Materials · Demanding
ABS
Handles heat and impacts, and you can sand and glue it. In exchange, it shrinks as it cools and wants an enclosed printer.
Handles heatHandles impacts
What changes most if you're coming from PLA:
What it's for
- Parts that get hot: inside a car, near a motor or a light bulb.
- Housings and boxes for electronics.
- Parts you'll sand, glue or smooth afterwards.
What it's not for
- Parts in the sun for a long time: sunlight makes it brittle and yellow (that's what ASA is for).
- Large parts on an open printer: it shrinks, lifts at the corners and cracks between layers.
If you're coming from another material
- Nozzle temperature220 °C 270 °C50 °C hotter. ABS needs more heat to melt properly; printed like PLA, the layers don't fuse and the part breaks easily.
- Bed temperature65 °C 100 °C35 °C hotter. A hotter bed keeps the base warm while the rest prints, so it doesn't shrink or lift at the corners.
- Part fan60–80 % 10–20 %Less air. This material prefers to cool slowly: with lots of fan the layers bond poorly or the part cracks.
- Max volumetric speed12 mm³/s 15 mm³/sIt takes more plastic per second: the profile lets it print faster.
- Softens at45 °C 100 °CIt handles 55 °C more before softening: good for parts that will sit in the sun or near something hot.
What it's like to print
- It shrinks a lot as it cools: ideally an enclosed printer keeps the air warm. On an open one, like the A1, it works for small parts.
- It needs a very hot bed and almost no fan.
- It gives off smell and fumes when melted: print somewhere ventilated.
On an open printer, a draft is enough to ruin an ABS part: keep the printer away from windows and air conditioning.
Starting values
From Bambu Studio's generic profile for the A1: they're meant for any brand, so they're cautious. They're a starting point; the calibration tests get you to your filament's own values.
| Nozzle | 270 °C (240–280) |
|---|---|
| Bed, textured plate | 100 °C |
| Bed, smooth plate (PEI) | 100 °C |
| Bed, cool plate | not recommended |
| Fan | 10–20 % |
| Max flow | 15 mm³/s |
| Softens at | 100 °C |
| Hardened nozzle | not needed |
Moisture
It absorbs some moisture; when damp it bubbles and strings.
Drying time and temperature come from your filament's maker: every brand and blend is different, so we don't give numbers here. Look for them on the filament's label or the brand's data sheet.
The settings that change the most
- Maximum fan speedFilament › CoolingAlmost off: with cold air, layers split and the part cracks.
- Bed on the Textured PEI PlateFilament › FilamentA hot bed so the base doesn't shrink and come loose.
- Brim typeProcess › OthersA brim around the part helps keep the corners down.
Typical problems:The corners liftThe part breaks or the layers splitThe part comes off the plate
Calibrate first:1Temperature6Tolerances
The numbers come from Bambu Studio and the A1, but the material is the same on any FDM printer: on another machine or slicer, the values are similar and everything explained here still applies.
Other materials
PLAPLA SilkPETGPCTGTPUASAPC (polycarbonate)Nylon (PA)PP (polypropylene)HIPSFiber-filled (CF and GF)Soluble supports (PVA and BVOH)