30. How to prevent warping while printing ABS?

Below are few tips that I gathered while trying to avoid warping with ABS prints.

• Bed Leveling: Level the bed to your best.
• Bed Adhesion Type: Use brim. If not working use raft. It helps with bed adhesion and even compensates for bad leveling.
• Controlled Temperature: Use enclosure to prevent wind draft and to keep ambient temperature constant.
• Bed Adhesion: Make sure the adhesion is very good. Sugar solution/hair spray/PEI/Glue stick — whatever gives you the best result, go for it.
• Clean bed: Make sure the build plate is clean. Use cleaning alcohol with a microfiber cloth.
• Bed Type: Use a glass bed, just avoid the possibility of a warped bed. Wait few more minutes to make sure the glass top and the base plate are at the same temperature.
• Temperature: Try increments of +5 degrees celsius starting from the beginning range of the filament specification. If the bed temperature is too high you may see a bigfoot. 230-degree celsius for nozzle and 100-degree celsius for bed is a good start
• Layer Height: There is a rule of thumb between layer height and the diameter of the nozzle. The maximum layer height is about 75% of the diameter of the nozzle and the minimum layer height about 25%. Read more about it here.
• Print Speed, Fan speed & Infill Type: Appropriate print speeds with proper wall thickness and fill can be more effective in avoiding splitting of the model layer. Print the first layer slow, no fan for at least 3 to 5 layers, and keep the fan setting low like 30–50% depending on your cooling setup. Fan speed being too strong will reduce layer bounding with ABS. Also, don’t use linear types of infill. Try honeycomb.
• Plugin: You may also try ‘TabAntiWarping’ plugin for Cura. It will add elements as rounded Tab to limit the warping effect in the print corner.

Hope this helps!

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