3D Printer materials

[CJay]

I'm having great fun with my little Flashforge but it's apparently only good for PLA, now as far as I can see thewre aren't any glaring differences between it and the printers that print ABS as well as PLA other than a heated bed, I've also seen claims that people have successfully printed ABS with the finder.

I am wondeirng if it's worth trying ABS in it, is it likely to damage the 'hot end' or is it just likely to be an abject failure if I don't have a heated bed (something that doesn't look impossible to retro fit) or should I just wait til my second 3d printer arrives?

[sentry]

Yes, it’s possible to print ABS without a heated bed, but you will likely experience ABS warp, because the bottom of you print will cool at a different temperature than the rest of your print. You will likely also experience that you print will not stick to the bed as easily.

If your hotend can reach temperatures around 240^o C then you can use ABS. Remember that changing to PLA afterwards is a pain because you will need to clean the nozzle for ABS.

ABS is becoming less popular now when you have better alternatives filament types such as PETG, which is as strong as ABS, but much easier to print. Still recommend using a heated bed with PETG.

[cnering]

Another vote for PETG here.  It's more difficult to start out printing than PLA (you'll be printing a LOT of test cubes to get it right) but once you have the settings dialed in it's great.  Very strong, durable, flexible so it bends instead of breaks, etc.  You just need a hotend that can get to about 245*.  A heated bed is not strictly necessary, but makes things easier.

Once I started printing in PETG I never went back to PLA.  It's just better in every way.

[Discotech]

Another vote for PETG similar strength to ABS but a lot easier to work with

[Brumby]

I saw some PETG in silver that specified a temperature range of 195-225ºC, which is a pleasant discovery.

[CJay]

PETG sounds a winner, if only my printer went above 240C.

ABS is, to put it mildly, smelly when laser cut so I imagine it's similarly unpleasant when printed, the attraction though is the possibility of being able to 'polish' it with acetone as someone mentioned in another thread.

I'm hoping my second printer will be on the way soon and I'm happier to take risks with that one as it's a cheap kit which I'm expecting to have to tinker with a lot.

[Brumby]

Found where I saw it...


No affiliation - just saw it in a Youtube video.

[Discotech]

PETG sounds a winner, if only my printer went above 240C.

ABS is, to put it mildly, smelly when laser cut so I imagine it's similarly unpleasant when printed, the attraction though is the possibility of being able to 'polish' it with acetone as someone mentioned in another thread.

I'm hoping my second printer will be on the way soon and I'm happier to take risks with that one as it's a cheap kit which I'm expecting to have to tinker with a lot.

I print Innofill PetG at 210 with 75 degree bed on my ender 3, it starts melting at around 180

You should be fine, although the Innofill is expensive and there's other cheaper, probably just as capable alternatives available

[tpowell1830]

To be successful with ABS, you will need a heated bed. Also, you will probably need to construct an air shield around your printer with cardboard or some type of sheet. This helps maintain a uniform heat around the work area. And, yes it smells bad.

Hope this helps...

[hagster]

I pretty much only print ABS. Some (especially cheap) smells worse than others. For regular ABS you NEED an enclosure and some form of ambient heater(probably from a heated bed). I use ABS-X (formfutura Titan-X) that has really low (near zero) warping. It will print without the enclosure, but never tried without heated bed. The old 3D systems CubeX machines were sold as ABS printers despite not having a heated bed. Other than very small prints it never really worked though.

The main reason to pick ABS over PLA or PETG is the heat tollerence. In many ways PLA is actually stronger(ABS is tougher because it has some flex). PETG shatters when broken and crystalises if overheated. You will never remove burnt PETG from your nozzle.

Remember, there is no best material for 3DP in general and the end application amd environment should guide your choice.

[IDEngineer]

To be successful with ABS, you will need a heated bed. Also, you will probably need to construct an air shield around your printer with cardboard or some type of sheet. This helps maintain a uniform heat around the work area. And, yes it smells bad.

Agreed on every point. We've never gotten ABS, or nylon, to work reliably. The "experts" say you need a heated bed (which our Lulzbot Mini has) but also the enclosure you mention and stable ambient temperatures plus some sort of special voodoo chant to keep the ABS deities placated... it just wasn't worth it, we gave away all our spools of ABS.

Nylon has its own set of challenges, one of the biggest being that it's very hydrophilic so you're constantly heating it to get rid of moisture (yes, we kept it in sealed bags with dessicant). We also could never find the magic recipe that gave us both minimal stringiness AND good interlayer adhesion at the same time, since they have competing temperature requirements.

We've settled on PLA for most things, and it's remarkably broad in its applicability. We use PETG rarely, and flexible filament when necessary. But our go-to solution is PLA.

YMMV, just my $0.02, worth only what you paid for it, etc.

[Mechatrommer]

http://flashgamer.com/hardware/comments/heated-build-chamber-on-the-cheap

[Sudo_apt-get_install_yum]

We use about 10 FlashForge Finders at work printing PETG 24/7, just put some glue stick on the bed and it’s good to go. The printers have more than 2000 hours each printing PETG with next to no failure rate so I don’t think it will be a problem.

BTW; PET/PETG/XT is a great material to print with, its strong and slightly flexy so it won’t shatter like PLA, gives a good finish to it and best of all its easier to print than ABS. Id recommend printing with it if you want something stronger than PLA.

Also you won’t damage your printer if you print ABS; the hot ends at work have printed thousands of hours with temps of 240 degrees C and never burnt.