Compensating for ABS Shrinkage when Printing PETG

[John-Paul Hopman]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but in theory, ABS has a tendency to shrink after the plastic cools. A quick Google search suggested it can shrink up to 8% while another individuals tests showed zero shrinkage. But I have been doing a lot of InMoov browsing recently and noticed a few skulls with a clearly defined gap between skull plates where as my attempt at printing the skull in the past did not fit together anywhere near that well.

With the original InMoov printed in ABS, I was wondering if attempts to print in PLA or PETG should be scaled to 97-99% in the slicer for a better tolerance. This also introduces the possibility of holes being mis-aligned though, I am not quite sure how the scaling in slicers would work.

Just something I have been thinking about recently.

[RobotGuy6]

Your're over thinking this... Everything is relative... If you print in petg parts will fit relative as they would in PLA or ABS

[RobotGuy6]

... What your seeing is just variances in printers, cheap filament and printing technique... Some printers print more accurately than others... Also if parts warp (due to various reasons) they are not going to fit well. No matter what be prepared to do at least a little bit of post print processing like filing and sanding....

On Friday, February 10, 2017 at 4:15:28 PM UTC-5, John-Paul Hopman wrote:

[M erne]

What type printer do you have, does it have heated bed is it inclose are you using acetone to help keep it flat. I would increase your heat bed and your printers nozzle head.

My 3D printer suggested the nozzle head be 109°C in the heat bed 100°C however to keep from warping and separating I increase my nozzle head to 220 Celsius degrees in my heat bed to do 123 Celsius. my printer is also enclose however I wrap it with a heavy blanket to help keep the heat in this is made I can tremendous difference like robotguy6 said. you have to play with it and adjust things as you print to find out what the optimal printing service heat and nozzle heat are and the filament used .