ABS warpage with PEI heated bed

ejalal · 2017-02-23T18:49:41.000Z

Hi all,

I recently bought a PEI sheet for my heated bed to improve printing with ABS but I’m still having warpage issues. I had a BuildTak before that, but I was having warpage issues too.

Pritnbed perfectly levelled with temperature of 90°C while printing

Printer is a Prusa i3 clone encolosed in home made heat chamber with 37°C while printing.

What could be the reason of the warpage ?

cobnut · 2017-02-24T08:54:57.000Z

Hi @ejalal the simple answer is that it’s ABS and ABS warps, which is why I try to avoid printing with it when possible.

Even with all the tricks in place (build surface, heated bed, enclosure), a lot depends upon the model itself. How prone a print is to warping with ABS varies with the size, shape, fill options, etc. For example, large flat square objects will tend (in my experience) to warp a lot more easily than those with a curved outline.

ejalal · 2017-02-24T11:11:12.000Z

Hi @cobnut,

Thanks for the quick response.

Can it be an issue with the filament brand/quality itself ?

I tried 2 brands, one of them warps a bit more than the other.

cobnut · 2017-02-24T11:22:30.000Z

Certainly, different suppliers will have different qualities for their filaments, so it’s worthwhile getting samples from many suppliers and using a test piece that warps so see which warps the least…

Perry_1 · 2017-02-24T16:55:10.000Z

ABS is a holdover from the days of injection molding, and is specifically great for that because it shrinks away from the mold. As such, it will shrink and warp when you are printing it. Getting your printer dialed in to your ABS is key for successful prints.

This is why PLA and PETG are so great for 3d printing.

Here is some advice.

1. Get your printer doing great PLA prints before you tackle ABS.

2. Get rid of that 90 degrees the whole time. Set your first few layers at 90, then try dropping back to say 60 for about 20 layers, then drop lower for the final layers. See if that helps.