It can be quite a task for a newcomer to successfully 3D print quality parts with ABS. While no material is exactly the same and the specifications vary, there are a few things that should definitely help:

• Enclose the printer: ABS is sensitive to drastic temperature changes, so make sure your 3D printer is enclosed. Remember to preheat the enclosure, also called a “heat soak” (keeping the bed at 100-110 °C for at least 30 minutes to warm up the enclosure) prior to printing.
• Use a heated bed: This is mandatory. ABS has a high thermal contraction, so when the first layer cools down it shrinks in volume, causing deformations like warping. With a heated bed at around 110 °C, ABS remains in a sort of rubbery state, allowing it to contract without deforming.
• Proper bed adhesion: It’s highly recommended to use a PEI build surface, which provides great adhesion even without additional adhesion agents. You can also consider using a brim for extra adhesion. If these still do not counter warping issues, try using an adhesion agent like a glue stick or ABS slurry.
• Fine-tune the cooling: The part-cooling fan blows air onto each layer for faster solidification, but for ABS, this can lead to warping. Try adjusting the cooling settings for the bare minimum necessary for bridging and to avoid stringing. For many desktop printers with an enclosure reaching 45 °C, 10-20% fan speed is a good start (up this value for hotter enclosures).

As a final tip before talking about the best brands, ABS requires special care during storage, as it’s a hygroscopic material (meaning it absorbs water). Moist filament is a pain to use, so try as much as possible to store ABS in a dry container when not in use. Trust us, you’ll be glad to skip the drying process!

So, now that we know what we’re doing with the material, let’s look at the best brands on the market.

Inland, a house brand of Micro Center, is a household name for affordable, high-quality, and reliable 3D printing filaments, and their ABS is no exception. Just like all their other filaments, Inland’s ABS comes in a 1-kg cardboard spool.

This filament has many positive reviews from users, with many indicating that it warps less than many other ABS filaments and encounters fewer layer delamination issues. With special color options that include Silk Blue and Sparkle Orange, this filament is definitely a great purchase for a humble price.

• Diameters: 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm
• Spool size: 1 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 80-110 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 240-260 °C
• Price: ~$18/kg

Inland ABS Filament

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Although Flashforge printers may evoke mixed opinions, their ABS Pro seems to fair well according to feedback from the maker community. Considering the low price point, this could be a good choice if you’re on a tight budget.

According to Flashforge, the “Pro” line of ABS filament differentiates itself by offering improved mechanical properties and less warping. It’s also said to be low-odor. ABS Pro comes in 1-kg spools with a handful of different colors to choose from.

• Diameter: 1.75 mm
• Spool size: 1 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 220-240 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 80-100 °C
• Price: ~$20/kg

Flashforge ABS Pro

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Sunlu might not be the most well-known filament brand around, but its ABS is definitely among the best. It comes in 1-kg spools with astonishing 25 different colors available.

It’s manufactured with Sunlu’s clog-free patent and is dried for 24 hours straight before packaging in a special aluminum foil. It’s all quite impressive for such an affordable filament, and the reviews appear to agree with it!

• Diameter: 1.75 mm
• Spool size: 1 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 230-270 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 80-120 °C
• Price: ~$22/kg

Sunlu ABS

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Overture 3D focuses on custom-designed 3D printing filaments. The American company offers a low-odor ABS with great quality and low warpage according to many users.

As an added bonus, every spool of Overture ABS comes with a special build surface for your 3D printer. It has a grid layout of 200 x 200 mm and provides excellent bed adhesion.

• Diameter: 1.75 mm
• Spool size: 1 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 245-265 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 80-100 °C
• Price: ~$24/kg

Overture ABS

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Gizmo Dorks is a US-based filament brand that offers a wide variety of ABS material. Besides the great number of colors available (21 in total), the Californian company also has what’s called “specialty” materials.

There’s the color-changeable ABS that’s heat-activated, changing from blue to white or green to yellow, for example. The fluorescent ABS glows under UV light, and the conductive ABS can be used for a bunch of interesting projects.

• Diameters: 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm
• Spool size: 1 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 220-240 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 110 °C
• Price: ~$22/kg

Gizmo Dorks ABS

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Polymaker is a Shanghai-based company that works solely with 3D printing filament. It offers a variety of rather special filaments such as PolySmooth and PolyCast.

Its PolyLite ABS is branded as a low-odor filament and is considered by users to be of high quality. According to Polymaker, it’s made of a special bulk-polymerized ABS with lower volatile content.

• Diameters: 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm
• Spool size: 1 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 245-265 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 90-100 °C
• Price: ~$23/kg

Polymaker Polylite ABS

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Hatchbox is an American filament manufacturer that offers a handful of quality 3D printing materials. Hatchbox’s ABS is one of its most popular filaments, especially for the price of around $25 per kilogram spool.

Our own review showed that Hatchbox ABS is of great quality overall and only slightly troublesome to print. The spools came well packed with a resealable bag and desiccant for storage between uses.

• Diameters: 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm
• Spool size: 1 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 210-240 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 55-85 °C
• Price: ~$24/kg

Hatchbox ABS

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eSun is a huge Chinese 3D printing company with a huge range of filament options, from regular PLA to metal-infused plastics, engineering-grade PEEK, and of course, the beloved ABS+.

ABS+ differs from regular ABS, as it’s designed to reduce thermal contraction and shrinkage – thus avoiding deformation such as warping.

However, the trade-off to this printing behavior seems to be a weaker layer adhesion and less temperature resistance compared to regular ABS, as reflected by the 10-15 °C lower heat deflection temperature (HDT) on its datasheet and user feedback.

• Diameters: 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm
• Spool sizes: 1 kg, 3 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 220-260 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 90-110 °C
• Price: ~$25/kg

eSun ABS+

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The Czech company Fillamentum is known for creating filaments that are considered unusual, to say the least. Some of the more out-there options include the color-changing Wizard’s Voodoo PLA and the Vinyl 303, a PVC-based 3D printing material.

Its Extrafill ABS line is straightforward enough, though, except by the naming: Each of the 13 colors comes with creative names such as Luminous Orange, Signal Blue, and Traffic Red.

• Diameters: 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm
• Spool sizes: 750 g, 2.5 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 220-240 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 80-105 °C
• Price: ~$35/kg

Fillamentum Extrafill ABS

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The American IC3D Industries was founded in 2012 as a RepRap 3D printer manufacturer. Today, it produces and sells filament as well as 3D printing services.

Based in Ohio, the company produces and sells regular ABS in spools as big as 10 kg! IC3D materials are high quality, and its ABS has a very low odor according to some users.

• Diameters: 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm
• Spool sizes: 1 kg, 2.5 kg, 10 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 220-260 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 110 °C
• Price: ~$35/kg

IC3D ABS

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Yet another California-based 3D printing company, MatterHackers is a widely popular source of parts, tools, printers, and its own filament brand, of course.

MatterHacker’s go-to material for the typical maker project comes from their Build Series ABS. But if you’re looking to raise the bar, their Pro Series ABS is a premium material with superior mechanical properties and good inter-layer adhesion, designed for both prototyping and end-use parts.

• Diameters: 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm
• Spool size: 1 kg
• Recommended hot end temperature: 230-240 °C
• Recommended bed temperature: 80-110 °C
• Prices: ~$21/kg (Build), $52/kg (Pro)

MatterHackers Build Series ABS

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MatterHackers Pro Series ABS

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