RepRap: Blog

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) works really well in the RepRap extruder. Its melting point is 105°C which is less than HDPE so it does not stress the extruder as much thermally. It is harder than HDPE and PCL so it is quite tricky to get enough motor torque without the clutch slipping. Loosening the top springs on the pump and tightening only the bottom springs helps as well as lubricating the filament with oil.

Its warping is a lot less than HDPE and a bit more than PCL, but the main advantages are that the die swell is low and the filament is very compliant. It follows the head movement accurately even when extruding 0.5mm filament at 16mm/s. That gives objects good definition and sharp corners.



It is also much harder than the other two plastics and makes very rigid objects.

Read all the details here: hydraraptor.blogspot.com/2008/04/absolution and for comparison my evaluation of PCL is here: hydraraptor.blogspot.com/2008/03/chalk-and-cheese.

Labels: ABS