Hi everyone, I really appreciate any help you can offer!
I’ve been having major issues with printing ABS these past few days, and I can’t seem to get it sorted out. Specifically, larger, flat prints just refuse to adhere to the bed. The prints start to lift off the bed mid-print, leading to warping or total failure. Oddly enough, prints with a smaller contact area on the bed are adhering just fine or were until i started playing around to fix it and now im lucky to get it to stick at all.
I did run the calibrations which annoyingly enough stuck perfectly fine
Here’s what I’ve tried so far:
Cleaned the bed multiple times
Swapped print beds out
Changed out the filament: I’ve switched to a new spool of Tecor ABS filament as i was getting some areas that looked as if the walls might not be melting together.
Printed PLA without issues: Just to check if it was a bed or design problem, I printed the same designs in PLA, and they adhered perfectly. So, I don’t think it’s a problem with the model or the bed surface.
I’m running out of ideas here and getting really frustrated. If anyone has any tips, suggestions, or can spot something obvious that I might have missed, I’d be so grateful!
Here are the settings I’m using for Tecor ABS filament:
First, use a filament dryer. 45degC for 4 hours before you start your print.
Locate the print on the bed away from the printer door. And/or apply the door gap sealing mods that are available in multiple places.
I assume the 100 deg C bed setting is the plate type you are using.
Set brim to outside only. Use an 8mm brim and make the brim gap to part 0.
This works for me and I only print ABS.
Let us know how you get on.
Did you put it in the middle for the print that failed? Or the one you’re about to do?
Post the 3mf project file so we can see what you mean. Saves a lot of time asking questions.
Is that Inkstation’s ABS? 250 (if that’s what you meant by in the middle) is a bit too low for ABS, that coupled with the print speed is why you’re getting weak layer bonds. I’d go for 270-275. I’ve found Tecor ABS to shrink about 0.65%, I used cover my machine with a blanket to get the temp up, but I still got some warping. Have you tried using the standard Bambu ABS profile? Using glue will help a lot with ABS but can make the brims nearly impossible to remove. Before you lose hope with ABS, I would suggest you get one roll of Bambu ABS to get a baseline of how it show perform. I get between 0.4% - 0.5% shrink with BB ABS and about 0.17% ABS-GF.
NICE!!! Thanks for posting actual data! This is what I’m talking about when I harp on the the need to post empirical data, not something one just reads on reddit. This is a great point and to add on top of this, that measurement is also 5g=5cc=5ml of water that was in the filament. To put that in perspective that’s roughly a teaspoon of water. In this case, it’s also 0.5% moisture content. While that may not seem like much, it can certainly interfere with the quality of the print.
I had it set to 100 for the failed prints. I just finished scrolling Reddit for Answers and I think the issue could be the fan and the fact my enclosure isn’t airtight so may not be warm enough. Tomorrow I’ll try my dropping the cooling and then if that’s no I’ll share the file
Yea ink stations brand
I’ll defiantly give your settings a go. I don’t normally print with ABS but I’m moving over to it and it’s been a nightmare :D. I didn’t realise it was so sensitive to temperature changes.
There is a good chance my cooling settings are a bit high face and the winner being that i have a spacer on top of my P1S because the chamber was to hot for PLA soo yeah the cambers probably loosing all the heat …like i intended it to do…oops
Thank you all for giving me a place to start. After posting i went to reddit and pretty sure my problem is that I didn’t do any research into the filament before trying it and was just lucky for 5 or so prints that I didn’t have any issues. I’ll take the spacer off the printer, heat the chamber and try again tomorrow.
problem: minimum layer time 3 secs is too short. slow down speed, decrease minimum cooling. when you print abs too fast, and cool it too fast, you warp, causing layer delamination, which attatches to nozzle and drags your entire print away. NO GLUE STICK. glue stick doesnt help with adhesion in fact it helps to detatch from plate to not damage it. use hairspra or 3DLAC. or other purposful bed adhesuves like vision miner nanopokymer
Is that straight out of the vacuum-sealed package with the desiccant pack in it? Or is that out of an open package subjected to the atmosphere?
I wouldn’t expect to lose much water from a fresh stock. sealed and dessicanted pack which is what you’ve demonstrated.
Leave it open for a week and see what you get. Assuming you’re not in the desert.
ABS behaves ok once you have dialled in your setup and methods. I use a few brands (cheap an nasty too) and they all play nice, good habits like drying the filament and plate hygiene will see better outcomes. I find there are days when the moons are in alignment and nothing will work, this happens with all printers/materials and on those days, I walk away and do something else.
Build plates. Gluestick DOES work, it promotes the adhesion on smooth plates in my experience. If you’re using a textured plate no glue is needed, I have an old one with hundreds of hours on it that grips really well, I recently gave it the emery paper freshen up and it is like new again. I don’t mix materials on plates, contaminants do stay embedded and won’t wipe away with dishsoap/ipa. I basically use 110c first layer and 100c for the rest.
Chamber temps can play a part, but focus more towards keeping it stable and draughts out. I print regularly from stone cold with zero issue with ABS/ASA, even PA with shorter prints. Close the door/lid and leave it shut is a good habit though if you’re having issues. If you can keep the print warm as it builds you’ll have better chance of success.
Model design can influence lifting, but I find more surface area helps. Brims are security but won’t counter bad design, they’ll lift just the same as a model.
Print profile. I have a dedicated base profile for ABS, it is slowed to roughly 80-150mm/s max across the board. I use equal bottom and top layers, usually 4-5, I think this helps balance shrinkage. Walls are between 2-4 depending on the model, again more can work against you with cooling as it shrinks.
This is what I’m talking about when I harp on the the need to post empirical data, not something one just reads on reddit. This is a great point and to add on top of this, that measurement is also 5g=5cc=5ml of water that was in the filament. To put that in perspective that’s roughly a teaspoon of water. In this case, it’s also 0.5% moisture content. While that may not seem like much, it can certainly interfere with the quality of the print.
ill keep you posted 
