I have generally had pretty good luck with abs. I have been working with abs from Matterhackers and wyzworks. I do get the occasional lifting, which I am hoping will get solved when I finish my enclosure.
Recently I picked up a couple rolls of ABS from voltivo. Now, typically I will let a part cool for a half-hour, and it has released itself. This Excelfil is stuck to the bed like it’s been epoxied. My next print will raise the zstop a little, but I have to remember, because when I do that and leave it, the other abs tends to come loose from the bed while printing. I had the taz really dialed in to be just what the first layer should be, but this new filament is surprising in its adhesion. It is the arctic silver color. I think I’ll try the black roll I got and see if I see the same adhesion properties. Has anyone seen different behavior between brands?
Yeah. There are definitly more than one way to make ABS plastic pellets. The cheapest fillament often comes from China, and has filler all through it. Melamine powder being the most common one, or sometimes Talc or similar. You can usually tell the crappy stuff because it is really brittle on the roll, and it never prints well at all. I have 3 small rolls of cheap stuff that I don’t think I could give away, it’s just that lousy. Even the good stuff often have different properties depending on how much colorant was used, if they used recycled fillament pieces in the mix, etc.
The other variable can be the width of the fillament itself. They vary in size. I’ve seen as small as 2.60mm to 3.2mm for fillaments that were supposed to be around 3.00mm. the most common is 2.85mm, but if you switch from a lower diameter fillament to a larger diameter one and don’t notice it, you can end up with different layer adhesion due to over or underextruding.
The last variable is the color of the fillament. Different color additives melt differently. Neutral ABS tends to melt a little cooler than colored ABS, and all the different colors seem to have different melt points and properties. It’s always good to play with new fillament and use a range of temperatures to see what works best. For me, I find that blue takes a little more heat than dark green, red takes more than either, Black takes about the same temperature as the Dark Green, Neutral takes about 5 degrees less, and I don’t event want to talk about gray fillament, which apperently hates me.
Instead of using the z-endstop knob (and altering your dialed in parameters), try the z-offset gcode in your slicer software when using the new filament. Use .1 to .3, this will raise the nozzle and should lower the adhesion of the new filament.
I typically stick with one brand… eSUN is probably categorized as some of the cheaper Chinese ABS… but it prints great for me and the parts are strong. Amazon has a good selection for $25-$30. Even with the same brand, I have to tweak the filament temp and flow rate based on color. Black seems to differ the most… probably because more filler.