UltiMaker uses functional, analytical and tracking cookies. Tracking cookies enhance your experience on our website and may also collect your personal data outside of Ultimaker websites. If you agree with the use of tracking cookies, click “I agree, continue browsing”. You can withdraw your consent at any time. If you do not consent with the use of tracking cookies, click “Refuse”. You can find more information about cookies on our Privacy and Cookie Policy page.
I've printed many rolls of ABS parts for my company's products (both prototypes and beta customer deliveries) and I've used a torque wrench to perform empirical destructive testing on many parts. In my testing, the "grain" strength (layer bonding) always improved with higher nozzle temperatures in all the brands and colors of ABS I've tested. I'm comfortable in saying that no ABS will exhibit a reduction in strength up to the 260 C limit of a stock UM, in combination with any reasonable and practical print settings. With ABS in particular, the Achilles heal of FFF/FDM is the weaker layer bond strength.
On the other hand, the problem with 260 C is it's hot enough to increase the probability of hot end jams, due to "heat creep" to risky levels. (Perhaps not Ultimachine black so much, which requires the most heat of any ABS I've printed, but many others can be prone to jams at 260 C.) Given that most new users aren't even aware of this failure mode, I think I'll take a swag at a recommendation for 245 C--or maybe 250 C at the very most. I think 245 C is pretty well aligned with your choice of 220 C for PLA, in terms of maximizing the chances of a hassle-free and successful 3-D printing experience for a new or inexperienced user. Ultimachine black prints okay at 245 but a bit of layer strength will typically be sacrificed at 245 C vs. 260 C. I think it's a good trade-off for quickprint mode users. I often print many other brands and colors of ABS at 245--particularly the lighter colors. Of course print speed affects optimum nozzle temperature too but, like the Cura PLA settings, I'm trying to suggest one temperature for all three quality modes.
If Joergen chimes-in with an opinion, I recommend weighing it into your decision to change the default Cura quickprint value too. He probably has as much experience printing ABS as anyone!
(Back after 2 weeks vacation)
I have little experience with ABS, what would be a better ABS temperature?
Cura 5.7 is here and it brings a handy new workflow improvement when using Thingiverse and Cura together, as well as additional capabilities for Method series printers, and a powerful way of sharing print settings using new printer-agnostic project files! Read on to find out about all of these improvements and more.
S-Line Firmware 8.3.0 was released Nov. 20th on the "Latest" firmware branch.
(Sorry, was out of office when this released)
This update is for...
All UltiMaker S series
New features
Temperature status. During print preparation, the temperatures of the print cores and build plate will be shown on the display. This gives a better indication of the progress and remaining wait time. Save log files in paused state. It is now possible to save the printer's log files to USB if the currently active print job is paused. Previously, the Dump logs to USB option was only enabled if the printer was in idle state. Confirm print removal via Digital Factory. If the printer is connected to the Digital Factory, it is now possible to confirm the removal of a previous print job via the Digital Factory interface. This is useful in situations where the build plate is clear, but the operator forgot to select Confirm removal on the printer’s display. Visit this page for more information about this feature.
Recommended Posts
calinb 11
I've printed many rolls of ABS parts for my company's products (both prototypes and beta customer deliveries) and I've used a torque wrench to perform empirical destructive testing on many parts. In my testing, the "grain" strength (layer bonding) always improved with higher nozzle temperatures in all the brands and colors of ABS I've tested. I'm comfortable in saying that no ABS will exhibit a reduction in strength up to the 260 C limit of a stock UM, in combination with any reasonable and practical print settings. With ABS in particular, the Achilles heal of FFF/FDM is the weaker layer bond strength.
On the other hand, the problem with 260 C is it's hot enough to increase the probability of hot end jams, due to "heat creep" to risky levels. (Perhaps not Ultimachine black so much, which requires the most heat of any ABS I've printed, but many others can be prone to jams at 260 C.) Given that most new users aren't even aware of this failure mode, I think I'll take a swag at a recommendation for 245 C--or maybe 250 C at the very most. I think 245 C is pretty well aligned with your choice of 220 C for PLA, in terms of maximizing the chances of a hassle-free and successful 3-D printing experience for a new or inexperienced user. Ultimachine black prints okay at 245 but a bit of layer strength will typically be sacrificed at 245 C vs. 260 C. I think it's a good trade-off for quickprint mode users. I often print many other brands and colors of ABS at 245--particularly the lighter colors. Of course print speed affects optimum nozzle temperature too but, like the Cura PLA settings, I'm trying to suggest one temperature for all three quality modes.
If Joergen chimes-in with an opinion, I recommend weighing it into your decision to change the default Cura quickprint value too. He probably has as much experience printing ABS as anyone!
Link to post
Share on other sites