Printing ABS

Discussion in 'Calibration, Help, and Troubleshooting' started by Spoon Unit, Apr 24, 2016.

  1. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    Is anyone printing ABS on the Bigbox? If so, please give me a rundown of your settings. I've tried three prints so far and it looks I'm not really improving. For reference I'm using E3D Everyday ABS.

    I'll add my print details below to try to give a template for reporting your details if you have success and would be so kind.
     
  2. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    Model: 20x20x6 cube

    LayerHeight 0.4mm
    FirstLayerHeight: 95%

    Surface: Glass with Hairspray
    Heated Bed: 110C

    Nozzle: 0.6mm
    NozzleTemp: 235

    Result: Warping by about 5mm of print height of base and detachment before completion
     
  3. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    Model: 20x20x6 cube with 5mm connected brim

    LayerHeight 0.25mm
    FirstLayerHeight: 95%

    Surface: Glass with Hairspray
    Heated Bed: 110C

    Nozzle: 0.6mm
    NozzleTemp: 235

    Result: Warping by about 3.5mm of print height. Killed print
     
  4. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    Model: 20x20x6 cube

    LayerHeight 0.25mm
    FirstLayerHeight: 90%

    Surface: Glass with UHU
    Heated Bed: 105C dropping to 95 on second layer

    Nozzle: 0.6mm
    NozzleTemp: 240

    Result: Much less warping. Print completed. Slightly warped base apparent.
     
  5. Old_Tafr

    Old_Tafr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2016
    Messages:
    731
    Likes Received:
    93
    Want to post your gcode file?

    I only made one print (eventually) in E3D Everyday ABS, bed 110, nozzle 235, cooling starting around layer 3 or 4 and up to 60% at layer 6 Nozzle 3 dots = 0.45 I think, on Kapton tape. Layer height 0.1mm

    A thin section 14 to 15 cm long 3 cm high 1.5 to 2mm thick with a scroll at each end started to split in the tall thin section at about 2cm up. Layers didn't adhere well to each other.

    But the raft was megga strong, layers stuck like glue, I can't break it by twisting it so I suspect I don't need any cooling.

    Happy to run a test if you post a file.
     
  6. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    The problem with a GCODE file is that it embeds temperature and cooling. The STL is really basic, have posted that.
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Old_Tafr

    Old_Tafr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2016
    Messages:
    731
    Likes Received:
    93
    Will use s3d with default settings except for cooling which I will turn off, and possibly 240 not 235 nozzle
     
  8. Sarah Nicholson

    Sarah Nicholson Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 20, 2015
    Messages:
    323
    Likes Received:
    115
    Haven't tried it on the BigBox yet, but I've always had a bugger of a job trying to get ABS to stick on my K8400. Tried hairspray, blue tape, ABS juice, glue stick, all with very mediocre results. Recently however I tried Wolfbite, and although I am usually sceptical of these sorts of 'magic potions', this stuff really works. Sticks like a dream and reduces warping a lot. I still get a bit of warping, but I think this may be down to still using too much cooling (the K8400 has a slightly stupid design where the print cooling fan and the hot end cooling fan are coupled, and it needs some cooling on the heatbreak all the time, so there's a limit to how low you can run the fan). So if all else fails, it's worth a go. It's not cheap, but a little of it goes a long way, so even the tiny bottle should last a long time.
     
  9. R Design

    R Design Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2015
    Messages:
    944
    Likes Received:
    190
    Another thought: did you check the PCB is making good contact with the glass bed so that the print can benefit from all of those 110C ?
     
  10. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    It's definitely not perfect there. There's an obvious catenary situation there. I noticed @Chase.Wichert designed springs to hold the bed up a little and I'm considering a design for this requirement too. I don't have a bunch of springs lying around.
     
  11. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    OK. Thanks for the tip. I'll look into acquiring some of that. The M3D had a similar cooling fan/heatsink fan combination meaning you always had to run it some. On that machine I settled for between 25 and 50% fan speed, but could get a complete run on as low as 10%. I was thinking of printing the HT replacement parts for the Hybrid with this, but perhaps that's just a crazy plan and I should choose something else? Colorfabb HT perhaps?
     
  12. Old_Tafr

    Old_Tafr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2016
    Messages:
    731
    Likes Received:
    93
    Bad new was I had left infill at 100%, good news is that 240 nozzle, 110 bed with NO cooling, Kapton tape on bed layer height 0.1mm, Octoprint getting the estimated time a little wrong....... but no splits no lifting........... just the annoying zits I get which may be that the feed rate is a fraction too high.

    I'm waiting for it to cool but I expect it to be very strong with the layers at 180o helping a lot.

    What infil did you use?

    PS it's also in the middle of the bed.

    I did however do some fairly precision adjusting of the bed (with a wooden stick) prior to the 9 point leveling calibration.
     
  13. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    I tend to use 12% infill on a grid pattern when I don't need a solid.
    Kapton tape. Where's that sourced from? I'll start with Google, but if you have any recommendations ....

    I didn't have any zits on mine, pretty happy with the extrusion rate. I think I tweaked the flow down to 88 for the print. I'm pretty sure I just optimized layer start points for fastest speed too, so I didn't do anything specifc to counter the zits.
     
  14. Old_Tafr

    Old_Tafr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2016
    Messages:
    731
    Likes Received:
    93
    I had some Kapton, but E3D sell a better one as it's wider. For now cleaning the bed then applying tape has worked well. Stick it at one side of the bed then holding it up at the other smooth it down with your fingers, bit like the way a decorator puts wallpaper on so it ends up smooth as it is too easy to make it wrinkle which ruins the first layer.

    http://e3d-online.com/Kapton-Tape-50mmx30m

    Start points I didn't change but may try that. It was interesting to try this as I had zits previously so wanted to see what happened on a different shape and size of print.

    I may try another later with only 15 to 20% infill and tweak the flow rate (where best? from s3d or using the front panel?)
     
  15. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Messages:
    1,561
    Likes Received:
    483
    I tweak flow on the front panel as the primary means of controlling flow. I never found estep tuning to be good for me, but if I stick with a single estep and note the good flow rate for each material, I can tweak it on the LCD each time. If the need arises, you could also alter flow rate with a GCODE command, maybe on tool change.

    Thanks for helping @Old_Tafr !
     
  16. gonzalo

    gonzalo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2016
    Messages:
    258
    Likes Received:
    146
    I just went back to the PrintInZ website just to check if there was anything new and I found this:
    http://www.printinz.com/zebra-skins/
    I have been using the zebra-plate with great success on my Afinia, I think that the zebra-skin on the BB glass will be killer!
     
    Spoon Unit likes this.
  17. Hans C.

    Hans C. Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2015
    Messages:
    129
    Likes Received:
    43
    Best results I've had so far, on a Prusa i3 (which is wide open and wags the part around), have been on blue tape with a layer of glue stick. Elmer's Xtreme seems to work better for me than UHU.
     

Share This Page