How to Stop Warping: The Complete Guide for ABS, ASA and Beyond

Warping is the curse of engineering materials. You set up a print in ABS or ASA, come back hours later, and the corners have curled up off the bed — or worse, the whole part has cracked along a layer line. It's the number-one reason people give up on these otherwise excellent materials. The good news: warping is well understood and largely preventable once you know what's actually happening.

Why Warping Happens

Warping is a thermal problem, not a bed-adhesion problem (though it looks like one). As molten plastic cools, it shrinks. When lower layers have cooled and contracted while upper layers are still hot, the uneven shrinkage pulls the part — lifting corners off the bed and, in tall prints, splitting layers apart. Materials with high shrinkage, especially ABS and ASA, feel this most. PLA shrinks little and rarely warps; PETG is in between.

The Core Principle: Keep It Warm and Even

Every effective warping fix comes down to one idea — slow and even cooling. If the whole part stays at a stable, warm temperature until the print finishes, there's no uneven shrinkage and no warp. Everything below serves that goal.

The Fixes, Most Important First

1. Use an Enclosure

This is the single biggest factor for ABS and ASA. An enclosure traps heat around the print, keeping the whole part warm and cooling evenly. For anything beyond small ABS/ASA parts, an enclosure isn't optional — it's the difference between success and a cracked, curled mess. This is exactly why enclosed printers like the Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro or Bambu Lab P1S handle these materials so reliably — the warm chamber does the hard work for you. Larger enclosed machines like the Flashforge Guider 3 Ultra extend this to big industrial parts.

2. Turn Off (or Right Down) Part Cooling

For ABS and ASA, the part cooling fan is the enemy — it forces the uneven cooling that causes warping. Run it off or very low. (This is the opposite of PLA, where you want full cooling.) Let the chamber heat, not the fan, control the temperature.

3. Eliminate Draughts

A cold draught from an open window, a door, or air conditioning blowing across the printer causes localised rapid cooling and warping — even with an enclosure if it isn't sealed. Site the printer away from draughts and keep the enclosure closed during printing.

4. Get the Bed Hot Enough

A hot bed keeps the lower layers soft and bonded so they don't contract and lift. ABS and ASA want 90–110 °C. Too cool and the base releases. See our material settings guide for full ranges.

5. Use a Strong Adhesion Aid

Mechanical grip on the bed resists the warping force. A purpose-made adhesive like Magigoo Original holds the base down firmly while the print is hot and releases cleanly when cool — particularly effective for ABS and ASA.

6. Add a Brim and Design Out Sharp Corners

A brim adds surface area at the base, giving corners more grip to resist lifting. In design, sharp 90° corners concentrate warping stress — rounding corners or adding fillets at the base helps. A raft is a stronger (if wasteful) option for badly warping parts.

7. Increase First-Layer and Chamber Temperature for Big Parts

The larger and taller the part, the more warping force builds up. Big ABS/ASA prints benefit from an actively heated chamber (not just a passive enclosure) — machines like the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro hold an actively warmed chamber for exactly this reason.

Quick Diagnostic

Symptom	Most likely cause	First fix
Corners lift off the bed	Uneven cooling / no enclosure	Enclosure, fan off, brim
Part cracks along a layer line mid-print	Chamber too cold (tall part)	Enclosure / heated chamber
Only happens on big parts	Warping force scales with size	Active chamber heat, brim
Started after moving the printer	New draught	Block draughts, close enclosure
Base releases entirely	Bed too cool / no adhesive	Raise bed temp, adhesive

Material Choice Matters

If you don't strictly need ABS, ASA is usually the better choice — it has the same strength and heat resistance but is more UV-stable and a little more forgiving to print, and our Spain-made ASA is engineered with reduced shrinkage versus standard ABS and enhanced interlayer adhesion, which directly helps with warping and cracking. For parts that don't need the heat resistance, PETG warps far less than either. Choosing the right material for the job is half the battle.

The Right Printer Makes ABS/ASA Easy

Most warping problems trace back to an open-frame printer trying to do an enclosed-printer's job. If you regularly print engineering materials, an enclosed machine pays for itself in saved failed prints. Browse our Flashforge range of enclosed printers, or tell us what you're making and we'll recommend the right tool. As an authorised Flashforge distributor, we can help you match printer to material.