Does anybody have an ABS filament manufacturer in the US they would recommend? I've already contacted New Image Plastics, but would like a few reputable places to get quotes from. The further Northeast, the better. I'll be buying at least 50lbs of plastic for the first order so minimum quantities isn't a huge issue.

Thanks.

Try Village Plastics. Rumor is they provide plastic for Maker Industries.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2011 12:22PM by 13thfloor.

I fear the rumors are incorrect. They do not sell spools smaller than 10lbs. Coils yes, spools, no.

I know they USED to be Makerbot's supplier, the new plastic might be coming from another source

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

Have you googled "3mm abs welding rod manufacturer"

I found
[k-mac-plastics.net]

[www.villageplastics.com]

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FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

there are a lot of em on Google. I was looking for somebody with experience. I gave in and called village plastics, and they might be willing to get small spools in depending on quantity.

I wonder how much filament Makerbot sells a month...

Maybe a better place to start is with spool manufacturers. You probably want to ask for the snap-together kind.

In college, many many years ago, a temp agency sent me to work at a textile spool manufacturer. They had two injection mold machines cranking out the disks, and a guy in the corner cutting pipe to size. He also got to operate the seam welder. Me and three other poor souls were tasked with snapping together the parts (hot, hot, hot!), and stacking them on a palette for welding. I.t was a 12 hour shift with two 10 minute breaks, and a half hour for lunch.

It was clear to me that no one in the building had greater than a 9th grade education. Nice folks all the same. They were really impressed with my work ethic, and asked me to return the next day. I graciously declined.

New Image is local to me so I deal pretty much exclusively with them for abs. Fantastic price and quality

If you're talking 50lbs. minimum, you may want to get set up with a plastics resin supplier (Entec, Chase Plastics, Nexeo, etc.) and then have a local extruder run the material for you. That way you can get the exact material you want if Chi Mei PA-747 isn't your cup of tea.

Village Plastics still makes Makerbot filament as far as I know (http://support.makerbot.com/attachments/token/flymr4qerqhecnk/?name=MSDS-abs-villageplastics.pdf). Just because Village doesn't wind onto spools smaller than 10lbs. doesn't mean that Makerbot doesn't take 50lb. spools and have them wound onto smaller reels at another company... (pure speculation on my part - I have no idea what they do).

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[haveblue.org]

The Chi Mei PA-747 has served me pretty well so far, since that is what makerbot is using. However, I do dry all my filament and run it at 240 instead of 270.

I may play with some other types of abs in the future, but for now I know for sure the makerbot stuff works very well and is easy to obtain.

I'm still looking for the perfect Hobby support material, too. In case you have any suggestions.


I've been reading the haveblue blog for a few months now and really like it, btw. Lots of good stuff.

I don't yet have any suggestions for support material, though you could certainly try HIPS. If you can run 0.070", I have a few pounds left of the stuff I got from New Image (my Stratasys doesn't like it - keeps buckling between the drive rollers and liquifier inlet).

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[haveblue.org]

Where are you located at?

Milwaukee, WI.

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[haveblue.org]

Pm Sent

And you can dissolve HIPS quite quickly with limonene, which doesn't dissolve ABS or PLA. I don't understand why Stratasys only used it for break away support.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Because it is a $5000 difference between the break away support model and the dissolve away support model

I'm getting the HIPS from Have Blue so I guess I'll need to get some limonene too if I can extrude it decently.

Andrew Diehl Wrote:
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> Because it is a $5000 difference between the break
> away support model and the dissolve away support
> model

Actually, the models are identical - the $5000 extra is to change the 'GENDER' variable in /mariner/config/machine.cfg from 'DIMENSION' to 'SCHOONER' for a 768 or 'OAHU' to 'KONA' for a 1200...

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[haveblue.org]

That is what I was trying to get at

Andrew Diehl Wrote:
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> That is what I was trying to get at

I figured as much, but I thought I'd let people in on the secret if they weren't aware of it...

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[haveblue.org]

My local manufacturer (Rainbot3d) sells filament by the kg in Fort Worth, TX. I've been buying 10 spools a month from them at $28 a piece and they keep providing solid results and their filament is reliable from what I can tell with my prints. They have ABS and PLA and they say their available worldwide and in large quantities.


There website is rainbot3d.com