ABS doesn't want to stick

[M76]

I've been printing using PLA for a long time successfully for the most part, this is the first time I'm trying ABS as a material and it's horrendous!

I just can't figure it out. So far I wasn't able to print a single layer of anything. The material just doesn't want to stick to the bed. I've tried re-leveling the bed for a tighter first layer, tried every printing temp from 220-250C° Tried bed temps from 60 to 100, nothing works.
As soon as the material is printed the next time the nozzle goes near it the already printed material sticks to the gue coming out of the nozzle and it all starts unraveling. The slicer sets the layer cooling fan speed to 100% when selecting ABS as the material, but the internet said you shouldn't use layer cooling with ABS under any circumstances. So who is wrong?

Also the ABS is too flowing, as soon as the nozzle goes over 200C° it starts dripping out in strands, and unlike PLA that stops flowing almost immediately when the extruder stops, this just keeps going with no end it is in a liquid state almost, so retracting doesn't do anything with it as the material already in the nozzle is just too malleable to retract.

I'm beginning to think that I was sold some low quality knock off material. I deliberately wanted to avoid that so I purchased creality branded filament which is significantly more expensive than noname filaments, but the reels it came in are very different from the genuine creality PLA that I got directly from the creality webshop.

 

[Darunion]

I don't use cooling on abs (there is a setting somewhere for it to turn it on when it detects a bridge but i havent used it yet), i also print in an enclosure (wont fix sticking, mostly warping). Your temps are good, hotter the bed the better(i keep mine at 110C but that depends on machine limits, its an AC powered bed for me). Abs is a trick material to print with and many including myself have had issues.

Also print slow, my first layer is at 25mm/s for the first 3-5 layers. After that I go to 50-80mm/s. Make sure the room is not drafty either. Oils on the bed will make abs let go as well so make sure it is well cleaned with dish soap and warm water.

My initial layer line width i have set to 150% and for bed adhesion i print with a brim.

What bed surface are you printing on and what printer if i may ask?

I do recommend going to an all metal hotend (if you arent already) as well if you are going to be at those temps for abs, the teflon can start to deform and outgas.

 

[M76]

It's an ender-5 Pro, it has a magnetic teflon surface. I'll try printing slower to see if that helps, when I'll have the will to try again. Currently I just went back to pla.

 

[Darunion]

Ah good printer my main go to is my cr-10s. Also some alternatives is pla+ prints like pla but is not brittle. Abs+ is a bit easier of an abs to print. ASA I haven't used but is supposed to print very easily and also has UV protection that abs does not. So better for window or outdoor things. The Plusses are basically blends so it is worth looking into depending on what your need is.

 

[M76]

Printing slower works, but now my problem is warping. Not 0.5cm is printed and its already peeling away at the sides becoming a bowl instead of flat. Tried adding a brim, but it just warped all the same.

 

[Darunion]

Brim is good, now what you are fighting against is cooling. Keep your part cooling fan off and the room should be warm and free from air drafts. Large parts with a lot of mass will have trouble. Enclosing the printer will help this. I can print small parts on my unenclosed ender 3 but anything more than 4-6inches and i need to print inside my enclosed cr-10 which i get to about 35-40C before printing.

Also in Cura there is a setting for Draft Shield, this can help as well and doesnt add a terrible amount of time to the print, but i use it when i have parts that give me trouble.

After your first couple of layers, print at a faster speed, the key is to keep the part uniformly warm (which is damn near impossible without a heated chamber).

The cheap enlcosures from creality or just even some generic grow tents work fine and it is how i printed most of my voron parts with and those are all abs.

