SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-05T17:53:08Z

I run a golden rod inside my case.

You could put one inside a 5 gal pail with a golden rod or incandescent heat lamp. Poke some holes in it.

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-05T17:16:40Z

dubbsd wrote:

what about a food dehydrator. like you make jerky in

I used the exact same thing. I had a old metal food dehydrator cabinet that I modified with a nice plexiglass front and added some shelves. I can fit 4 or 5 spools inside and it keeps a toasty 170'F or so. Cheap and effective and about the size of a small microwave. I will try to post pics when I can.

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-05T11:45:18Z

what about a food dehydrator. like you make jerky in

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-05T10:59:43Z

all my filament is useless if i leave out out overnight especially in winter
i have a 60L tub with rice in the bottom, all the silica bags from filament in there, a interior dehumidifier tub and a 60watt globe

and then it stays fine
otherwise i have to stick it in the oven for an hour on 100C

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-05T00:41:11Z

What are your heat settings?
How long after your print are you ripping support off?
What is your filament setting in Slic3r?
Also, black is notorious for being a pain...just search the forums.

It CAN get too dry and become brittle due to aging. But if my research is correct, since ABS is oil based, it would be able to sustain longer storage time. If someone corrects me on this, I would appreciate it. But it seems like basic science.

I lived in Florida off and on for half my life, and I have often wondered the issues with humidity and filament on that scale. Perhaps one of our Aussie friends on here can chime in with their ambient humidity experiences.

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-04T23:42:16Z

AZERATE wrote:

I store filament in a ziplock bag with a silica bag (usually shipped with filament) in a closed closet with my pants. To put this into perspective: I bought a specific spool of filament from SD with my printer which shipped Nov 2013. It has been stored as stated the whole time and prints great.
I DID, however, have to cut about 400mm out of it in bad prints. This may be due to the outer layers of the spool being overly effected by the silica, but it prints and finishes great.
I live in Illinois, USA, so I think you may have a different effect from living in the American south, South America, Australia...anywhere there may be excessive humidity.

So it can get TOO dry and make prints fail?

excess humidity ..... New Jersey in summer .... 140 % sometimes .... lol I'm just wondering because i have a spool of octave black abs and if i try to print small, it prints fine, if i try to print anything large, the delamination is so bad i can rip the print apart as easily as i can rip off support material.

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-04T01:26:42Z

I store filament in a ziplock bag with a silica bag (usually shipped with filament) in a closed closet with my pants. To put this into perspective: I bought a specific spool of filament from SD with my printer which shipped Nov 2013. It has been stored as stated the whole time and prints great.
I DID, however, have to cut about 400mm out of it in bad prints. This may be due to the outer layers of the spool being overly effected by the silica, but it prints and finishes great.
I live in Illinois, USA, so I think you may have a different effect from living in the American south, South America, Australia...anywhere there may be excessive humidity.

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-04T00:59:48Z

yes - this is what Europeans and I guess Northern North Americans do who have the usually installed drying/airing cupboards for the snow gear et al.

Richrap uses his just to throw nylon in there for a week to dry out and it works quite acceptably..

Re: Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-03T23:56:22Z

I've been wondering about this too. I thought maybe a one-spool-sized box with a temp-controlled hairdryer blowing through would be a pretty fun for rapid dehumidification, but from what I've seen it looks like most people just keep the filament for extended periods in a sealed container with one of:
(a) a whole bunch of silica gel,
(b) bucket of damp-rid stuff from the hardware store,
(c) a golden-rod electric heater like a fancy gun safe: http://www.goldenroddehumidifiers.com/introduction.htm

Drying Out filament. Dehumidifying?

2014-03-03T22:36:08Z

I know if you leave filament out, after a while you need to dry it out again. I was thinking, instead of putting it in the oven for a few hours, could you just make a dehumidifying storage cabinet and have the same effect?