Makergeek's ABS Filament Problems

[Pmains1 0]

Hello fellow makers. My name is Phil and I am a teacher in America. I recently convinced my school to purchase the Ultimaker 2 this year and have been preparing for my class next fall.

The problem.

I purchased filament from maker geeks and have been having trouble getting the abs to work at a satisfactory level. I've run multiple tests and even built a front door to prevent airflow, but the prints still wont come out. I'm running on the following settings: Nozzle 240c, Bed 100c, 0.4mm extruder, Flow 107%, fan 30%, and 20% infill. I have used glue stick, Hairspray, ABS slurry, and blue tape to help with bed adhesion.

The temperature recommendation on the abs is 230c-240c

So far my best results are solid parts with good outside layers but the infill is thin and contains gaps also the bottom warps off the build plate.

Please help the more specific you are the better. If you have used this product and found the magic settings include everything.

Thanks

Phil

[chrisw 69]

The most headache-free resolution would be to abandon ABS from hither forth.  It's a PITA with toxic fumes, and it likes to warp.   What parts are you printng?   Are you free to choose other plastics?

If you want to keep dealing with ABS, please post some pics of the good and bad areas of prints.  And realize sometimes you get a strain of problematic filaments that won't ever behave the way you desire.   Upsizing the nozzle helps sometimes with temperamental filaments.   Tried a .6 mm yet?

Also, which feeder is installed on your UM2? Default, lRobertl's, Bondtech, or UM2+ upgrade maybe? How is your feeder behaving? Main reason I'm askng is your 107% flow setting. That shouldn't be needed unless it's an attempt to fix a failing feeder

Edited May 7, 2016 by Guest
added paragraph

[ultiarjan 1,162]

For any beginner I would advice to only use pla. You should only use abs with good ventilation, but in a school it's probably safer to stay away from it altogether (toxic fumes).

The infill problem may be the speed settings. Some cura versions have a default infill fixed speed of 80 which is just stupid. Set the infill speed to something close or the same of the print speed. You can also set it to 0 and it will automatically take the print speed.

[Pmains1 0]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I purchased the ABS as a teaching tool but I can see now that it will be much better to start my students out on the PLA. The printer had a base flow setting on ABS of 107% (I read that I shouldn't change that and instead should adjust the temperature) and when I made some temperature adjustments it worked better.

I'm using the Ultimaker 2 with the Olsson block, and a custom door. (no other changes to the functional parts)

I will try setting the infill speed to 0 and switch out to a .6 mm head.

Again thanks for the help everyone.

Phil

[chrisw 69]

Phil,

You might want to try out the Robert feeder as an upgrade before class starts. It improves several things: more reliable feeding, more adjustability for different filaments, and easier filament changes. That would be a very affordable way to deal with the almost-universal gripes about the UM2's stock feeder.

[Pmains1 0]

At this point I don't think I'll be able to make that purchase, perhaps next year.

So far I've been able to make great strides in print quality thanks to everyone's advice. The only real problems have been the infill being a little thin with voids and I'm working my way up to larger objects for print. The prints are still turning out and the are holding together well.

Again thanks for all the advice, I think ill switch over to PLA for the student use.

Phil