Prusament TPU 95A Review

I’d consider Prusament TPU 95A if you want flexible grips, protective covers or spacers and your printer can feed flexible filament. Its clearest selling points are Prusa’s material profiles and the manufacturing data you can check for each spool. Those are useful reasons to choose it, especially on a supported Prusa printer.

The biggest drawback is cost: it’s more expensive by weight than a budget option such as Overture TPU 95A. The documented properties make it a promising choice for practical parts, but they don’t establish that your prints will look better or last longer than cheaper TPU.

How Flexible Will Your Prusament TPU 95A Parts Be?

TPU stands for thermoplastic polyurethane, a plastic that can bend and stretch rather than behaving like a rigid plastic shell. The “95A” describes its hardness on the Shore A scale, which measures how much a small probe presses into a material. It’s toward the harder end of that scale. Don’t expect a solid block of it to feel like a soft sponge.

Your part’s shape matters just as much as the label. A thin strap can bend easily, while a thick spacer made from the same spool can feel quite firm. More walls and more infill—the pattern of plastic inside the part—generally make the print harder to squeeze. Fewer walls and a less densely filled interior leave more room for movement.

For a grip, that means you can adjust how much it gives under your fingers without changing filament. For a protective cover, you might want thin sides that stretch over the object, with thicker corners. A spacer may need enough material inside to keep its shape when squeezed. You’ll still need to check how your finished part feels.

Print a small section of your design before committing to the whole thing. Keep the intended wall thickness and infill so you can judge the feel fairly. If it’s too stiff, changing those settings may help; if the part must be both thick and very soft, this may be the wrong material. A hardness number also can’t tell you how many times a strap will bend before it wears out.

What Your Printer Needs To Feed Prusament TPU 95A

This filament is 1.75 mm in diameter. Prusa’s detailed material guide names profiles for the CORE One, XL, MK4S, MK4 and Pro HT90. A profile is a saved set of settings in PrusaSlicer, the software that prepares your model for printing. Choose the one matching your printer and nozzle.

Prusa’s shop page says profiles cover all its filament printers, but its detailed guide says some older models may lack them. That doesn’t necessarily rule out an older printer: Prusa lists the MK3S+ and earlier models as compatible, though adjustments may be needed.

Before buying for an older Prusa or another brand, check for a suitable material profile and the printer maker’s flexible-filament guidance. Without a prepared profile, expect to adjust settings yourself. A printer that reaches the right temperature may still struggle to push soft filament through its loading path.

Prusa specifies a nozzle range of 220–240 °C and a heated bed range of 55–75 °C. You don’t need an enclosure around the printer. If you use a high-flow nozzle inside one, Prusa advises leaving the door open; opening the CORE One ventilation grille is sufficient to let heat escape.

On the MK4 and MK4S, use the recommended filament guide. It keeps the filament slightly taut, which Prusa says helps it feed more reliably into the print head.

Loading deserves attention because soft filament can bend before it reaches the gears that push it toward the nozzle. Prusa explains how to feed the filament past difficult sections on the original CORE One and XL. CORE One+ and CORE One L printers have a side-sensor switch that loosens the mechanism to make flexible filament easier to load; follow the instructions for your hardware.

One CORE One+ owner initially reported loading failures and chewed filament. They later found a side filament sensor stuck on “inserted.” After freeing its lever by loosening the housing, loading worked and they reported successful printing with the default profile. Check for a loading fault before deciding your printer needs a modification.

Also check any plan involving automatic material changes. An XL with multiple print heads supports combining flexible and rigid materials, but that doesn’t establish compatibility through an MMU3 or an AMS automatic filament feeder. Don’t buy this spool for automatic switching without confirmed support for your exact setup.

Supports—the temporary structures printed beneath otherwise unsupported areas—deserve a trial too. General TPU guidance warns that they can stick stubbornly. Clean removal from Prusament TPU 95A remains uncertain, whether you print the supports in TPU or another material. For a first project, choose a shape that needs few or none.

Drying Prusament TPU 95A And Choosing A Print Sheet

Prusa describes this TPU as absorbing relatively little moisture, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get damp. Its detailed guidance says drying usually isn’t necessary unless storage conditions lead to printing problems. The shop’s beginner tips recommend drying more generally. If you don’t know how the spool was stored, drying before a long print is a reasonable precaution.

