first ABS print

Got a roll of ABS filament at the end of last week, played with it a little over the weekend but wasn't able to find anything that it would attach to for the initial layer of the raft. Stopped at Michael's crafts this afternoon and got one of every flat piece of plastic they sold so I could try them all out. Artist's palette (looks like white ABS)- nope. White plastic mesh for cross-stitch base- nope. Open-cell styrofoam- we have a winner!

Still have some fine tuning as far as the layer height goes, it was trying to put too much on each layer which is what was causing the gloppiness. Not bad for a first try!

Unfortunately, when it was done and I was testing the strength and flexibility of the minimug, I squeezed it laterally and- snap!- one of the layers cleanly separated from the next layer:

going to go post on the reprap forums to see if anyone has suggestions for what to do.

One step at a time!

For the rest of the pictures of this print, see my picasa site.
-a