When printing with ABS my settings are as follows:
Glass Heated Bed : 110C
Extruder : 230C
Adhesive : 2 coats of Hairspray on Glass Build Plate
Every time I print large ABS objects, when I let the glass cool down to room temp and try to remove my prints, it always leaves potholes on my glass plate as shown in the image. Anyone has had this experience before and found a solution for it. I hate changing plates all the time. Thanks in advance guys.
I’ve also had this problem occasionally. It’s super annoying, especially since my build plates are expensive. The only fix for me was using kapton over the glass, though I suppose build tak would also be a fix. That comes with it’s own issues but better than replacing glass.
Hi Robert, thanks for the response. I printed something large last night just to test new settings I’ve been playing with using simplify3d. Basically what I did was, to lower the Heated Bed Temperature after the first layer from 110C to 100C. I also reduced my extruder temp as well, from 240C to 230C. To my surprise, when I woke up this morning, I found my object did not have any warp, and when I removed the glass build plate, the object just fell right off with no chip or potholes on glass. It was a only a 5 hour print with 5% infill , using ABS+ Silver of ESUN. I was just wondering if it is worth the money to change from ordinary 3mm glass to a borosilicate or tempered glass. Check the image below :
Lower your bed temp to 100C and try using less hairspray.
Where are you getting your glass plates from? Sounds like you have low quality glass. Pick up some sheets from McMastercarr.com 9.
Also, you could try a different type of coating. CS Hyde sent me some samples of their coatings and they work amazing for ABS. No glue or hairspray required. After the part cools it pops right off.
Cover the plate with kapton film, and don’t use hair spray. You are seeing horizontal fracturing of the glass due to temperature differences between the top and the bottom of the glass, the print itself acts as a heat resovoir, and creates the very high temperature gradient between the top and bottom of the glass plate, particularly where large parts of the print are in contact with the bed.
If you use kapton, it seems to resist the flaking action, but also becuase the ABS will stick to it when hot without any adhesive or sprays, it tends to release from te surface when the temp drops by about 20c.
You do however have to keep the kapton very very clean, the slightest trace of a fingerprint will cause the print to lift.
Basically by using a fixative or adhesive, you are disabling the ability of the ABS to detach from the surface, and the combination of the temperature gradients and the mechanical stress caused by the print shrinking are causing he pancake fractures you are seeing. Without the adhesive the part will naturally release and the stress will not build up.
My plates are borosilicate and it still happens, though probably not as often as you seem to get. I suspect the problem in my case was spot heating in the centre of the plate as the MendelMax2 only has a very thin heat spreader. Another printer using a 3mm alu plate hasn’t had this issue.
Are you sure you are using borosilicate glass? I’ve heard of other people having the same issue due to not using the right type of glass. Otherwise could it be that the ABS is sticking too well to the glass? Try re-leveling and using less hairspray. Hope this helps.
I have a flashforge that I upgraded to glass about 2 months ago. I have not had this problem at all. I have been using the new wolfbite for ABS. Has been working great. And one bottles has lasted a while. Might be worth a try.
Ya, I think I am getting substandard glass plates, never occur to me that it would be that bad. Posted, I tried lowering my Heatbed Temp and it worked perfectly. It was a fairly large object, and took 6 hours, the only think I changed was to lower my heated bed to 100C after the third layer, and set my extruder temp to 230C instead of what I was use to 240C.
Have not heard of CS Hyde coatings, I’ll be sure to check it out. Thanks for the advise JohnnyVF, means a lot.
Hi Lostinthe907. Thanks for the advise, I actually have heard of wolf bite and reviews are good but right now I am trying to see if I could solve the problem using supplies from our local hardware stores, it just makes it more practical, instead of ordering online all the time. It might be my glass as well as one of the guys told me, so I might also try tempered glass or borosilicate.
I am having great success running my bed at 95C, I checked the temp and found it was running higher than the settings so I adjusted it down 5 degrees at a time and found 95C to be the magic number for my printer. I am not adding hair spray on every print, I just us a razor blade scraper to remove any high spots from the last print. I wash the glass every 20 or so prints. I am also using cheap 3mm hardware glass.
Hi Wrbehel, thanks for the response. You are right on the money with that 95C, though with mine I am using 100C. I had 4 successful big prints since my post. What I do is set my bed to 110C for the first four layers, then turn in down to 100C for the rest of the prints. I wash my glass every print and apply hairspray. I know it’s a lot of effort but it’s the only way that I could ensure perferct, unwarped prints everytime. I do this if it’s client prints I am doing, but if its for myselft, sometimes I get lazy and not clean my glass. I hope this is it, I hope don’t get potholes anymore and warping. Thank you very much.
Glad you have the issue solved. I have printed 12 almost identical parts with a very narrow end that is subject to lifting off the plate. I started at 105C when I first got the printer and they were lifting up on the narrow end, when I went to 100C it got better, at 95C they are perfect but I had used different filament. So yesterday, Just out of curiosity, I wanted to eliminate the filament so I went back to the ABS filament that came with the printer and sure enough it curled up even at 95C. All of my ABS filament I have purchased has been Hatch Box. I am going to do another one this afternoon using a clean plate, fresh hair spray and original filament just to see what the crap is going on.
For me, I try my best to actually use same brand of ABS, so that I could eliminate material property and quality deviation. I am still concentrating in perfecting as much as possible my machine settings, and when I get it right, then I could move on to other brands. You should try cleaning the glass, I use dishwasher liquid soap and scotchbright to remove what ever old hairspray is left. Then 2 coats of hairspray, wipe it down with a paper towel with a crisscross pattern.
Thanks for this advice. I had the first ‘pothole’ in a piece of borosilicate glass with Wolfbite today. It actually warped the glass! It’s no longer flat. I was printing a fairly large object. I’m going to try your advice of lowering the temperature to 100C after the first layer. Sounds like a good idea. Thanks.