For this filament, Prusa specifies at least four hours at 60 °C, followed by storage in a drybox that keeps moisture out. Use equipment that can hold that temperature. Don’t substitute hotter instructions meant for another TPU. If fine threads appear between parts of the print—a problem called stringing—Prusa recommends trying drying as part of troubleshooting.

The build sheet—the surface your part prints on—matters too. Prusa’s preferred sheets are sold as Satin and PA Nylon. Follow their different cleaning instructions: isopropyl alcohol for satin, water for PA Nylon.

Prusa also lists its PP and textured sheets as suitable, though prints can stick too firmly to textured sheets. For a stubborn print on that surface, Prusa suggests warming the sheet to 40 °C and using a spatula.

Avoid printing directly on a smooth PEI sheet without a separation layer. This TPU can bond strongly enough to damage the sheet’s PEI coating during removal. If you use this surface, apply Prusa’s specified glue-stick layer first. Here, the glue helps the print release.

Large parts can still lift at the edges. On satin, Prusa suggests that larger models may need a brim, an extra border that helps hold the base to the sheet, and slightly higher nozzle and bed temperatures. Allow for that extra preparation if you’re buying TPU for a broad cover or mat.

What To Expect From Prusament TPU 95A’s Finish, Speed And Wear

Prusa claims little to no stringing and better bridges and overhangs than other TPU materials. Bridges span gaps; overhangs extend beyond the layer below them. Those claims are encouraging for covers and detailed grips, but they aren’t a guarantee of a clean underside or a thread-free print.

One useful feature is the spool’s recorded manufacturing data. Prusa specifies a diameter tolerance of ±0.06 mm for this TPU: up to 0.06 mm above or below the stated 1.75 mm diameter. Checking the recorded diameter tells you how evenly the filament was made. It doesn’t measure your printer’s feeding reliability or prove that a cheaper spool will produce worse parts.

For speed, the technical datasheet gives general guidance of up to 30 mm/s. Its own test pieces used 36 mm/s infill, showing why one speed number shouldn’t be treated as a universal limit. Use the current profile as your starting point. Don’t pay extra expecting shorter print times; a speed advantage over other TPU hasn’t been established here.

Prusa publishes tests of wear from rubbing and of how much a part stays deformed after being squeezed and released. Its test pieces were printed on an MK4S with a 0.4 mm brass nozzle, 0.20 mm layers and 100% infill, at 220 °C nozzle and 75 °C bed temperatures. That solid interior is quite different from a hollow, squeezable grip.

In the compression tests, the parts recovered less of their original shape at higher temperatures. If you’re making a spacer that stays tightly squeezed, check whether it keeps its shape at the temperature where you’ll use it.

The listed 78.6 °C heat-deflection result measures bending under a specified load as the material heats up; it doesn’t tell you how hot a part can stay during use. Prusa also claims the material stays flexible below freezing. Neither property establishes years of outdoor use, resistance to sunlight or a service life for repeated bending.

For an ordinary cover or grip, those unanswered questions needn’t rule the material out. For a seal that must stay compressed or a strap that bends constantly, they matter much more. Try the actual part under the conditions it will face before relying on it. There isn’t enough verified evidence to promise a particular wear life or the same performance across every color.

Is Prusament TPU 95A Worth Buying For Your Parts?

I’d choose Prusament TPU 95A for occasional practical parts on a Prusa with an available profile, especially if being able to inspect spool data matters to you. Its appeal is having the material settings and detailed setup guidance from the printer maker. That can be worth paying for, without assuming it eliminates adjustments or failed prints.

Overture TPU 95A is the closest useful cheaper alternative for everyday experiments. Compare equal amounts: Prusament’s regular spool contains 500 g, while Overture’s standard spool contains 1 kg. You need two of those Prusament spools to match the material in one Overture spool.

Comparing the sticker prices alone understates the difference. Include shipping in your own comparison, particularly for a small US order.

Choose Overture if material cost matters most and you’re willing to work with its settings. That’s a budget recommendation, not a claim that it matches Prusament’s finish or durability. It also doesn’t solve automatic-feeder compatibility: Overture specifically excludes AMS and AMS lite for this material.

Prusament is harder to justify if another 95A TPU already prints your parts well. There’s no established performance gain here that makes switching necessary. It’s also a poor fit if you need very soft, thick parts or expect supports to peel away cleanly without experimentation.

If you’re unsure about the feel, Prusa offers 25 g samples as well as full spools. A sample lets you try loading the filament and printing a small section of your design before buying a full spool.