I have a nearly full spool of Bambu ABS Silver filament. It’s been in a cabinet at about 10% humidity for about a year. I took it out to put it in a dryer and find that it snaps very easily if I just bend it. I’m wondering if this is normal? I don’t have enough experience with ABS to know how brittle it is normally.
I dried it at 70C for 24 hours and it’s just as brittle as it was. Is ABS normally brittle on the spool? I can bend it and simulate the AMS path and think it might be ok but I don’t want to have to disassemble my filament path. It doesn’t take much to snap it.
If I wrap it around my wrist (7" circumference) it won’t snap. But if I wrap it around the thickest part of my thumb, it snaps.
Oh well, as soon as the AMS loaded it to identify it and retract it, it snapped inside so I had to disassemble the AMS. It got a spring cleaning since I was in there but it looks like my ABS got too brittle from age to use. It appears that ABS has a shorter than normal storage life, even if kept well.
Take note that any section that has already been passed through the AMS will have indents from the feed rollers and this can cause brittleness. If a spool is having issues, trim off this section and this should hopefully solve your issue.
Ha, yea, no way I can do that with mine. It has apparently died of old age… I just threw it away, argggg, 800g of it. Obviously, I don’t use it or need it often but I will be mindful that if it sits around for a year or so, it can die of old age. Maybe the silver version is more susceptible, who knows. Anyway, now I have a new empty refillable spool.
Not trying to one-up anyone but my VERY oldest spool which is Hatchbox ABS is still pliable today in 2025 (just tested it again now before posting) and I bought it way back in 2018! Yup, 7 year old ABS and it is still flexible enough to wrap around my finger.
So I think it depends on the manufacturer and what additives each uses.
FWIW, I keep all my non-PLA filaments in “semi-sealed” containers (they have a sealing lid but it is not very airtight) with spool mounted desiccant holders (maybe 50g of desiccant each). RH meter says usually about 20-25%. So not stored in open air but also not delicately stored either.
As to why I still have 7 year old filament laying around - it’s because I hardly ever print ABS. Back when I bought it I was a n00b and also there weren’t so many choices then. I printed a few things, found I hated the fumes (even with an open window) and so…7 years later I still have about 300ish grams left.
But can confirm Hatchbox ABS (at least the formulation they made 7 years ago!) can stand the test of time. In my experience though, Hatchbox has always made quality filament and justifies its higher than average cost. YMMV.
