Help printing 2-part case

[TEDCF]

I'm trying to print a 2-part case in ABS that i can screw together but every time I attempt to print it, it begins to warp on the corners I've added a large brim (10 outlines, 2 layers) and it still lifts. I've used hair spray to help adhesion but its still not enough.

Does anyone have any advice that way i can get a case that actually fits together correctly? I have Cura and Simplify3D and im working on Lulzbot Mini.

[curious aardvark]

how hot are you running the printbed, hot hot are you printing it, how fast are you printing it and why don't you just use pet-g or pla instead ??? :-)

[TEDCF]

I've tried running the bed at 85C and 90C. and I've ran the speed at 50 and 60mm/s. I could use PLA if its going to fix my problem. I'm fairly new to printing and mainly only use ABS, (boss seems to like it).

[curious aardvark]

Ah then let me educate you :-)

Abs is one of the most difficult materials to 3d print with. Y
you really, need an enclosed heated print volume, it shrinks like abastard and causes your prints to warp something wicked.

For 99% of pruposes pla is actually better. It's much much easier to print with, at least as strong as abs and more rigid.
Pet-g is also a very good alternative. Has all the toughness of abs (though I've, personally found pla to be tougher than abs) and none of the drawbacks.
It's also getting cheaper all the time. I can recommend e-sun pet-g, available from amazon.
My pla of choice is reprapper tech - but almost any other brand should also be pretty decent these days.
If you want the dog's bollocks then look at polymaker's polymax and these guys do a pla/pha blend that's very good value for money if you happen to live in the states.
http://www.3dprintlife.com/

Because pla doesn't shrink to any noticeable degree you will find that models print the size you designed them at - rather than 1-2% smaller, like abs. It really can shrink that much.
These days abs is pretty much just for the hardcore guys and people with printers with enclosed heated print volumes.

When i started 3d printing I used abs, because everyone said pla was brittle.
After talking to a lot of printer manufacturers and handling a lot of models at a tct print show. I switched to pla and everything became much easier. printing is a joy, any print failures these days are my fault. And pla is NOT brittle.
It's stiffer than abs. But you can jam pla part into areally tight gap without it breaking the same part in abs will break every time.
If you hit pla with a hammer, it tends to dent - not shatter.
Brittle it's not.

Pet-g is similiar to pla to print with, but has higher glass point, better layer adhesion and is more chemically resistant. It's not quite as rigid, similiar to abs properties wise. But without the horrible smell, inbuilt desire to bugger your prints up and need to use acetone :-)

[TEDCF]

This actually helps allot, we do allot of prototyping and its very difficult to get things the way they are designed some times. I thought it was my settings and no matter what i was just missing something. I have a roll of PLA here in my stash so I'll start there and test it.

As for brand Iv'e been sticking with Hatchbox and have been pretty happy with the results. Tried to get some E-sun to test out but they were sold out of the color i was looking for on Amazon.

Looks like I need to get my hands on some PETG, really sounds like that might be more of a prototyping filament then ABS will ever be.

Seems my enclosure is not enough to work with larger ABS prints.

[curious aardvark]

the best print surface for pla is printbite: http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...ntbite-surface

But cheap pva gluesticks are also pretty good. To be honest pla will stick to just about anything. Run the print bed at 60c for best results.
You an print it on cold surfaces - but 60c is much better and pretty much atops any slight shrinkage you might get with cheap pla.

I usually print pla at 210c. I find it's that bit stronger and you can rattle them off at 65mm/s without any problems.

set your retraction speed to at least 40mm/s, distance 1.8mm (what my current settings in simplify3d are) and you shouldn't get any stringing. I don't with pla.

[TEDCF]

Awesome, I'll run these with the next print. This gives me a great base to expand on. If you can/want, can you share the simplify settings file that you have?

[Talon 3D]

I like Meltink's PLA/PHA, it is nice a tough as well as easy to print.
I am going to try some of the aardvark's suggestions for filaments as well.
I use E-Sun PeTG blue also, it is nice stuff and very very strong.

[curious aardvark]

Awesome, I'll run these with the next print. This gives me a great base to expand on. If you can/want, can you share the simplify settings file that you have?

My printers are replicator dual clones.
And bear in mind that I use printbite as well as and extra 3mm aluminium sheet. So my bed temperature is set to 70c, which gives me surface temp of 60.
Standard print temp for most pla is 210.

My current pla settings:

extruder.jpg

gcode.jpg

other.JPG

I don't use brims, outlines etc so left that one out, also the scripts are particular to my printer. I included the gcode page as I use the Z offset to determine how much downward 'smoosh' I apply to the first layer.
If I were printing with pet-g it would be set at 0 for maximum smoosh.
If using flexible filaments I'd set it at 0.2 for a lot less smoosh.
It's a much easier way to control adhesion than messing around with brims, rafts and outlines.
Calibrate the printer really tight with 90gsm paper. And then just use the z-offset to change level of smoosh :-)


Usually my infill is between 10-20%, at the moment I'm printing parts that need to be strong, hence the 50% infill.

Extrusion width should be set to the width YOUR extruder extrudes the bead. Mine actually does kick out at bang on 0.4mm with reprapper tech pla.
To be honest while i should measure and change when i change filament - I never bother.

[curious aardvark]

Attachment 9609

Attachment 9610

for some reason the above didn't register on the other post. :-)
I did upload them in order, honest lol

My standard layer print height is 0.3mm
I'll go down to 0.2 if I've got something fiddly or with extreme under/over hangs.
But I've been playing with threads this week and even they print out great at 0.3.