Printing ABS with FLSUN Q5

 After a few months owning the FLSUN Q5 printer, I only recently obtained acceptable results with ABS.

ABS is notoriously more difficult to manage than PLA and my first attempts with left overs filaments from an old 3D pen have all been disappointing, no matter the print bed and nozzle temperatures or even the speed.

I eventually gave up until I ordered, by mistake, a big 1kg reel of ABS instead of PLA! 

I had no choice but try to make the best out of it...

Platform adhesion: RAFT, not BRIM

While a brim is often sufficient with TPU and PLA (even skirt is fine for this one), with ABS, the raft is a requirement to keep the base from curling off the print bed. 

I recommend to stick to the Raft default settings in Cura. It's tempting to reduce the surface size (Raft Extra Margin), the layers thickness and the raft print speed because all this takes a significant amount of time but in my tests this always resulted in the model traveling away with the extruder at some point!

Other factors

There's not a fit-all  temperature of course and the particular ABS reel I used recommended a nozzle temp between 230-250°C. 

I managed to print with most other ABS filaments with a nozzle temp of 235°C (455°F)and the print bed at 105°C (221°F). 

Finally, the speed. I reduced it slightly, 50mm/s instead of the max available on Q5 which is 60mm/s.

Don't breath this...

Dilemma #1: You need  to ventilate the room from the toxic ABS fumes and at the same time don't want any draft to interfere with the printing. 

Dilemma #2: stay away from the room while the ABS is being melted, and comply with the important rule of any 3D print job: keep an eye on it!