Unresolved More ABS Printing Problems

Can you give advice on the viscosity of the slurry? Is it better to be thinner, like milk or thicker like, say, motor oil?

 

One cheat method for ABS slurry is to print a cube or cylinder as best as possible with typical adhesion tricks.

Then when you want to make something with ABS you just pour a little acetone on the bed and smear it around with your block of ABS. This will leave a nice layers behind.

Beware the fumes.

 

Fumes "should be" innocuous though strong.

Point of order. Nothing will glue down stuff that wants to warp. If your problems are that great, you have other problems. If its beyond hairspray and gluestick. Examine your process and environment

 

Oh, I like this idea. I've had great prints in PLA and I would like to do the occasional ABS print. As expected I had the adhesion issues. Hairspray helped but slurry gave the best results so far. I had dissolved a bad print in acetone and 'painted' it on with a cheap brush. Hence my question about viscosity. I have not tried the glue stick yet, though. And I'm still playing around with bed and extruder temps.

 

Fans and drafts. Eliminate fans ans drafts

 

extru

Drafts should not be a big problem where my printer is located. I am still playing with the fan settings as well. At the moment I have them off for the first several layers - should I have them off all together?

 

Problem solved... Yes. Your model cooling fans will ruin an abs print in seconds. Drafts do not have to be much either. Abs requires an enclosure or a 150 degree draft free room

 

http://community.robo3d.com/index.php?threads/15-second-enclosure-for-small-medium-prints.4542/

 

I've used all kinds. Milky is kinda nice because it leaves a thin coating that tends to not distort the color as much, but a thicker consistency, like yogurt, is a bit better at getting a nice layer of plastic for it to bond to.

It's not really an exact science though.

Having tape or kapton tape on the bed gives the slurry something to stick to and you get an insanely strong bond.

 

Damn ABS is all I have to say. But slurry does work well. Just make one is whatever color you plan on printing in

 

Or get some natural ABS and use that for them all.

 

And now that I think of it, some have got some nice artistic effects by mixing colors.

I'm done spamming now.

 

Hey there is a thought that I didn't think of. I knew you were here for a reason.

 

I've found that ABS slurry tends to fade the color a bit. Using natural is an interesting idea though.

 

In my experimenting last weekend I discovered the purple glue stick works about as well as slurry and is *much* easier to clean up. I tweaked hot end and bed temps and got more improvement. Still not done with those, yet. And I think I should tweek my z offset a bit. But my ABS adventures will have to wait a while. I have some other things I really need to get printed, so back to PLA for a bit. Depending on what my 'suprise' filament from Makergeeks is, of course. While not perfect yet, I am getting decent prints from ABS.

 

I started just to find out if I could do it. Part of the learning process. I made a water wheel for my grand daughter last weekend. The wheel itself did OK. Bridges were a bit of a pfoblem, but not too bad. The stands had a bit of a curl but are otherwise very functional. The only time I might choose ABS over PLA would be for something like this - that will be wet more than dry. Or if I need the extra toughness. I'm pretty much declaring victory.