Tame your spool with a little heat

I know this may be something known to many but I thought I would post in case it helps some one new.

So, my ABS spools where always unwinding them selves wildly when I first opened them. The ABS wanted to be in a straight line not on the spool. I fought with this for awhile and noticed it varied from vendor to vendor but the vendor that is close to me and has a descent price was the worst as far as springiness. I pretty much destroyed one spool because it uncoiled itself during a late night print and somehow tied into a knot around my entire printer. It was so bad I ended up cutting it into pieces to get it off.

So today I had an unwieldy spool and held the filament tight on it while hitting it with a heat gun, I tried to be sure to get all of it evenly and not too hot, kept feeling it but once it was nice and warm to the touch (about 5 minutes with the heat gun) I just let it cool down and it no longer wanted to jump off the spool. It was very well behaved after that, still unspooled and printed just fine.

So a few minutes with a heat gun can relax your unwieldy spools of ABS.

Hope this helps someone.

I hear some people have put a spool in a warm oven..

put them in the hot car before you use them

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I heard both of these. It's cold here now so I can't try the car. I was afraid of melting in the oven.

... stay below 80 degC for ABS, then it should be safe ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

i know people are going to frown at this .....

looking at my oven, the highest it goes to is 250c, given that it is a simple thermostat half way around the dial should be 125c whats the glass transition temp of ABS? 100c ish? (depends on your abs) it should be possible to set your oven at something near a good temperature,

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... depending on the ABS blend and additives the thermal properties can vary around some ten degrees, so be careful with temps above 80 degC or the filament will deform much more than only 'relaxing' inner stress ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I thought this might be a good idea, but wasn't sure of an effective temperature.

If you are only looking for about 80 degC then how about boiling water poured over it in a tub.

Quote
martinprice2004
If you are only looking for about 80 degC then how about boiling water poured over it in a tub.

I think the idea was to REMOVE moisture and not ADD IT!

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
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... yes, the basic idea behind tempering in an oven was to remove absorbed moisture, that would pop small craters in the printed filament when it releases the nozzle ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Sorry, but I cannot see anything in the original post about removing moisture from ABS. The post was about springiness. I have ordered rolls of ABS from China and it came loose on a diameter of about 1 metre. I assume this is how it is collected as it comes out of the production extruder. I recoiled it by hand onto a more conventional size spool (Garden hose sized) and did experience springiness. I cured it with designing a clutch mechanism on the end of the spool which gives a slight drag on the spool.

How about putting it in a plastic bag, then into hot water....sort of boil in the bag!

>>>How about putting it in a plastic bag, then into hot water....sort of boil in the bag!

That would probably work. But it's super easy with a heat gun and maybe with a hair dryer so why reinvent the wheel.

Other things about my setup that may be relevant to preventing this (I don't have the problem):

-1.75mm filament.
-The spool is not on bearings, so there is drag to resist unwinding.
-The filament passes through a guide within about 50mm of the spool, so it can't get far enough from the spool to fall off.
-I use a Bowden tube between the spool and the extruder (not a Bowden extruder) so the X axis never pulls a length of filament off the spool, only to back up and relax the filament.