My ABS won't dissolve into Acetone?

I have orange ABS bought from a local in Australia here.

I'm trying to make the ABS Juice as described here [forums.reprap.org] but the ABS won't dissolve. Within abotu an hour it colours the acetone orange and leaves a more lighter coloured gooey plastic settled on the bottom of the jar. After 12 hours its still the same. If I shake it up the settled plastic bounces around and turns into a ball. It doesn't dissolve into the acetone and the acetone allways is clear and can be seen through.

Am I doing something wrong? Or is this because the ABS I have is different to some that people use to make ABS Juice?


Thank you,

Have you tried white ABS? That works great for me. or try some of your extruder purging strings.

I only have orange as I am still new to the Reprap and I bought a 1.5kg spool of orange!

Also the stuff I have tried to dissolve has been scrap left overs, mostly thin strands of the ABS.

The settled ABS in the acetone solution is very soft and gluggy, wondering if maybe I should just smear that on the glass?

Your acetone solution may already be fully saturated with ABS. Only so much ABS can be dissolved per amount of Acetone. The solution turned orange, which shows that at least some ABS dissolved. If you add more acetone the rest of the ABS may dissolve, but if you have no solid ABS left your solution is not as concentrated.

I tried smearing some of the melted ABS on the glass bed. The print would not stick at all to it. Might get some kapton tape as this is getting annoying. I was told by the person I bought my kit off of that they printed just straight to glass and the parts that came in the kit look good with no curling or warpage. Not sure what I have done differently...

I tried less ABS, about 10mm of filament to 30ml of acetone. Still left settlement ABS in the bottom of the jar and coloured orange but clear acetone.

See this picture

Are you sure you're using pure acetone, and that the filament you have is ABS?

This in the filament I have [www.ebay.com.au]

I am using Diggers Acetone, 100%. [www.recochem.com.au]

You will get some sediment IME with colored ABS.
I just give the bottle a swirl, poor it on the glass and spread it out with either a brush or a cotton wool ball.

But I was of the opinion that the abs should go milky when shaken up? Mine stays very clear and the sediment just floats around.

Oubviously something is wrong here Phizinza, either the acetone or the plastic.

Check this for a good example of abs juice: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tbuser/4380688013/

Do you see were he mentions how surprised he is how much abs can be dissolved in a small quantity of acetone? and that it only takes a few minutes to dissolve?

I suggest you troubleshoot your issue by finding some other source of ABS and trying to dissolve it. Look in your trash or recycling for this logo http://www.earthodyssey.com/imagesRecycle/abs.gif and test your acetone with it.

Either you got a bad batch of acetone or your filament is not what it seems to be. Use a lighter to burn a small peice of filament, if it smells like sugar you have PLA. Maybe he shipped the wrong thing.

ABS smells like bad when burning, smells like what youd expect a palstic fire to smell (chemical).

Hi Phizinza,
If you want some more examples, I can chuck some failed ABS pieces amounting to maybe 1" cubed into a jar with 1" of acetone in it and it will dissolve completely into a thick liquid over night.
You will have to do more experimenting to figure out which one isn't quite right, the acetone or the ABS. I use acetone being sold in a Hairdresser Supply Shop. It's labelled "acetone". It doesn't say much else on the bottle. They tell me it's used for removing false nails! It's great stuff for dissolving ABS. (avoid the 'nail polish remover'. It's useless for dissolving ABS.)
Regards,
NumberSix

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[numbersixreprap.blogspot.com]

I pulled a picec of black ABS out of an old laser printer. It was labeled with >ABS< stamped into it. Through a tiny piece of it in 30ml of acetone and it has completely dissolved leaving the acetone foggy and not see through. So it is proven that my "ABS" is not, or only partly ABS. I lit some of the Orange ABS on fire and it smelt pretty bad, just like I'd expect burning plastic to smell like. I did the same with the laser printer ABS and it smelt the same, maybe a little worse.

Do you think I should contact the seller and get an explanation or refund? Any suggestions of how to prove it is not real ABS other than explaining my acetone test?

First time I hear about ABS filament not dissolving... its strange.

It really sounds like your ABS is not standard. Maybe his plastic is mixed with some additives or other plastics? I dont know much about plastic past this point.

I would ask your seller about it he may be able to help. In the mean time make some ABS juice with printer parts so you can go through that filament.

If your seller wont admit something is wrong and/or help you, buy somewere else AND please write a review about his company and filament on this page http://reprap.org/wiki/Printing_Material_Suppliers

oh my ... i guess this is one of those that we are all afraid of ...

suppliers that do not supply what it is suppose to be ...

Have you tried a sugar solution? It works well for me. About a tablespoon in half a cup of hot water.

I also add a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid which seems to help for getting the old sludge off.

