ABS - Shapeways

ABS

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

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Material Info
About
Color & Finishes
Technology
Material Properties
Description
Design Guidelines
Bounding Box
Walls
Wires
Details
Clearance
Sprues
Interlocking & Enclosed Parts
Multiple Parts
Accuracy
Related Materials

Material Info

About

ABS is a high-quality 3D printing filament designed for durability, impact resistance, and heat tolerance. It is an excellent choice for engineering prototypes, functional parts, and applications requiring toughness. With reliable performance and smooth surface finishes, ABS ensures professional results for a wide range of projects. A wide variety of colors is available and can be printed at request through our Sales team.

Parts are oriented by our team to balance strength, surface finish, and minimal supports. Final orientation is chosen for the best overall result.

Color & Finishes

White
Black
Custom

Print Mode - Light
Prints with 0.8mm Shell thickness and 15% Infill

Print Mode - Medium
Prints with 1.2mm Shell thickness and 35% Infill

Print mode - Strong
Prints with 1.6mm Shell thickness and 70% Infill

Print mode - Solid
Prints fully solid models

Technology

Material Properties

Description

A balanced engineering plastic for everyday functional parts—tough enough for jigs, clips, brackets, and housings.

Handles warm environments around ~100 °C service; suitable for enclosures and fixtures away from direct heat sources.

Easy to sand, drill, glue, and tap; compatible with acetone vapor smoothing for cosmetic surfaces (when required).

Not UV-stabilized—ideal for indoor applications; for long-term outdoor exposure choose ASA instead.

Design Guidelines

Bounding Box

The bounding box is a 3D imaginary outline of a box that encloses the smallest area occupied by your model. Your model must be within the minimum and maximum bounding box sizes. If the size of the model is close to the maximum bounding box, then the printing orientation will be restricted.

Walls

A supported wall is connected at least on two sides of the wall, while an unsupported wall is connected only on one side of the wall. Walls that do not meet the minimum requirements may not survive printing and cleaning processes. Additionally, models may still be rejected based on the wall geometry of the model. Please consider the size of your model and reinforce the walls or add support structures as needed as minimum guidelines will not always be adequate for large models.

Wires

A wire is a circular, rectangular or even triangular feature that is thinner in its unconnected directions than its length. A supported wire is connected at least on two sides of the model, while an unsupported wire is connected on one side of the model. Wires that do not meet the minimum requirements may not survive printing and cleaning processes. Additionally, models may still be rejected based on the wire geometry of the model. Please consider the size of your model and reinforce the wires or add support structures as needed as minimum guidelines will not always be adequate for large models.

Details

For text, the ratio between width and depth, should be 1:1 and sans-serif fonts are preferred for line weight consistency.

Clearance

Clearance is the space between two individual parts in a model. If the space among the individual parts do not meet the minimum clearance, then parts can fuse together or can be difficult to clean. This is important for movable pieces like hinges, gears, etc.

Sprues

Sprues are wires that keep two or more parts together. Parts should be connected with a minimum of two sprues each. Please consider the size of your sprues and increase them as needed as minimum guidelines will not always be adequate for large models. If the sprues are within the guidelines and are broken, but there is no damage to your model, we will still ship them as is.

Interlocking & Enclosed Parts

Multiple Parts

Not supported

Accuracy

±0.1 mm to ±0.3 mm

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