After quite a bit of experience with consumer 3D printers, I have found that parts can occasionally come up off of the build plate or “delaminate.” Does anyone know any good tips for keeping this from happening? I know about CubeStick, and it works for most things, but I’m inquiring about other solutions, mainly for ABS.
My dad and I had reasonable success (with PLA) dialing DOWN the print bed temperature a bit. I think we were running 60 C while the “standard” was 70 C. We were also running a very “cool” print tip, 5 C above the PLA melt point (default was something like 15 C higher than that).
Again, this is for PLA, but I think it’s a plausible solution for warping.
For parts coming off the plate, we found that often that was the plate surface-- moving the print location tended to help out. (We think the Kapton was starting to wear out a bit.) Also, that’s a problem when parts are warped more than when they aren’t; fixing the warping should help. (Again, this is PLA parts, not ABS, but the theory may transfer.)
I use Aqua Net hairspray and it works amazingly! I use a glass build platform (Replicator 2) without tape, without the spray I cant get my PLA to stick, but with Aquanet it works every time. Works for ABS and nylon as well.
If your bed isn’t enclosed you might have a bad time. That is the biggest issue with warping in my experience. You can also mitigate it by printing with rafts on or by adding circles to the corners and then cutting them off after the print. With ABS there’s always going to be a little warping, if you can’t tolerate the warping consider doing secondary operations on the part (be mindful of wall thickness and infill here.
ABS does not warp is printed correctly. Our school printer, the Dimension 1200ES rarely exhibits warping. However, it could be because that printer is like $10,000!
Did you read the OP or do you just like to see yourself post?
That particular model of printer prints with a dissolve-able support material which most consumer grade printers do not. This no doubt alleviates a lot of the issues that cause warping on cheaper printers in addition to the other features it likely has (thermally controlled build environment, better manufacturing tolerances, etc.). To compare a commercial grade 3D printer to consumer grade one is really not a fair comparison.
Also, its a $24,900+ printer. 
I agree with Andrew about having the bed enclosed, but printers like the ones mentioned above do not have enclosed spaces and lose a lot of heat, so they warp… Although what do you suggest for secondary operations? Printing more and then cutting away plastic? What sort of parameters have worked for you in the past concerning infill and such?
Yeah we have access to several Stratasys machines, which never delaminate, but I am trying to find a reliable solution for ABS in consumer printers, such as the cube or makergear… And with PLA, I have found that blue painter’s tape works amazingly well and you don’t have to replace it every print. Hair spray has kind of worked for me in the past but I haven’t tried that Aqua Net brand yet… Maybe this is a dumb idea, but is it possible to find the amount of heat lost in the plastic and maybe keep that environment around the part at a stable temperature with a heat lamp or something? Just a thought.
I print at 15% infill and 4 wall layers. Seems to work well on my Replicator2x. I use .15mm layer height. As for secondary operations, if you need a FLAT surface don’t reply on printing, mill it down. If your holes need to be exact sizes ream/drill it out. If your part needs to be round chuck it up on the lathe. We have tools that are REALLY good at doing certain jobs, use them.
As for them not having enclosed spaces - You’ve got cardboard and binder clips handy? I’m serious, just stop air flowing over the part as much and you’ll be much better off. Optimally? Stick the printer in one of those styrofoam coolers. It’ll hold all the heat and make sure your part cools evenly.
Awesome advice! Thank you!
Most of the bases seem to be covered. Tape, enclosed print space, spray, check temperatures, etc.
Some forums advocate the use of nylon filament over ABS, (sorry no links at the moment), but I don’t have any experience with that. Someone who does extrude nylon should chime in…
We covered our original bed with a flat piece of aluminum sheet metal, and then a layer of replaceable duct tape. It gets replaced every 2-3 prints.
What tips do you have for people without a heated bed? We have a BFB 3000 from our school, which has a HUGE print volume, and dual extruders, but no heated bed…
Glass build plate sprayed with hair spray is what I’ve heard works wonders. Never tried it myself since I have the heated bed.
As for Nylon filament: http://www.amazon.com/Taulman-618-Natural-Filament-Printer/dp/B00BGMM8TW I have a sample of this I’ve been meaning to run for a bit, haven’t gotten around to it.
It does work wonders. Once I started using hairspray my parts stopped wobbling off the print bed. I was finally able to print a full scale NFL trophy for my friend’s fantasy league. Just be sure to clean and re-apply when the glass is COLD - even if you don’t burn yourself, the hairspray isn’t as effective if applied when the glass is hot.
I also added a layer of Spiral-On cork insulating tape between the heated bed circuit and the wood base plate (was a 1/4" air gap before). I left the paper on the tape, then ‘stuck’ the tape to some sturdy card stock paper so the whole thing stayed thin. This stopped an issue I had (anomaly, really) where the bed couldn’t stay at 110C for printing with ABS since it’s in my basement (~67-68 degrees ambient, usually). I used the extra tape (lots left over, ha) to insulate the pipes coming off my hot water heater, which made my wife happy.
You can also use a translucent plastic storage container.
Remove the lid and use the bottom as a box over the printer.
If you can find one that’s on the clear side you can even see the printer work inside it.
Enclose the space and run a temperature control on a low wattage incandescent light bulb like an Easy Bake Oven.
Convection will heat the entire space soon enough.
Plus when the bulb is on it’ll light the build area (till someone closes the fridge door :)).