recipe.

MatterHackers’ product page gives a nozzle range of 230–250°C and 40–60°C for the bed, the surface the part prints on. Its linked technical sheet instead lists 210–240°C and 20–60°C.

For a small test, choose a nozzle temperature within the shared 230–240°C range and a 50°C bed, provided your printer and build surface allow them. These are starting settings, not a proven MH Build profile; adjust based on the test print.

The series page lists 50mm/s, while the technical sheet allows 30–100mm/s. For an initial trial, 30mm/s is a cautious choice within that sheet’s range.

Slower printing reduces pressure in the nozzle, making flexible filament less likely to buckle during feeding. Faster reported prints don’t make 100mm/s a sensible default on an unfamiliar setup.

Drying deserves attention before you chase settings. Moisture in flexible filament can cause popping, rough surfaces and stringing—fine strands of plastic between printed features.

MatterHackers’ general flexible-filament guide suggests roughly 57°C for six hours. That isn’t a separately validated MH Build drying schedule: check the spool’s instructions and your filament dryer’s limits before using it. Store dried filament sealed with desiccant, which absorbs moisture.

Follow your build-plate maker’s TPU preparation advice. Flexible materials can stick too firmly to some surfaces, including PEI coatings; a glue-stick layer can act as a separator where the plate instructions call for one. The separator helps you remove the print without damaging the surface.

Keep the spool turning freely so the extruder doesn’t have to pull against resistance. Use the printer’s flexible-material retraction settings first. Retraction pulls filament back to reduce oozing while the nozzle moves between features without printing.

That back-and-forth feeding can bunch up flexible filament where the feeding path has gaps. If that happens, follow your printer maker’s TPU troubleshooting guidance; the right amount of retraction depends on the extruder. Turning it off isn’t a universal fix.

What Can You Expect From MH Build TPU Prints?

In one reported test, an Anycubic Kobra Plus printed a large McGybeer Cute Octopus in MH Build Series Translucent Purple TPU at 40mm/s. The reported result had only slight stringing, and the print took 32 hours and 23 minutes.

A separate Kobra Go test used MH Build Translucent Purple TPU for a bag-shaped model in vase mode. This mode makes a continuous single outer wall, reducing the interruptions involved in printing separate features.

The layer height—the thickness of each printed layer—was 0.2mm. At a stated speed of 65mm/s, the model finished in two hours and 29 minutes, with a clean reported finish and no feeding trouble on the Bowden extruder.

Neither account provides a complete TPU temperature, retraction and drying record, or repeated trials across spools. The vase-mode result also doesn’t tell you how a detailed cover with holes and frequent nozzle moves between features will turn out. Treat these as successful examples, not guaranteed results across colors or printers.

A few fine strings may only mean cleanup. Missing plastic, badly fitting openings or layers that pull apart affect whether you can use the part.

These examples don’t tell you how accurately parts fit, how strongly layers bond or how long a part lasts when you bend it repeatedly. Before making several copies, check one print’s fit and flex it in the way you intend to use it. A good-looking surface alone doesn’t settle whether the part works.

Is MH Build TPU Worth Buying For Your Projects?

I’d try one spool if you have a suitable feeding setup, want firm flexible parts and can spend time adjusting settings with a small test print.

MatterHackers positions Build as its budget range, but that doesn’t establish that this is the cheapest equivalent TPU or that it produces more usable parts per spool.

Skip it if you need rigid parts, much softer cushioning or automatic AMS feeding. Bambu TPU for AMS resolves that last mismatch if its harder feel suits your design; it won’t give you the same flexibility as 95A TPU.

Buy more once your first cover or bumper fits and bends the way you need.