 

[maclem8223]

ABS can be a pain. I went through about a full spool trying to tune it right the first time on my Ender. Enclosure is a must I feel as draft shields are hit and miss, plus a waste of filament IMO if you just get an enclosure (or make one). I print exclusively ABS at this point with heated bed at 110, hotend first layer 225, others 220 (Hatchbox ABS). This is on a Voron 2.4 at this point; however, I printed all the needed parts for it on my Ender 3 V2 in the Creality enclosure with same settings (Bed was 97 I think though). Fan speed depends on your fan setup and shroud. Dual 5015's for parts on the Ender I barely ran them at 10-15%. Single 4014 blower (for now) on the Voron I end up running around 30-35% and sometimes even up to 50% on certain bridges. Zero parts cooling has never worked for me but YMMV Just my .02 Edit: I've heard really good things about eSun ABS+ but it's kinda hard to find in the US for a decent price.

 

[Darunion]

I've recently picked up a spool of polymaker ASA, and gotta say it prints really well. Able to print some longer voron parts of it on my ender 3 and that isn't enclosed. Only about half a spool through but I am liking it.

 

[w1retap]

Sorry for the slight necro, but I'll share how I successfully print ABS.

Printer is a PowerSpec 3D Pro (old Flashforge Creator Pro clone). I sealed up all the holes in the enclosure so it can't get any drafts of cold air. The only hole is in the top rear side of the canopy where the filament guides come through.

Print settings are 235C for the hot end, and 105C for the bed. Inland ABS from Microcenter. I preheat the bed first for about 20-30 minutes so the enclosure heats up before printing. Then I level my bed and start printing. I never open the enclosure during printing, because a single draft of cool air can cause the print to warp. I've found keeping the enclosure warm is key to having the print turn out near-perfect.

For the build plate, I previously used kapton tape, and it worked pretty good -- only sometimes would corners of the print peel up. However, I switched over to a GeckoTek stick-on build sheet and it works far better. No glue sticks, no hairspray, no acetone/ABS slurry. Adding a brim to the prints really helps hold corners down too. For overhangs, you need supports -- ABS doesn't like to hang out in open air, because it will warp. Don't use a blower fan or anything for cooling when printing ABS.

Other than that, the printer is bone stock as far as all the mechanical aspects go. Original hot end, original extruder setup, etc. I have an all metal hot end I am going to install next for printing some other materials, so we'll see if that helps any.

 

[notarat]

For the build plate, I previously used kapton tape, and it worked pretty good -- only sometimes would corners of the print peel up. However, I switched over to a GeckoTek stick-on build sheet and it works far better. No glue sticks, no hairspray, no acetone/ABS slurry. Adding a brim to the prints really helps hold corners down too. For overhangs, you need supports -- ABS doesn't like to hang out in open air, because it will warp. Don't use a blower fan or anything for cooling when printing ABS.

Other than that, the printer is bone stock as far as all the mechanical aspects go. O

I have a tip for better looking perimeters when your model has visible "holes" in it, like the last part. It's hard for me to explain so bear with me.

When your printer prints a part with a visible hole in the model you can see (looking at the blemishes to the right of each of the "holes" in the part) that the perimeter is affected negatively...

If your design program allows it, you can cover up the hole by an amount equal to your chosen # of perimeters. (I use 2 perimeter walls, so I use a cover about .2 - .3mm thick) I use just enough to ensure the slicer doesn't detect there's a hole

Now, because the printer no longer needs to make the "visible" hole in the model, when it prints, the resulting perimeter is blemish-free. The "cover" over the hole is so thin that you can easily see where it is when you go to work with the part. Use an Exacto knife or a drill bit of the size of the hole to remove that small cover. The rest of the perimeter then looks great with no blemishes in it.

Just my .02

 

[JavaLava]

Printing slower works, but now my problem is warping. Not 0.5cm is printed and its already peeling away at the sides becoming a bowl instead of flat. Tried adding a brim, but it just warped all the same.

ABS and warping go hand in hand. Only way I could solve this is an enclosure. If it even gets the sense of a draft and air moving around the part, those parts start warping and popping off (depending on size). I know people can print ABS without an enclosure and I'm sure its environmental on how they can accomplish it....but for me, I absolutely needed the enclosure. I went from 100% warping to very minimal warping if it decides to happen (usually very large parts).