3D Printing Filament dryer recommendations/Experiences

[Conway Stevens]

Hey all. Printing away like mad with my new P1S. Thing works great. Really getting to know the machine. Some of the software...

Id like to try working with other filaments like Nylon, ABS, ASA and carbon fiber supplemented filaments. But i know they are all fairly mosture sensitive and hygroscopic. Id like to invest in a quality Dryer that i can print from when using them.

Thanks a ton!

 

[OzHybrid]

Cheapest way.... Get your roll of fillament, Place it on your heated bed. Turn the heated bed up to your desired temperature. Come back later. Put it in a box with dessicant, spool from box.
I have the sunlu dryer. Both it and the esun suffer from the fact that they get condensation at the top from the moisture being brought out of the filament but having no where to go. There are several mods on the interweb.... where you cut a hole and attach a small fan that blows intermittently to force the moisture out. I just open mine fully intermittently to let the moisture out and resume drying. I did add a cheap moisture meter to mine which shows you where you are humidity wise.
Hope that helps.
I know Chuck has an expensive photographic drying cabinet. If you are doing critical stuff, that's worth the money.
You could do something similar with a filament dryer inside a fridge that gets turned on intermittently to remove the moisture. Just a thought..
YMMV

 

[cwbullet]

I have two favorites:

The Cyclopes and Easdry. One the cheap, you could buy this. I have used 10-20. They all work the same. They reduce moisture. They do a better job at preventing hydration than removing it. I you are in it for the long haul, you can also buy a camera dry cabinet.

 

[OzHybrid]

That https://amzn.to/3O8r0fz looks good for most stuff. Vents the moisture off, not just heating it up.

 

[cwbullet]

That https://amzn.to/3O8r0fz looks good for most stuff. Vents the moisture off, not just heating it up.

Which is the one I posted above.

 

[FredA]

WHY OH WHY do all these dryers have the filament come out the top.
Where do they think you set these things????
Are there any good ones with the output on the side or better yet, the bottom?
I bought one thinking I could just turn it on it's side, but the spool won't spin.

 

[Conway Stevens]

WHY OH WHY do all these dryers have the filament come out the top.
Where do they think you set these things????
Are there any good ones with the output on the side or better yet, the bottom?
I bought one thinking I could just turn it on it's side, but the spool won't spin.

The one i just ordered has them out the tops, sides/ends.

 

[Conway Stevens]

I have two favorites:

The Cyclopes and Easdry. One the cheap, you could buy this. I have used 10-20. They all work the same. They reduce moisture. They do a better job at preventing hydration than removing it. I you are in it for the long haul, you can also buy a camera dry cabinet.

I would have ordered the EIBOS Polyphemus dryer but it has yet to be relased and pre order only so i went with the EIBOS updated Cyclopes dryer. After looking at lots of comparison tests, videos, and reviews it scores really high. Plus the price wasnt to horrible. Plus i can print from it if i need.primarily for the ABS, ASA and Teflon /carbon fiber filaments i want to use. My humidity at home isnt much to begin with but those filaments look to be problematic for moisture. I dont have any issues with my PLA + or my PETG.

Thank you for the recommendations. Guess i will see how well it works.

 

[OverTheTop]

We use the eSun eBox units at work. They work ok, but the 18h maximum time limit on the timer is problematic for longer prints over the weekend.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

You can attach a heater and fan to a plastic bin with some temperature-controlled relays. Include some racks for hanging up the filament and drill some holes to get the air flow that you want/need. As long as your room / space has relatively low humidity (i.e., has heat/AC) this will work well to dry filament - make sure the heater has enough watts to get to the appropriate temperature (I need to dry ABS so it needs to get pretty hot).

Sadly my oven cannot set to a low enough temperature for drying filament.

 

[cwbullet]

WHY OH WHY do all these dryers have the filament come out the top.
Where do they think you set these things????
Are there any good ones with the output on the side or better yet, the bottom?
I bought one thinking I could just turn it on it's side, but the spool won't spin.

Some printers have extruder motors higher than others. I have one with the extruder at knee level and it sits on the floor. It is especially true with delta printers. I almost always use an hole in the top to feed filament into these types of printers.

Example:

 

[cwbullet]

I would have ordered the EIBOS Polyphemus dryer but it has yet to be relased and pre order only so i went with the EIBOS updated Cyclopes dryer. After looking at lots of comparison tests, videos, and reviews it scores really high. Plus the price wasnt to horrible. Plus i can print from it if i need.primarily for the ABS, ASA and Teflon /carbon fiber filaments i want to use. My humidity at home isnt much to begin with but those filaments look to be problematic for moisture. I dont have any issues with my PLA + or my PETG.

Thank you for the recommendations. Guess i will see how well it works.

I have a preorder for an EIBOS Polyphemus dryer. I have one more higher tech preorder pending that uses a PCB heater to heat a chamber to dry out filament.

