The heat-tolerant classic — printed in heated chambers so it doesn't warp, and the only material that vapour-smooths to a sealed, glossy, moulded-looking surface.
ABS is the engineering plastic everyone knows — LEGO, car interiors, power-tool housings. It takes heat to 98 °C, machines and sands beautifully, and bonds with common solvents. The catch is that ABS hates printing cold: it shrinks as it cools and warps off open printers. Ours runs on vented, heated-chamber machines, which is the difference between ABS that works and ABS that banana-shapes.
Its party trick is vapour smoothing: a finishing pass that melts the outer surface into a sealed, glossy, water-tight skin that reads injection-moulded. Add it at quote time for $9.90 a part (incl. GST).
Parts that live near heat — enclosures for warm electronics, under-bonnet brackets out of direct engine heat
Housings that want a moulded look (vapour smoothed)
Parts you'll machine, drill, tap or solvent-bond after printing
Tough, scuff-tolerant handles and guards
UV degrades it outdoors — ASA is the same family, sun-proofed
Shrinks the most of our materials: expect the looser end of tolerance on big flat parts
Layer adhesion is good but below PETG — orient for the load
Vapour smoothing rounds crisp edges slightly — allow for it on display faces
Large flat ABS parts want rounded corners and ribs to manage shrink — see the walls guide; consistent wall thickness matters more in ABS than anything else we run.
Vapour smoothing seals micro-gaps between layers, so smoothed ABS enclosures are effectively splash-proof.
If your dimension matters after smoothing, tell us — we compensate critical bores before printing.
Boxes for power supplies, LED drivers, chargers — places PLA sags and PETG gets nervous.
Vapour-smoothed ABS is the closest FDM gets to an injection-moulded production part, at quantity one.
ABS drills, taps and files like a dream — print near-net, finish critical features by hand.
Same family, two jobs: ABS for indoor heat and vapour smoothing, ASA for anything that lives in the sun — it keeps colour and toughness under UV.
On open printers, yes — that's why we run it in vented, heated chambers only. Design-wise, rounded corners and even wall thickness keep big parts flat.
It melts the outer ~0.1 mm into a continuous glossy skin: layer lines vanish, the surface seals water-tight, and the part looks moulded. $9.90 per part (incl. GST) at quote time.
Upload an STL, STEP or 3MF, pick ABS in the configurator, and the price reprices live — GST included, dispatch date shown before you pay.