ABS / PLA Filament

[palawanisland]

hi! i am new to 3D printing, already purchase my printer. flashforge with hbp.
wanted to purchase additional rolls of filament.

what should i buy abs or pla?
generally target usage is modelling, replacement parts for general use, prototyping.
hobby - small business.

any advice is appreciated. thanks.

[Geoff]

hi! i am new to 3D printing, already purchase my printer. flashforge with hbp.
wanted to purchase additional rolls of filament.

what should i buy abs or pla?
generally target usage is modelling, replacement parts for general use, prototyping.
hobby - small business.

any advice is appreciated. thanks.

ABS is good for things like Quadcopters and things that need impact resistance.

PLA is good but shatters more if there is an impact - but is friendlier to print with and faster prototyping.
PLA requires less heat, which means less heating up time, faster prototypes.

If you are making replacement parts, use ABS as they are more durable and resistant to chemicals than PLA is. PLA can become soft from the sun and deform with heat, ABS I can leave in a hot car 60c and it has no affect.

[BearsFan]

Yes you should use ABS Filament if your going to make replacement parts. I agree with Geoff

[RobH2]

I have replaced ABS with PET+. There are several good discussions here talking about it. It's as easy to print, warps less and is a really good material.

It's a little more expensive but that's relative. Even the most expensive filament in reality is inexpensive since most parts cost us pennies. And, you can't smooth PET+ with acetone. It sounds like I have more bad things to say about PET+ than good things but I just wanted to let you know how they differ.

I really like the quality and results I get with PET+ over ABS. I've never had any luck getting PLA to print well. I'm sure it's me, but I just don't like it. Anyone that sells PLA as a "green" alternative is misleading you a bit. It still takes PLA dozens if not hundreds of years to breakdown in a landfill.

[BearsFan]

Btw you should check out cheap3dfilaments.com been using them for some time now and ive never had an issue with their filament just fyi. Welcome to 3d printing

[WillBe]

1.75mm abs is your best choice

[jfair]

I am thoroughly befuddled. I made the first few prints with my TAZ 4 out of PLA and the parts came out nice and square.
IMG_3030.jpg
I then switched to ABS and only messed around with the print settings (I did not dare tweak the printer calibrations once it had been leveled out) to figure out the ABS sweet spot on my machine. I then switched back to PLA and it metaphorically seems that "all hell has broke loose". My PLA is not linearly stacking properly and it is warping off the table; PLA seems to make my printer drunk.
IMG_3029.jpg
The thing that is driving me up the wall is the ABS is working perfectly, which is the tougher of the two materials to work with, and PLA is riding the short bus to struggleville right now. I am at a lose right now, does anyone have any brilliant ideas that I may have missed? Thank you all!

[RobH2]

I am thoroughly befuddled.... I am at a lose right now, does anyone have any brilliant ideas that I may have missed? Thank you all!

There are a few work habits that you need to adopt at least until you feel you are fully calibrated and knowledgeable about each material. Start a notebook, manually or on your computer, and keep copious notes. Take photos too and attach them to your notes. That way, when something goes wrong, you can reset to what worked and eliminate other culprits.

When you went from PLA to ABS and only messed with a few settings, that's fine. But now that you've gone back to PLA and things are not good means that you probably didn't get the settings back to where they were. The only other thing is that you had a mechanical malfunction at the exact same time you switched back to PLA. That's more unlikely.

If your machine is in good shape mechanically, it should always print exactly the same way if the settings are the same. Sure, there is some variation because we all know 3d printers have a bit of "attitude" but, if the settings are the same, the model is the same and the machine is mechanically 100%, then you should be able to repeat prints and get exact copies time after time. But, only as long as you get ALL of the settings back correctly for the particular filament.

The fact that your PLA is now on the short bus means to me that you didn't get all of the settings back to where they were. You may now need to start the tweaking process all over with the PLA and write or capture all of the settings data. Then try ABS again (don't forget to capture that setting data) and then reload the PLA settings from your records and print it. If you do all of the steps successfully, it will work.

If that exacting process fails, then I'd begin to look at mechanical malfunctions that may be intermittent.

[curious aardvark]

If your machine is in good shape mechanically, it should always print exactly the same way if the settings are the same. Sure, there is some variation because we all know 3d printers have a bit of "attitude" but, if the settings are the same, the model is the same and the machine is mechanically 100%, then you should be able to repeat prints and get exact copies time after time.

Don't forget enviromental factors: humidity, & temperature also effect printing.

But my answer would be: if abs is printing perfectly - use abs :-)

[RobH2]

Don't forget enviromental factors: humidity, & temperature also effect printing.

Yes, no doubt. But, that's another one of those "good habits" to get into. I keep my filaments in 5-gallon sealed restaurant buckets with 3" of desiccant in the bottom. Using a meter I got on Amazon, I know that the relative humidity is about 3% in them. By doing that I know that I can eliminate that variable from the diagnosis process. If you adopt a few really good habits early on, your 3d printer life will be much nicer.