ABS Mattress Adhesion Ideas & Tips

Mattress adhesion is likely one of the most vital parts for getting a great 3D print. (For extra details about printing with ABS, like suggestions and methods for achievement, take a look at our different article right here.)

A 3D printer with a heated mattress is required for efficiently printing with ABS filament as a result of ABS plastic shrinks when cooling. And not using a heated mattress, the underside of your print will cool at a unique fee than the remainder of your ABS print, leading to dreaded ABS warp. The next information may help you produce completely flat, warp-free ABS prints on nearly any 3D printer:

Tip 1:  ABS does not adhere properly to reveal 3D printer heated mattress glass.

Whilst you can typically get ABS to stick to reveal, heated borosilicate glass construct plates, the method is troublesome and you’ll greater than possible expertise warping/curling or failed prints because of the print breaking free from the glass mid-print.

Tip 2: ABS ought to NEVER be cooled with a layer fan.

If in case you have a component that will get mushy/blobby due to an excessive amount of residual warmth, strive printing two of them at a time. This may permit the primary half to chill whereas the second half is printing and vice versa. The simplest answer is inside MatterControl (our unimaginable, community-driven, free 3D printing software program – yep, it’s very free). A couple of simple slice settings assist you to require layer instances to be no less than (X) quantity of seconds. If that is nonetheless not sufficient cooling time, you’ll be able to specify the recent finish to maneuver off the print for a set period of time after every layer, after which resume printing the subsequent layer. These settings will be seen within the picture beneath:

Allow Extruder Raise and Set Print Speeds Right here

Simply keep in mind, cooling followers and ABS will not be buddies! 

And on that very same be aware, be sure that there may be not an Air Conditioner or every other compelled air disturbing the print space of your 3D printer setting; this may have the identical warping or splitting impact as a layer cooling fan when 3D printing with ABS filament. 

Tip 3: Your 3D printer heated mattress ought to all the time be on.

Relying on the half and mattress adhesion methodology you are utilizing, 85-90°C is often an ample temperature vary on your 3D printer heated mattress when printing with ABS filament. You must by no means exceed 120°C.

A Few ABS Mattress Adhesion Options:

So as of greatest (strongest adhesion) to worst (weakest adhesion).

A) PEI Sheets, PET sheets, or Kapton tape on the 3D printer heated mattress with ABS Juice. 

We made a easy, brief video on the way to apply PET tape to your 3D printer glass mattress.

ABS Juice (or ABS Glue) is dissolved ABS filament in acetone. Begin with 2-3oz of acetone and 6-7 inches of ABS 3D printing filament, then modify as wanted. Extra ABS plastic dissolved within the acetone equals larger mattress adhesion. The perfect consistency is thicker than water however thinner than milk. In case your combination is simply too thick – like paste or yogurt – simply add some extra acetone to dilute.

Apply the ABS Juice to the 3D construct plate utilizing a brush when the mattress is scorching. You will notice the acetone evaporate and the mattress floor grow to be dry quite rapidly. 

Professional Tip: Pure ABS filament is probably the most handy for making ABS Juice as a result of it won’t depart any coloration in your prints. Do not forget that if you’re printing in Crimson ABS and use Black Juice, the underside of your print might be black and purple because the plastic extrudes over the skinny layer of black. 

B) ABS Juice straight on the 3D printer heated mattress’s glass. Identical as above, simply with out the PET or Kapton tape. Works very properly and makes cleanup a bit simpler. 

C) Glue stick. Just about any PVA primarily based glue stick works (Elmer’s, Scotch, UHU, and many others). Apply a skinny layer of glue to a cool 3D print mattress in one path, after which apply one other layer in the wrong way (consider a crosshatch sample). Then convey mattress as much as temp permit the glue to dry earlier than printing. PVA is water soluble so you’ll be able to take away the skinny movie from the 3D printed half by rinsing with water. Use a moist paper towel to evenly redistribute the PVA glue stick movie on the mattress. 

D) Hairspray. We use Aquanet’s unscented, further tremendous maintain – it really works properly, and it is fairly low-cost. Spray a skinny coat on a cool 3D construct plate, let it dry, then spray one other skinny coat, let it dry, convey it as much as temp after which print. This the weakest maintain – however is the simplest to do and never a nasty place to begin when starting with printing ABS filament on a 3D printer with a heated mattress. 

Professional Tip: Scented Hairsprays do work completely advantageous, however they’ll depart you with a really smelly 3D printing room – and doubtless not in a great way. 

Tip 4: The footprint of your half performs a HUGE function in mattress adhesion.  

The larger and thicker the footprint/base of your 3D printed half, the extra warping forces current. We use hairspray efficiently for lots of our ABS prints, however prints with very massive footprints – like a pyramid – typically require stronger adhesion to remain firmly in place. The nearer the prints are to the middle of the print mattress (the place it is sometimes hottest) the higher.

Footprint instance:

Pyramid = massive footprint and extra tendency to warp.
Inverted pyramid = small footprint and fewer tendency to warp.

Bear in mind, ABS Juice could be very simply the very best methodology of mattress adhesion for ABS prints, however additionally it is the largest ache for each clean-up and for print removing. An excessive amount of ABS Juice (or too thick a focus) may result in you breaking your glass attempting to take away the half.

Tip 5: Infill performs an enormous function in 3D printed ABS elements.

Too many strong layers on the underside adopted by mild infill (<15%) will enhance your possibilities of warp. Speedy modifications of infill density will trigger the print to chill in a different way and result in warp. Use the least quantity of strong layers attainable to keep away from warping. On the whole, the extra infill you utilize, the extra warping forces you introduce to your 3D half. To additional perceive slice settings we’ve got a 3 half sequence you might wish to take a look at as a information. 

We have 3D printed 1000’s of issues in ABS filament and located we may forestall warping each single time by following some or all of the following tips. 

Comfortable Warp-Free Printing!