How to print a 6" wheel in ABS?

Question

I'm using a Flashforge Pro and attempting to print a wheel about 6mm thick to serve as a platform. In other words, the wheel doesn't have to be solid, but spokes won't do the job. I've experimented with different temperatures, but, because of ABS' thermal expansion, I don't think that will solve the problem. Also tried putting lots of 2mm holes in the wheel. I've considered other designs for the interior, but doubt that would be a solution. Has anyone tried using different print paths, i.e. actually altering the path that the slicer suggests? (grasping at straws) Thanks for your suggestions.

Answer 1

If you can, set your slicer to do honeycomb fill. Depending on the weight requirement choose maybe 10% - 20% fill. That ought to do the trick. It won't be solid, but it should be strong enough.

What are you going to put on the platform?

Answer 2

I had pretty much this exact situation when printing a disk for a rocket avionics bay. It seemed to come down to getting the basics of bed adhesion: Heat bed, ABS temp, bed composition, and a "primer" layer. I found the FF Creator Pro to work well with a bed at 110, filament at 230, printing on a glass plate with ABS slurry. Then adding the brim 6 orbits wide held it down very well. I found that printing on the stock FF blue plastic was inconsistent with adhesion. Also, keep the door closed while printing and for something this size don't run the cooling fan (if you're printing on the left nozzle).

And, of course, the right infill helps with the thermal contraction and strength. I found through testing that the rectilinear patter in S3D gave the best structural support in multiple dimensions. I also end up typically printing infill at about 15% to ensure a good surface on the upper face. Any lower and I found a lot of sagging in the top finish.

If you're using this as a platform, then the layer size matters a lot also. You don't need .10mm layers, as .25mm or .20mm layers would probably work better. Then make sure you print enough top layers to get a good finish. At .20mm I usually print 4 top layers with a 15% infill.

Answer 3

So you just want a short, wide cylinder? Just print that, with low density infill (20-30%) and 6-8 solid top layers, three bottom, and three perimeters, and you'll be fine. For bed adhesion with something this wide, use a 10mm brim, one layer thick. And a heated chamber will help a lot.