Question for y’all out here. What do yall prefer PLA or ABS when printing. Does PLA give a finer quality. Or what are the main differences?
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May '16last reply
Jun '16- 5
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Strength, heat resistance, cost to print (heated vs non heated build area). Are the top differences. It seems like build quality is a result of printer calibration and material quality not the type of material. I’ve seen horrendous PLA prints and ABS prints as well as really fantastic prints in both.
12 days later
There have a page tell you how to choose the right 3D printing filament 49 for 3D printer?
My only experience in this so far is PLA filament. I have found it can be a bit tempermental as you are trying to very precisely melt and deposit tiny bits of it so any imperfection in the filament can throw your print off. The main issue I have had with it is stringing, which results because of the low melting point of the plastic. You have to work with your printer to find just the right extruder temperature to get it to melt without leaving strings behind. I also noticed the PLA doesn’t like to print lots of tiny detail. I tried various configurations with fantasy miniatures and found that it likes to string between supports and multiple miniatures at the same time. It does much better with solid objects. Will ABS solve these issues? Does anyone else have experience with this?
You just hit the strings with a butane or propane torch and they melt away. In order to prevent stringing you need to calibrate your temperature, fan speed, print speed, retraction distance and speed, coast and wipe. Many of these settings will be different for different prints. The travel speed and outline cross settings will also help to greatly reduce stringing. ABS is less stringy than PLA, PETG is more stringy than PLA. Changing material is not a solution.
PLA tends to be more rigid and easier to print… less shrinkage, warping, lower temps etc. For a long time I thought PLA for most and ABS for mechanical parts. However recently I’ve been experiencing with PLA for technical and my PLA X carriage and hot end mount work perfectly.
The only thing to watch is the gradual warping that may occur.
Personally I’m all about that PLA because my flat is small and my room is basically a cupboard and I have to keep my printer in it so I prefer not to kill myself with fumes, the PLA is much more friendly.