Additive manufacturing technologies provide new opportunities for the manufacturing of components with customisable geometries and mechanical properties. In particular, fused deposition modelling (FDM) allows for customisable mechanical properties by controlling the void density and filament orientation. In this work, a methodology is provided for the prediction of the mechanical properties and mesostructure of FDM polymers. To this end, we propose a computational framework for the simulation of the printing process taking as input data specific manufacturing parameters and filament properties. A new two-stage thermal and sintering model is developed to predict the bond formation process between filaments. The model predictions are validated against original experimental data for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) components manufactured by FDM. A parametric study is finally presented to interpret the effects of different manufacturing parameters on the mechanical performance of ABS specimens. Overall, the proposed framework offers new avenues for the design of 3D printed polymeric components with custom properties, directly in terms of manufacturing settings. Display omitted •FDM ABS specimens are tested for different combinations of printing parameters.•A two-stage model is proposed to simulate the FDM manufacturing process.•The model predicts thermal conditions and sintering within filaments.•Analytical expressions are established for FDM ABS.•Layer height and environment temperature main drivers for mechanical properties.