I received an order to print two wands. One was the Elder Wand from thingiverse, the other had a section 5mm x 6mm, 136mm long. i was asked to print these in ABS. After making a test print to see what the surface finish looked like using support, I decided that the surface finish wouldn’t be very good, and it wouldn’t be easy to clean up. To me, the only reliable way to print this is either split into two long halves (5mm x 3mm) or on end. Even then, I’d want to make the parts shorter than 20cm.
On a test print of the smallest cross section, I noticed that after a couple of cm, the print was very flexible and would wobble around the extruder - so I’d need to add support ribs manually. My prpopsal to do this made the price no longer appealing to my customer.
Is it sensible to print this sort of part vertically, given the risk of delamination? Should I have suggested using PLA instead (I seem to be able to get better bed adhesion with PLA, and am more comfortable with cooling it).
Would others be comfortable in taking on an order like this given that its hour long print runs, with what seems like a high risk of failure?
I’m using an anet-A8 (with no enclosure).
Hi @Sean_Houlihane,
Indeed, it is pretty strange that the customer wanted this specifically in ABS, I think printing in PLA would have been a much more sensible solution. They might have only been relying on the colour of material and didn’t really care about the material type.
I would have suggested printing this in PLA instead of risking with ABS.
1 Like
Be careful about printing things off thingverse for sale. Contact the creator for permission. Also pla would be the best for that type of print to avoid warping and delamination. Also splitting the parts and making a peg and hole in between the parts to ease assembly will reduce print time also. Noticed in the thing files there is a split model. also use a raft avery minimal one and some support lay it on is side. If possible use cura or simplify3d to print it. The supports in them slicers will come off easy and will not make marks in the parts if your printer is optimized correctly.
Point noted about rights on items from thingiverse. I only identified the source quite late on, it wasn’t obvious from the order. At least now I’m free to experiment in my own time and see if I was too cautious!
Hi,
I would suggest to try PETG filament, it stands between PLA and ABS regarding its properties. It is almost as high temp. resistant as ABS, strong as PLA but can flex like ABS, no warping no cracks like ABS, and slight cooling is enough for it and has really strong layer adhesion.
I still offer ABS and PLA on order page but agreed with costumers to have their prints in PETG, and If they don’t like it i will print it in their originally selected material and ship it for free, not a single complain so far.
Its also really cheap, I am using Devil Design PETG filament and a 1kg spool cost 18USD and its perfect quality. I have tried dozens type of filament from various manufacturers, but this just rocks, cheap and good, easy to print.
Regarding the wand i would print it from two parts vertically, with a base of a big brim or even a raft, but as it has a small diameter print speed must be reduced and good cooling is required for PLA.or event print 2 in the same time to allow it to have more cooling time.
I will not even to try to print this from ABS without a closed chamber, it will cool too fast and layer adhesion will be poor.
If you try with PETG with slight cooling you can print one without overheating and felxing the part.
Br.,
Tamas
cobnut
6
@Sean_Houlihane just on the material issue, I’ve had a few orders for ABS where the customer actually had no preference and had simply picked a material. Given the fussiness of ABS in some respects, I often advise customers to go to PLA if there’s no obvious need for ABS.
1 Like
jfield
7
My son found a sword on myminifactory for free and wanted to print it for his friend for a christmas gift. I used Simplify3d and just mirror copied the blade, and dropped it in Z to print half of each side, then glued them together. We used PLA, no support and glued them together with ABS solvent cement and it turned out great. I would have done that with the wand.
marcbea
8
Enclosure is key with ABS but maybe PETG would do better in this case.
