ABS printed really nice asthetically

So I printed my first piece with 3Dpc ABS filament. it looks really good with some small defects. the sides look fantastic for example but the strength between layers is not as strong as the same part in PETG, these were sliced in Prusaslicer at a 0.3 layer height. the Cura setting for the PETG one was 0.2, so thinner lines.

At the Z seam, One side of it is really good the other side. seems to not align very well but I think this is a result of the bottom surface being warped. the bottom surface is very slightly warped and where it lifted from the bed it’s not as smooth. sort of fish scale looking.

It was cold in the shop so I printed with a draft shield. 80° bed 215° nozzle. I also inadvertently left ironing on so the top looks really good.

Any tips to make it better?

Increasing temps seemed to work but the bottoms still don’t look good although they are perfectly flat. Here is grey abs and white petg for examples.

You managed to print ABS at 215°C? I would think maybe around the 240 to 250 range might produce better first layer results with bed temp close to 100°C. An enclosure helps with the warpage too.

I did bump it to 220 and it produces nice prints but the bottom layers aren’t perfect so maybe I’ll try a little hotter for the 1st layer and see what I get. I also lowered the z offset a tiny bit like when I print petg and that may have helped. And bed is at 100° now

These have a really small footprint and look ok but I can still see some fish scales.

so I’m printing stuff I thought I would need in ABS because I have the opportunity to. The jar lids were ok even with the rough top it doesn’t matter. My wife wanted some hooks for her garden tools that won’t rust so I got a Thingiverse design and it’s supposed to print with no support. well, I can’t, there is too much overhang (62mm actually) on one part so I put support in for it and it worked ok except the print warped away from the support heh. again it doesn’t matter for this particular part but it sure is strong even with the defects. I’m going to make my own design with supports built in this time and see if I can make it better. Also, I’ve discovered I can’t smell the ABS melting. I suspected that I couldn’t, after visiting injection molding plants frequently while they were making ABS and couldn’t smell it then either.

I have a love-hate relationship with ABS. At the beginning I was printing without an enclosure and I had adhesion and warpage issues. I decided then to use the rest of the roll limited to smaller prints which took under an hour which provided less likelihood of the issues. Then, I built the enclosure and same settings, produced great results even for the larger and longer duration prints. If it wasn’t for the slight odor, this would be my goto filament, even over PETG because of the higher melting point. I have a small amount left on the roll and will probably use it to make a couple of spare fan shrouds for my MK3S.

i’m printing in an enclosure and I’m pretty sure I can tune out the little defects I’m seeing but this particular part is warping at the top of the print. I have it on supports and it’s thinner like an arm, not bulky, and it’s warping away from the supports. I have a feeling this might be because there is a lot of filament being added in such a small area. do you think changing the speed at that point in the print would help with the warping? some pauses between layers or something like that? I can;t decide if it’s getting too hot or cooling too quickly heh