3d Printer Filament - The Truth of How to Actually Keep it Protected And Dry

If you had asked me 6 months ago what you need to do to keep filament dry, I would have told you that all you need is a dry storage box.

I didn't have a filament dryer at that point and didn't think i needed one. However, in the interests of science and with the help of 'coffee' donations from some of my subscribers, I bought a Sunlu S1. Since trying to dry new filament, my mind has changed.

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Hygrometer/Thermometer

Eono Silk PLA Filament

Amazon Basics Silk PLA Filament

Sunlu S1

[Godzfirez]

You should really make a playlist for this dry box series. Also I just bought the sunlu on sale for $33 and I am excited to mod it. I was thinking about making a hole in the sunlu for filament and a Capricorn tube to give a way to dry and print at the same time.

[Moonsauc]

Rubbermaid with the foam seal lid and crystal kitty litter keeps the area at a steady 29%. I 3d printed hangers and a dowl to keep them suspended. Though I don't think Ive noticed a difference.

[bitingmidge]

As I write this the exhaust fan on my enclosure is struggling to keep the temp inside below 31°, the ambient is 27° and RH is 87% so yes, I get it! I am just changing my storage over to Ikea 365+ boxes with 160grams of silica gel in each. For the last couple of years I've used ziplock bags with 80gms of dessicant reasonably effectively - reasonably because ziplock seem to slow down the ingress of moisture rather than stop it. My camera gear is stored in similar boxes and RH remains a steady 25-ish%

I dry with a food dehydrator when necessary - however I *think* that fresh dessicant in the bins will be adequate to dry PLA left out for a few days even in our ridiculous humidity. I'd be interested on your thoughts on that @Ricky Impey?

[phoenixrising]

This makes 3D printing for myself way more complicated. I am too poor to try. Might as well sell my printer 😢

[Pickle]

Desiccant packs in air tight seal cereal containers work great for me

[larryfroot]

I purchased a vacuum chamber to degass resin and silicone. Turns out that the boiling point of water is much lower in a vacuum. So I heat up the filament on a repurposed Anycubic i3 mega that now only consists of a hot bed and, after an hour or so I leave it in the chamber with the vacuum pump running for a while. Then I close off the exit valve, switch off the pump and leave until required. Oh, a few sachets of dessicant are thrown in too. It does need a five minute blast with the pump every day to keep it at a perfect vacuum, but that's OK. Having said all that, though, I will be getting the Sunlu filadrier S2 ASAP. I want to print in carbon fibre polycarbonate and that stuff is so hygroscopic it needs active warming whilst being fed into an extruder. Assuming the print(s) are going to take a few hours. And that Sunlu S2 looks like the proverbial dogs left testicle.