I have some filament that is supposedly ABS but does not print well with the settings I normally use for ABS. It all around seems like it’s not ABS, it cuts, breaks, and adheres differently. Is there an easy way to check what the material actually is? I’m suspicious that it is something else that got mislabeled as ABS. Any help will be appreciated.
Does it look like the type of plastic you find in a lego? If not, it’s probably not actually ABS. Depending on the supplier you can also run into the even worse “cheap ABS with filler crap” that is technically ABS, but is mostly sawdust and mealamine powder.
I don’t think its a matter of quality since it was bought from a reputable source. It’s hard to tell by eye since legos are injection molded, their appearance is a bit different than a printed part. I have ABS that doesn’t look any more like legos than any other random piece of colored plastic, so I really don’t believe I’ll be able to visually determine the type. Does PLA and HIPS dissolve the same way as ABS does in acetone?
No. HIPS dissolves in a limonene solution. PLA will not dissolve in any chemical I have been able to find, unfortunately. So, a good test for ABS is to drop some of it in acetone and see what happens.