Creality CR-TPU Filament 1.75mm 1kg (Black): problems, parts and running costs

Checked: 2026-10-16

Summary

CR-TPU is Creality’s budget 95A flexible filament, and owners report feed and moisture trouble: spools that stick to themselves, post-print clogs that need the extruder taken apart, and inconsistent results on some Creality machines. The listing’s 120 mm/s speed claim is not supported — the manufacturer datasheet says 15-50 mm/s — and drying the spool before printing is mandatory. The only running cost is the filament itself, listed at €29.99 for a 1kg spool at Creality’s EU store in October 2026, plus an optional dryer most owners will want.

Common problems and fixes

The listing’s speed claim is wrong — the seed listing says “up to 120 mm/s”, but the manufacturer datasheet specifies 15-50 mm/s, Creality’s beginner guide recommends 15-30 mm/s, and community threads run it around 35-50 mm/s. Print slow and ignore the headline. [1][2][3]
Hard or impossible to print on some setups — multiple Reddit owners report CR-TPU being difficult or impossible to print cleanly; several reports are the generic difficulties of any 95A TPU rather than a measured defect rate. [5]
Inconsistent results on the K2 — one owner reports a decent print followed by “nothing but fuzz” on identical settings, aborting roughly 4 prints for every 1 completed. [6]
Spool self-sticking and feed resistance — the filament “comes sort of stuck to itself on the spool”, which raises feed resistance. [7]
Post-print clogging — at least one owner had to disassemble the extruder after a print, and a separate “ticking” TPU print ended in a broken extruder front shell. [8][9]
Moisture causes oozing and stringing — dry the spool before printing and store it dry with desiccant; owner practice is to dry TPU well under 15% and print around 30 mm/s. [3][4][9]
Bowden printers are a poor fit — TPU wants a direct-drive extruder; on a Bowden setup it typically needs very slow speeds and harder grades. [3]
Not for CFS or PTFE feed paths — Creality says not to run TPU through the CFS multi-material system or directly through the PTFE tube; its K2 Plus guidance says TPU harder than 90A should not use CFS. [10][11]

Parts and consumables

CR-TPU 1.75mm 1kg spool (Black) — €29.99 against a €34.99 reference at Creality’s EU store, October 2026, with volume discounts of 15% (5+), 20% (10+) and 25% (20+). The spool is 1 kg net, about 1.15 kg gross, in a 210 x 210 x 75 mm box; 95A shore hardness; reseller part numbers 3301040039 and 3301040040. [12][13][14][15]

No other parts or consumables are reported. Warranty terms vary by region: the EU store banner says up to 24 months while a retailer states 12 months. [12][13]

Yearly running cost

The only running cost is the filament itself, plus electricity for the printer and any drying. A 1kg spool is €29.99 at Creality’s EU store (October 2026), $21.99/kg according to 3D Printer World, €24.90 at Filaments.lv and NZ$31.92 at PB Tech. There are no subscriptions or proprietary consumables; the optional dryer is a one-off purchase. No owner data on how many rolls a typical user prints in a year was found.

When it is a good buy

At €29.99, less through volume discounts, it is a cheap way to try 95A TPU on a direct-drive printer, provided you dry the spool and print slowly. One retailer review calls it good quality and easy to master on direct drive. [12][20]
On a Bowden printer or through a Creality CFS multi-material system it is a poor fit — Creality itself advises against those paths.
If you need predictable TPU, the brands named in Tom’s Hardware’s tested guide are the safer default: Inland TPU for budget, MH Build Series TPU as the best pick, and NinjaTek Cheetah; CR-TPU is not listed there. [18]
Alternative: Creality’s own HP-TPU is the better choice when you need higher flow than CR-TPU’s slow window allows. [19]