First attempt at ABS - How do you guys do it?

[ramai]

I've been printing PLA since day one. It's been good. Thought I'd try ABS. I printed something small, and it warped off the bed. Just curled right up and delaminated into pieces.
I decided maybe the roll maybe was to blame, so i started a large dragon print thinking it would fail epically. It did finish, but it's not nearly as nice as the PLA stuff I usually print. What's the trick to this stuff? Can you determine anything I am doing incorrectly by the photos? Thanks!

It's nice and big but it's messy

lots of little fragments and bits

looks like it skipped a layer on the arms

delaminated on the wing

Temperature 230, bed temp 80.
layer height .2, infill 30%

[BenTheRighteous]

Temperature 280?! That is wayyyyy too hot for most designs. Try 260 at most, or 245 is probably more reasonable generally.

I think a lot of people that have success printing with ABS (myself included) have sealed enclosures for their printers. That really helps on the warping / delamination front.

[ramai]

Oh whoops, I meant 230. Oy, 280 would be pretty hot. Sorry about that, I'll update the post. Haha! The default was 228, but I upped to to 230 because I like nice round numbers.

[ramai]

Now I'm curious to see what would happen if I did print at 280...

[Tincho85]

Did you calibrate your extruder? So that when you extrude 100mm its 100mm. Check doodatdoes youtube channel for a simple tutorial.
Small perimeters and low infill helps a lot with big prints. The new 3D honeycomb infill from Slic3r works great at 10% or 5%.
Yes, an enclosure it's a must too.

Whats your speed and retraction settings?

[BenTheRighteous]

It depends on the filament but I'd up the temp to 240ish and increase your retract. If memory serves, I think you can't retract PLA very var before it starts jamming; ABS doesn't have that issue so much. Maybe try retract in the 5-6mm range, that's what works for me.

[ramai]

Thanks for the input. I'll try upping the temp. Do you mind posting your retraction settings? Mine are here.

[geneb]

I'd slow that retract back to around 45mm/sec and change the retract length to 5. My z-lift is set to .2.



g.

[ramai]

This might be a good time to ask, why does the layer fan not run with ABS?

[geneb]

Because it'll cause your parts to warp/split. ABS *HATES* being cooled during a print. That's why The Big Boys use heated build chambers for ABS. There _are_ certain circumstances were you would use a fan, but it's pretty rare.

g.

[ZakRabbit]

This might be a good time to ask, why does the layer fan not run with ABS?

Because... you know...."shrinkage."

[BenTheRighteous]

I can post my settings when I get back home. Yours are pretty reasonable though. The only thing I see is that your minimum travel is a bit high, I think mine is 3mm.

[ramai]

I wonder with the advent of the new filament types like pte+ etc if abs will go the way of the dinosaur. Seems like abs is not temperature stable, and you have to accommodate it in so many ways.
If I decide to enclose my rmx will it be useful for other materials as well?

[BenTheRighteous]

I also wonder the same things.

If you do build an enclosure, at least it won't HURT anything. But if it will be helpful, who knows.

[ramai]

Thanks for all of the tips, the changes suggested definitely have improved things. Printing at a higher temperature has definitely made a big difference I think. I still have issues with tall models splitting, but I think the main fix for that is enclosing the printer.

the classic labyrinth gift box, I love this thing

a hot air balloon to be used as a decoration at a baby shower. It split but definitely turned out useful still. This one was my own design.

[stonewater]

if you have any splitting clear thin abs glue (tap plastics has it) will seal them up nicely. just need a bit of pressure on the joint after gluing. then an acetone brush will make your part shiny...

Tom C

[0110-m-p]

Best things I have done to improve splitting are print hotter (depending on brand/color I print ABS up to 255C, pretty much never below 235C), go slower (max speed for bigger objects is 30mm/s), and block airflow to the print area some how (just making a triangle out of 3 USPS medium flat rate boxes work for a long time for me).