I haven't, no. But I will try that once I've printed my spool holder. So the dishwash goes into the sugar syrup?

... for good adhesion on the bed you can use beer / malt-beer or hairspray too

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

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

Any ABS will work try a LEGO blok in acetone

I read that Lego was ABS... I just can't bring myself to melt any of my childhood Lego!

I have the same problem with abs melting but not completely dissolving in acetone

I left it 24 hours, some of it is melt as the acetone is now thicker, but a big sludgy stuff is on the bottom. i stirred it a bit and left it a bit more but the sludgy stuff doesnt dissolve.

in your experience how many hours did the ABS took to dissolve and did it dissolve completely??

If it is a thick piece it can take more than 24 hours to dissolve. To make ABS juice I use very thin pieces. Usually the corner guards I use to prevent corners lifting that are only two filaments thick.

To accelerate it you can put it on the bed of a machine and program it to go backwards and forwards to shake it and also heat it a bit to speed up the reaction.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

I've got the same problem with some black ABS off ebay. The white from the same seller worked perfect. The black was also very weak, with very poor adhesion between layers.

I have some ABS filaments from ebay that not only doesn't completely dissolve in acetone well. It also jammed my hotend. And it is brittle! It seems like they have additives and not pure ABS, even with the NATURAL ABS that I bought. So be careful where you buy your ABS from.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2013 05:02PM by DanMoto.

Phizinza, skip the toxic ABS juice and go for a glue stick like the ones you used in grade school. I clean my glass with isopropyl alcohol until it squeaks, let that evaporate, and then apply a thin even coat of the glue stick to the glass. It doesn’t seem to matter if you let it dry at room temp or throw it on the bed during heat up, ABS seems to stick either way.

Hairspray worked excellent on PLA for me, but not so much for ABS. With hairspray and ABS, one corner and/or side of the object always curls up before the fifth layer is printed.

This said, I have only tried printing ABS parts on glue stick where 60% or better of the part is touching the bed. I haven't tried any of those prints where only 20% of the part is touching the bed and its 100mm tall.

I have been printing for a few months now, and have never had to dissolve any filament into acetone. So perhaps you can solve your problem another way? Is the real problem that you can't get your prints to stick to the glass? I found that heating my bed up hotter (esp when using ABS), putting painter's masking tape on the surface, and making sure that the head was close enough to smear the first layer down well did the trick.

KT

A post on another thread suggest that all glass isn't made equal and I suspect its true. The window pane glass from my local Lowes seems to be too smooth or something. I can't print on it naked.

kdtop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been printing for a few months now, and
> have never had to dissolve any filament into
> acetone. So perhaps you can solve your problem
> another way? Is the real problem that you can't
> get your prints to stick to the glass? I found
> that heating my bed up hotter (esp when using
> ABS), putting painter's masking tape on the
> surface, and making sure that the head was close
> enough to smear the first layer down well did the
> trick.
>
> KT

Oh, My ABS juice attempt using nail varnish remover has sat two or three days in a jar now and the pieces of 'ABS' filament are deformed and stuck to eachother but not dissolved. Varnish remover is still clear looking. Also noticed the cheap chinese ABS snapped off the spool in my hand with a very low force applied, is it not supposed to be that brittle?

i might try pure acetone, but am now tempted by 'glue stick method' and maybe 'sugar method'. I have some sugar and I dont have any money, so it seems a good idea.

I found supplying a very thin layer of glue stick glue by wetting the glue and doing several passes gives me good adhesion and a smooth bottom surface.

The new abs i have does dissolve, but isn't nearly as strong our flexible as the orange stuff...

Hi folks -
I realize this is an old thread but I thought it would help to post here anyway,
because I'm just as frustrated with the acetone / filament mixture mystery myself.
I also have the same issue - my filament will flat out not dissolve in acetone and behaves
the same way after a full day of soaking. It turns to jelly like sticky blobs in the bottom of the acetone cup.
When you try to stir it up with a small stick, it just smears onto the sides but not dissolved. My brand of filament SHAXON is
from Fry's electronics here in Woodland Hills, CA. It's labled as BLACK ABS - 1.75mm from Shaxon Industries - made in China (like everything else).
What I think is happening is the the filament is actually PVC based (like the plumbing pipe) or similar which can be attacked or etched with acetone but not
completely dissolved. I tried using PVC plumbing pipe PRIMER - it worked great. However it's totally purple in color, horribly smelly and full of noxious fumes.
But it dissolved quickly and worked great as a "juice" mixture. I tried the previous poster's suggestions and used one of my son's Lego blocks in a small cup of acetone
to prove this theory. It dissolved immediately in just plain acetone. So, in conclusion, nowhere does it state on my filament package anything else but "ABS" but buyer beware -
it may be a actually PVC (i think)

cheers! - much respect - jdmech