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Review on HATCHBOX ABS Filament for 3D Printers by Ben Walls

Revainrating 5 out of 5

More temperamental than other hatchbox ABS materials, but with excellent build quality and durability.

Before moving on to the negative points, it is worth emphasizing the positive qualities of the product. and why i like it. As ABS is difficult to print on, Hatchbox ABS is usually quite durable and offers very good value for money. If you want to create durable materials and are willing to do some filament and stress testing, you absolutely can do it to print nice parts that will stand up to abuse, but you have to test the material. As ABS, he suffers on the same level. will warp and shrink like any other 3D printed ABS material. You need a solid heatbed that can get up to 100°C to even consider printing this, and cold spots in your heatbed or a lack of warm air during printing can cause shrinkage. It's a good idea to have a case around your printer, as well as a decent heatbed to even think about ABS printing. Also, this particular color is a bit more difficult to work with than the black, gray and white ABS I had from the same company. The temperature tolerances for this particular color are much tighter, so printing above 210°C will result in print quality issues as well as filament burning. Sometimes I just have brown spots or streaks as if the filament had been in the hot end for too long but never had such a problem with white filament. I did some serious testing on my prints (photos included to show progress) because I was struggling to get a decent bridge or bar shape out of the box. For some reason this material leaked like hell and this was especially noticeable when trying to patch even small gaps. This is not consistent with the flow rate and actually had more severe droplet problems when the flow rate was reduced. I have the final settings below, but after about 30-40 extreme overlap tests I was able to understand the tolerances of this material. Unfortunately I also had some first layer adhesion issues and I'm not sure if it is related to the paint and dye used or not, but using a 2mm border pretty much has all the issues with the first layer removed. The settings I went with are listed below, your mileage may vary so I recommend running temperature and bridge tests if you are having trouble. Slicer: PrusaSlicer 2.3.0 Printer: Prusa Mini (DIY, unofficial) Case: Yes First layer temperature: 235 °C Every second layer temperature: 210 °Cheatbed: 100 °C (all layers) Bridge fan speed: 75% Normal Fan Cooling: 25% (always on) Bridge Pressure Velocity: 25 mm/s Bridge Flow Rate: 0.75

Pros
  • Recommended extrusion/nozzle temperature 210-240°C (410-464°F), recommended for use with heated build platform
Cons
  • No automatic mode