Another ABS printing help.

Printing with ABS for the first time. Got warping. I dont really understand how to mess with temperatures. Tried printing with Extruder temp 215-230C. Same thing happens.
Settings:
Prusa i3
215-230C extruder
HPB 110C
everything else is standard. 0.35mm nozzle size. first layer 0.35. all layers 0.2. infill 0.3.

I don't have as much of a problem with PLA. Everything works out very well. Now I'm trying to print ABS and am failing on every single print. Sigh..
My machine is calibrated. All dimensions come out spot on, but it is warping on the first 1cm layers or so. Looks like it's shrinking.

I had that same issue early on. Drop the temp of the heated bed to around 90c, some people say set it to 110c for first layer then drop to 80c but a flat 90c works for me.

[reprap.org] look about half way down the page where it says Part Temperature, Too hot, That black box was mine. At that time I had no controller for my heated bed, it was either on (110c) or off, so that test was done by letting it heat up then turning it off after the first layer. My theory is that the constant high heat is shrinking the printed layers, the bottom is stuck down so there is resistance so it squeezes a bit higher up causing the girdle like look and this also pry's the corners off the bed.

Thanks let me try that. I love that page you referenced, but I think it needs to be updated with more tips like you just stated.
Do you know how to set temp for certain layers? I'm using Slic3r and don't see the section for that.

In Slic3r you go to Filament Settings and under Temperature there is the temperature settings for both the extruder and the bed (assuming your bed is controlled by your board and not just hooked straight up to 12v). There is a setting for First layer & Other layers.

My printer had no control for the bed (straight 12v) so I added an external PID controller like used for kilns and such.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2014 02:49PM by tmorris9.

Oh, and that page is fairly new, I don't know who set it up exactly but hopefully it will grow.

You were dead on about the heated bed making the bottom layers shrink. I print with bed at 80C and it's up to par. However, with such a low bed temp, my prints are now lifting corners. Brims are not helping. I'm going to try all the print tips to increase bed adhesion.

ABS Acetone slurry and making sure the first layer is squashed properly (very thin) is important to adhesion. You get the second part by making sure the nozzle is just barely off the glass, like the thickness of a sheet of copy paper off. This was it really pushes the filament into it. Also setting the first layer at about 50% of the print speed.

Thanks good help, my prints are coming out quite nice with ABS. I'm printing out parts to make another Prusa i3. Do you think I should print ABS all around or are there certain parts I should print with PLA and parts I should print with ABS? I couldn't find a guide to print parts for another printer.