Help needed printing small ABS objects

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1

Hello, i was trying to print a small connector for a part that should stay in a car interior
I first tried with PLA but it obviously was not fit for the job due to car temps, i switched to PETG and I was almost there, but in italy summer can be very hot and so even PETG deformed after a while.
So i decided to try ABS and this is where my problem started… the connector is a small sphere with a cylinder on top.

i have tried to print it with eSun ABS-HF but, for the life of me, i failed miserably so far. You can see some of the best (!) results in the following photo. (The good looking one (rightmost) is printed in PETG)

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I suspect the problem is due to overheating, with the nozzle coming back to the same spot before the plastic has dried enough, watching it during print i can see it seems “wobbly”. The best results i got, in fact, occurred when on the plate there were other objects.
Since this is ABS the fan not working and if i try to use it i get bed adhesion problems.
I have tried printing at 250C (the range for this filament is 230-270) and down to 230C but nothing changed.
I have tried to slow down the speed with modifiers (in BambuStudio slice preview i see the speed down to 10 for the whole object)

Since i am still pretty new to this world i have ran out of ideas and asking for help

Beside filling the plate with objects that i do not need… how can i print accurately a small object in ABS / ASA (tried polymaker’s ASA with even worse results)

P.S. i tried printing either with the sphere as base or with the cylinder as base, nothing really changed… with the sphere as base it was printed slightly deformed (elongated in heigth)

2

While I do not have experience with ABS myself, I do not find the suboptimal overhang performance surprising when considering the fan was not used due to warping.
Have you tried delaying the fan switch-on for a few more layers than the default 3? And added a Brim?
You may also want to heat soak your printer ahead of printing to combat warping. Finally, what works for me on PETG (as I said, little ABS experience) is to reduce layer height.

Regarding the “wobbles”, it does make sense to print several parts in parallel to increase layer time while keeping the hot nozzle away from the individually cooling parts. Again, a prior heat soak (especially on short prints) and low layer heights may help.

Hope this helps. Maybe some actual ABS cracks will join the discussion. In that case, take their advice, not mine.