Easy ABS / ABS-T how to print it?
Hello everybody,
when I try to print with the "Prusa ABS" slic3r preset I get nothing but molten prints. The Prusa ABS setting uses 255C on the hotend - ABS-T is specified for 230 to 250C.
So I printed a temperature tower - but that also came out very bad and I eventually stopped it to not further damage my printer.
So I slowed down my prints to under 50 mm/s - still no difference.
Then I read about cooling and auto-cooling. I think here is the issue. "Prusa ABS" setting has cooling disabled. I guess because cooling is considered "bad" for ABS-T. Well, the specs say "no" to part cooling fan: https://www.filament-pm.cz/filament-1-75-abs-t-transparentni-1-kg/p17?fileId=100&do=downloadFile
But when I turn on cooling at like 20% (always on) prints come out very nice. But I wonder if bigger prints would now fail because of bad layer adhesion. So I think auto cooling should be used cleverly.
What are your settings for ABS-T / Easy-ABS? Please share!
Best regards,
Stahlfabrik
Re: Easy ABS / ABS-T how to print it?
I printed ABS for the first time and found the same issues. I figured out the default fan temp for ABS was too low and you can see the results. If you have the new R3 extruder upgrade the fan speeds are a lot lower.
Re: Easy ABS / ABS-T how to print it?
Bed adhesion is not a problem for me.
The problem is dimensional accuracy and the melting of the parts that I print to dial in the settings.
I print already at not faster than 50mm/s. Yesterday I enabled auto cooling with fans off, so that the minimum layer time is 30s. That improved quality of my test piece but the overall quality still is really bad (deformed). I print in an enclosure.
So I could try lowering the temperature more, increase layer time more and maybe add an sacrificial object to the bed to increase cooling on my main part.
The funny thing is that if I turn on the fan to 20%, quality is perfect:-) So maybe I can get away with increasing temperature to something high like 260 and use the fan. But every source on the net says it is bad to use the fan...
Re: Easy ABS / ABS-T how to print it?
So if I up temperature to 260C and use always a fan of 20% the prints turn out perfect optically and dimensionally. But the layer adhesion is not very good: Small parts can be broken with hands, bigger layers even easier with pliers.
So fan makes the print beautiful but weak. I now added a scape goat object to the platter: A cylinder, one extrusion width thick. The circumference is chosen, so that the minimum layer time of 30s is spent to print that circle at minimum speed of 5mm/s (diameter 50mm).
I am just starting the print and are excited if that will get my head out of the loop.
Edit: That is it. I will post some time later a little "how-to" how I created a scape goat object and use slic3rs per object settings to print that object SLOW so that time is spent printing it, so that the wanted ABS part has lots of time to cool down. Using that trick I got the same nice finish as with the settings with fan, mentioned above. But the object is stronger. I still think it should be even stronger, cause the melted objects are hard like a stone:-) So I need to tune my settings even more (print slower, and maybe even spend LESS time on the scape goat object). 😆
Re: Easy ABS / ABS-T how to print it?
So if I up temperature to 260C and use always a fan of 20% the prints turn out perfect optically and dimensionally. But the layer adhesion is not very good: Small parts can be broken with hands, bigger layers even easier with pliers.
You can also try increasing the extrusion width. That will give you extra smoosh on the layers and improve layer bonding.
RE: Easy ABS / ABS-T how to print it?
Bed adhesion is not a problem for me.
I have a single roll of Prusa Black ABS-T that I cannot get to stick to the plate. The rest work find.
I have to use hair spray to promote adhesion.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog