ABS printing

Switch box that has also a relay

I have been printing with PLA plastic for over a year and recently thought of trying ABS, which is better for some purposes (does not soften in hot sunlight.) It is supposedly more difficult to print because it needs higher temperatures and it warps easier off the surface that it is being printed on.

I designed a case for the transformer component

First, the glass surface that is being printed on has to be heated not to about 60 degrees celcius but up to 110. The default heater of Velleman K8200 printer could go up to only 70 degrees so I decided to add a relay box and switch, which allows using more voltage, resulting in more heat because the resistance of the heater stays the same. I found an old transformer that can provide 26 volts with 5 amps, well enough and a huge improvement to default 15 volts. It does not matter that it is AC because it is only used for heating, and AC is actually easier for a relay to handle. The maximum temperature was then 117 degrees, well enough.

Slightly warped object

Printing ABS was possible, but the objects kept warping. Applying acetone mixed with some ABS creates substance that, when applied over the glass, fixes most of the warping issues so it became possible to print most objects as they are. The ratio I used was 1000mg of ABS put into 100ml of acetone. The ABS pieces melted in about one hour of room temperature and it was ready to be used.

Final problem is, that printing ABS produces vapors that smell bad and they are slightly toxic. With PLA there is none of that. I solved it by moving the printer to a well ventilated area (a finnish sauna) and also placed activated carbon filter and ventilation fan next to it, which filters the fumes produced over the printer.

Air filtering and the printer in well ventilated space