Filament library

ASA print settings

The outdoor professional — sun, rain, and heat mean nothing to it.

ASA is ABS's modern successor: the same toughness and heat resistance, plus real UV stability. Parts that live outside year-round — brackets, garden fittings, car exterior pieces, drone frames — keep their strength and color in ASA long after PLA sags and PETG clouds.

It shares ABS's demands: an enclosure against warping and ventilation against fumes. If your printer is enclosed and your project lives outdoors, ASA is the answer; if either half of that sentence is false, look at PETG first.

Difficulty

Advanced

Best for

Anything outdoors year-round, car parts, high-heat plus weather combinations.

Skip it for

Open-frame printers, unventilated rooms, projects PETG could handle.

Starting settings

Nozzle temperature240–260 °C
Bed temperature90–110 °C
Print speed40–80 mm/s
Cooling fan0–20%
EnclosureStrongly recommended — treat it as required for anything sizable

Drying

60 °C for 4–6 h — Similar to ABS — dry when surfaces roughen or layers weaken.

New to drying? Read how to dry filament first.

Bed adhesion

Same story as ABS: heat stability beats surface tricks. Hot textured PEI, enclosure closed, brim on large parts. Let the bed and chamber fully heat before starting.

Mistakes to skip

  • • Attempting big ASA parts without an enclosure — the corners lift before the tenth layer.
  • • Treating the ventilation advice as optional; ASA fumes are ABS-class.
  • • Buying ASA for a windowsill organizer — indoors at room temperature, it's all cost and no benefit.

Common questions

Is ASA really better than PETG outdoors?

For year-round, direct-sun, structural outdoor use — yes. PETG handles weather well but slowly clouds and softens in hot sun; ASA is formulated for exactly that environment and holds color and stiffness for years. For a planter label or occasional-use garden tool, PETG is plenty.

Can I print ASA on a Bambu A1 or Ender 3?

Small parts, sometimes, with luck and a draft-free room — but open-frame printers and ASA are fundamentally mismatched. Warping comes from uneven cooling, and only an enclosure prevents it. This is the material that justifies a P1S-class enclosed printer.

Does ASA smell when printing?

Yes — styrene-family fumes like ABS, and the same rules apply: enclosed printer, ventilated room, don't camp next to it. If printing where people live, run it overnight in a closed room with a window cracked, or add a filtered enclosure.

Not sure ASA is the right call for your project? TheFilament Pickerdecides in five questions — and thecost calculatortells you what each print costs.