ABS folks, anyone here had a chance to compare multiple brands of ABS plastic for print quality? I’ve used plastic from one distributor, 3DPrinterstuff.com (olive drab and black) and it all curls horribly.
See my picture feed for examples.
I can print thin walled objects, but nothing with a large base.
At this point I have assumed it’s my experience and tuning but wonder if it may just be the quality of my plastic.
thoughts?
3dprinterstuff is widely recognized as one of the worst ABS vendors.
We were having issues with the original Makerbot filament We swapped over the Octave filament and haven’t had an issue yet.
I had the same olive drab filament and while it would sometime work it was such a hassle and smelled like a refinery. After using PLA almost exclusively, I recently picked up natural ABS from Ultimachine and have had spectacular results. Its a little on the large side at 1.79mm OD but it works great and is fairly white in color.
I’ve had good luck with the makerbot filament (Reactive Red, Black, Natural) - although the batch of natural that came with my ToM was horrible. The stuff I have ordered has been pretty conssitient.
Well, good news that it’s likely my filament. Thanks for all the input so far. I’m glad I’ve found that I can at least use it for hollow parts. 5 lbs of hollow parts. ‘-_-’
With curling, try making a ABS/Acetone solution and applying a thin coat to the build platform. It has made a huge difference in things sticking. Just don’t apply too much or you will never get your model off the HBP.
done. I use ABS cement also but even it will peel loose! to help with removal, try using acrylic instead of glass. covered with kapton The little bit of flex will help you peel loose parts that are adhered too well.
I see you are printing on glass - have you hit the glass with an IR thermometer to see how hot it actually is versus what the HBP reports? I have an alum plate on mine with kapton on that and I have to wait for the bed to cool before I can remove anything. If I do have curling usually it’s due to dirty/dustykapton. Quickly remedied with a spray of Castle Streak Proof Glass leaner and a dust free cloth. This is the aerosol “professional” glass cleaner that car detailers use (gloves and goggles on the safety label).
I’m interested in knowing your printer setup. What temperature do you print at? What temp is your bed? Do you have an enclosed printer? What kind of printer.
While filament does make a difference, there’s lots your can do to print with what you’ve got. Have you considered “baking out” your filament to get excess moisture out?
Hi Aaron. Thanks for the inquiry.
(Image shared in it’s own post, I can never find the url in Google+…)
I’m running a Prusa Mendel 1, RAMPS 1.4a witha 2560, arcol v4 hot end, Prusa MK1 HBP, geared extruder, 12v ATX, no enclsure, and fans on everything but Z.
I’ve ran my ABS from everything between 200-235c. Heat bed from 100-140c.
Build surface attempts: glass, acrylic, kapton, blue painters tape, packing tape, etched glass, hairspray, and the almighty ABS cement.
Best luck has been Hairspray for lighter projects and ABS cement on Kapton or Packing tape (they stick the best where blue tape will peel along with the part).
I’ve used brim in Slic3r and raft in Cura. best is to be determined. Brim is easier to remove but easier to peel as well.
I’v tried with and without a build plate fan.
I’m interested in making an enclosure but haven’t yet.
I haven’t tried baking ABS. I have tried with PLA, but I didn’t know it was recommended for ABS. Moisture effects warp?
Warp is a matter of speed of temperature change. Moisture in your plastic is going to affect that. It’s not a solution, but it can have an effect. Do you experience the same kind of warping printing hot vs printing very hot? I recommend printing at as low a temp as you can manage. I think I actually have managed ~180c. My printer is out of commission at the moment so I can’t offer you a lot of comparison items.
While it is possible to extrude ABS at ~180, it’s not likely to going to give you very good inter-layer adhesion. It might work in a heated chamber, but you definitely need a certain amount of heat to get a good bond between layers. This is why ABS prints crack if you use a cooling fan.
How about PLA? Have you tried? I know it’s not always the material people want.
In the US, its hard to find PLA filament that’s not made by Village plastics, which is crap. They extrude it at too high a temperature and let it oxidize, which is why “clear” PLA is always yellow. Diamond Age PLA is much better, and faberdashery seems to be as well. Both recently got US distributers.
I think I’m about to work with them exclusively. broad color range and nothing but good reviews. HIPLA as well. I also can’t locate the faberdashery retailer in the US… Where should I be getting my ABS from?
Personally I’ve only tried Makerbot (in the past) and Ultimachine ABS, as far as big names go. I’m not feeling the love for Makerbot so I don’t care to give them money anymore. But it’s all from Village Plastic so… who knows. I’d like to hear where people get ABS too.
http://www.handmadecircuits.com/store-2/?slug=product_info.php&products_id=53
So far, they only have the 1.75mm rainbow sample pack.
I’m trying the 1.75 mm nylon 618 copolymer when it comes out (Made in USA). It’s machinable after printing and can be dyed any color before or after printing with RIT fabric dyes. It doesn’t stick to anything but I hear using blue painters tape works for the first layer. I’ll let you know how it goes.