ABS

Introduction

ABS (here) stands for Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. It is a kind of plastic. For example, car parts and Legos are made from ABS

See also: 3D printing and other articles in the 3D printing category

ABS in 3D printing

ABS comes in variants. It “is a copolymer made by polymerizing styrene and acrylonitrile in the presence of polybutadiene. The proportions can vary from 15 to 35% acrylonitrile, 5 to 30% butadiene and 40 to 60% styrene.” (Wikipedia)

Proportions + color pigments added will modify melting temperature and other behavior !

This implies that recommendations for your 3D printer only apply to the kind of ABS that was sold by the company (official recommendations) or that was bought by users (blogs, forums, wikis).

Links

Introductions

• ABS (Wikipedia)
• ABS (Wikipedia German)
• Stuff Dreams Are Made Of: ABS. (A short introduction at Thingverse)
• ABS (RepRap Wiki)

Discussions

• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that not all ABS is created equal

List of suppliers

• Printing Material Suppliers (RepRap Wiki)
• Filament supplier reviews

Do it yourself

• Filabot is a desktop extruding system, capable of grinding various types of plastics, to make spools of plastic filament for 3D printers. (not tested)