ABS juice

I'm trying to make some ABS juice as I'm having trouble getting my prints to stick (ABS on heated glass, 110-115 degrees C). I put 10mm of black ABS in 10ml of acetone ("nail polish remover" from Wilkinsons) but it hasn't dissolved after several days. What am I doing wrong?

Gerv

Interesting that one - I had the same thing with some ABS which I bought several months ago - never seemed to dissolve much in acetone so I stopped trying to use it to get my ABS prints to stick and went back to Kapton on glass. That particular ABS extrudes without bother at pretty much the same temperature as my PLA so I am not too sure of its composition - I understand that things called ABS are not necessarily all the same! (I got it from a company in London who sell CD writing equipment and at the time were frequent EBay sellers).

I still have quite a quantity of that filament in a variety of colours but in 1.75mm diameter for my RepRapPro Huxley. Since then, I have built one of Nophead's MENDEL 90 kits and have purchased a reel of natural ABS from GRRF. I have not tried printing with it yet but in preparation, cut a length into small pieces and bunged it in a half full bottle of Nail Varnish remover from the local Pound shop. This dissolved overnight so I guess it is all down to the chemical make up of the ABS filament.

Alan

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2012 09:45AM by Alzibiff.

I think all ABS will dissolve in acetone, so the most likely explanation is that it isn't ABS or the nail polish remover isn't acetone. Does it smell of pear drops?

Acetone doesn't dissolve PLA but it does have a bizarre effect on it: [hydraraptor.blogspot.co.uk].

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

I tried to make ABS juice with nail polish remover from a local supermarket, but it wouldn't dissolve. I went to Home Depot and bought actual acetone, and it dissolved just fine. I think nail polish remover has other ingredients that dilute the acetone. Try getting the real stuff.

The acetone from hardware supply stores is usually dirt cheap and comes in bottles of 1L or so. I pay like 4 or 5€ per Liter. Since you will need it regularly anyway, getting one bottle from there is a sensible thing to do. Also, it should be "pure" acetone (pure as in no additives, it is extremely hygroscopic, thus will take up some air humidity IIRC) instead of products with unknown additives.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2012 01:09PM by uGen.

There are definitly types of "ABS" around that don't dissolve in acetone. At least not fully.

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Detlef

Excalibur Hotend

reprapclean32.png

reprapzone.blogspot.de

The problem is probably with the 'nail polish remover'. It doesn't contain very much acetone. I tried the same thing starting out, but when I switched to some acetone I got from a hair salon supply shop it dissolved the ABS straight away. The new container was labelled "acetone", not "nail polish remover".

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[numbersixreprap.blogspot.com]

OK. I'll get some real acetone and try again :-)

Gerv