ABS curling

[ProfClau 0]

Hi,

 

We are trying to print an ABS gear but we have curling issues. The curling occures only on one side of the gear. We tried to reduce speed and nozzle temperature without success. Any idea what can help?

 

It looks like warping on the pictures but it is not.

 

Thanks for your help.

[gr5 2,024]

If it's more on one side versus another then it's almost always fan related.  After verifying that both side fans are working, in your mind position the nozzle over your print and look where the 2 fans are blowing.

 

Is this on a UM3?  Your profile says you have a UM3 but that doesn't mean this was printed on your UM3.

 

Looking at the cura profile for UM3 and abs it has the fan at 5% which makes sense as at least for my UM3, 20% is the same as 100% and 5% is like half power which is typically good for ABS.  But perhaps for your print 5% isn't enough fan.  Usually ABS gets too much fan and you have layers not adhering very well but this looks kind of like the opposite problem where you aren't getting enough fan.

 

When the printer is idle go into the menus and there is a way to turn the side fans on - set them to 100% and 5% and see if 5% seems like about half power based on the intensity of the noise (not based on the pitch).

 

I would also consider printing slower.  For really nice quality parts I like to set all the printing speeds to 35mm/sec.  Or even 25mm/sec for extra high quality.  Printing slower as it goes around the tips of those arms/teeth should help them not pull inwards so much.

 

It could be your side fans are broken.  If so that would explain everything.

 

[ProfClau 0]

1 hour ago, gr5 said:

If it's more on one side versus another then it's almost always fan related.  After verifying that both side fans are working, in your mind position the nozzle over your print and look where the 2 fans are blowing.

 

Is this on a UM3?  Your profile says you have a UM3 but that doesn't mean this was printed on your UM3.

 

Looking at the cura profile for UM3 and abs it has the fan at 5% which makes sense as at least for my UM3, 20% is the same as 100% and 5% is like half power which is typically good for ABS.  But perhaps for your print 5% isn't enough fan.  Usually ABS gets too much fan and you have layers not adhering very well but this looks kind of like the opposite problem where you aren't getting enough fan.

 

When the printer is idle go into the menus and there is a way to turn the side fans on - set them to 100% and 5% and see if 5% seems like about half power based on the intensity of the noise (not based on the pitch).

 

I would also consider printing slower.  For really nice quality parts I like to set all the printing speeds to 35mm/sec.  Or even 25mm/sec for extra high quality.  Printing slower as it goes around the tips of those arms/teeth should help them not pull inwards so much.

 

It could be your side fans are broken.  If so that would explain everything.

 

The print was made on a UM S3. I will try looking at the fans and make a new test. Thanks

[geert_2 556]

To me this looks like printed too fast, in too thick layers, and with not enough cooling indeed.

 

Your models seem to have elephant feet too? Which could indicate a bed-temperature problem. So I would check both your printing temp, and your bed temp? And as said above by gr5, check if all fans do work.

 

Does it have to be ABS? Or would PET be sufficient? PET has far less warping and deformation than ABS.

 

I have almost no experience with ABS, but for tiny models in PET, I usually print them slow, cool, and in thin layers. Thin layers gives the best accuracy. Printing slow also improves accuracy, and it gives the new layer enough time to melt and bond to the previous layer. And printing cool prevents the filament from decomposing and burning in the nozzle, due to sitting there for too long due to the low flow rate. For a small model in PET, I might use 20mm/s, 0.06mm layers, and 210°C (for PET with a recommended range of 215-250°C). That would give the quality shown below in my custom horseshoe clip. But I don't know if this would apply to ABS too?

 

 

[dsp 18]

Do you have an enclosure over your printer?  

when we started out with ABS we had to put a big cardboard box around the printer to keep the temperature in the printer stable now we use the air manager from Ultimaker with the fan off to keep the temperature stable. this seams to work for us. 

[ProfClau 0]

We have an enclosure on the four sides but no on the top. I might test it with a cardboard on top.