 

[Huxter]

Some of those filaments off-gas things you do not want to breath - make sure you vent outside or print somewhere people are not. There are filters (some home made) that allow printing in-doors too.

 

[Conway Stevens]

We use the eSun eBox units at work. They work ok, but the 18h maximum time limit on the timer is problematic for longer prints over the weekend.

I looked at the eSun products. But the biggest issue that i saw was they have no external vent to vent humidity out of the unit. As the unit runs they keep the humidity trapped inside the box.

 

[cwbullet]

I looked at the eSun products. But the biggest issue that i saw was they have no external vent to vent humidity out of the unit. As the unit runs they keep the humidity trapped inside the box.

I will have to check the units I have tested. I think they pretty leaky and the heat escaped. There are three models S1, S1 Plus, S2, and S4. They are ok. It is so leaky, I do not think it traps moisture.

 

[FredA]

Some printers have extruder motors higher than others. I have one with the extruder at knee level and it sits on the floor. It is especially true with delta printers. I almost always use an hole in the top to feed filament into these types of printers.

Nice Chuck. but those are the exception.
Top hole might work for them, but with an extruder up top or "flying" the feed is from above and holes on the top are plain stupid.
Most printers HOLD THE ROLL ABOVE.
Why don't dryers support this mode as the native mode and not the rare mode?

 

[Conway Stevens]

You can attach a heater and fan to a plastic bin with some temperature-controlled relays. Include some racks for hanging up the filament and drill some holes to get the air flow that you want/need. As long as your room / space has relatively low humidity (i.e., has heat/AC) this will work well to dry filament - make sure the heater has enough watts to get to the appropriate temperature (I need to dry ABS so it needs to get pretty hot).

Sadly my oven cannot set to a low enough temperature for drying filament.

Good idea.... more work then i want to invest lol. Already have a bunch of stuff going on.

 

[OverTheTop]

I looked at the eSun products. But the biggest issue that i saw was they have no external vent to vent humidity out of the unit. As the unit runs they keep the humidity trapped inside the box.

I think there is sufficient leak that the humidity is not trapped. I have never seen condensation on any of our units, and the print quality shows that they are working.

 

[Conway Stevens]

I will have to check the units I have tested. I think they pretty leaky and the heat escaped. There are three models S1, S1 Plus, S2, and S4. They are ok. It is so leaky, I do not think it traps moisture.

I watched several side by side comparisons on the S1 and S2. the one test they put 5 or 6 different units against each other. (Different manufacturers) Then using a small sponge that was weighed before moisture was added to each sponge. Then weighed after moisture added the sponges were added to each machine where they monitored humidity and temperature. While doing the test you could see the humidity fogging the lid and moving around. Plus see the humidity took quite a lot longer with the S1 and S4. I guess a popular mod to these units is adding an external vent. As far as the S4... The S4 was larger than i wanted and much more loud/noisy than i wanted.

But i found the video of being able to see the moisture trapped in those units swirling around turned me off of them.

 

[Conway Stevens]

Some of those filaments off-gas things you do not want to breath - make sure you vent outside or print somewhere people are not. There are filters (some home made) that allow printing in-doors too.

Yep. I have a very specifc room i have my printer and equipment in that has proper exhaust ventilation for each item. My printer is enclosed with the exhaust port that has a vent system going to the window ajd outside. Will do something similar with the dryer if its an issue.

 

[Conway Stevens]

Nice Chuck. but those are the exception.
Top hole might work for them, but with an extruder up top or "flying" the feed is from above and holes on the top are plain stupid.
Most printers HOLD THE ROLL ABOVE.
Why don't dryers support this mode as the native mode and not the rare mode?

My printer doesnt have a roll above. I actually prefer it doesnt. Hoping the dryer will be able to supply filament without issue.

 

[cwbullet]

Nice Chuck. but those are the exception.
Top hole might work for them, but with an extruder up top or "flying" the feed is from above and holes on the top are plain stupid.
Most printers HOLD THE ROLL ABOVE.
Why don't dryers support this mode as the native mode and not the rare mode?

But if you have both, then you work with all. Personally, I used it for lot of printers that are sitting on tables. It feeds better for me with a piece of PTFE tubing to the dryer. You got think outside the box.

 

[cwbullet]

the humidity took quite a lot longer with the S1

True. I am not sure about the S4. I have not used it much. None of the filament driers are what I would call fast.

 

[OzHybrid]

We use the eSun eBox units at work. They work ok, but the 18h maximum time limit on the timer is problematic for longer prints over the weekend.

It's a power supply connected to a controller connected to a heater. Get one of those Arduino thingys and replace the controller.
The 16 h thing is a pita. ( pain in the....). I'd like to dry my filament the day before printing. But I can only start drying the night before. If I remember....

 

[Greg Furtman]

I built my own filament dryer using a old dehydrator I had laying around and a large plastic container. It does a really good job and didn't cost me hardly anything. And I can still use it as a dehydrator if I want. The only mod I made to it was connecting the container to a tray. When I get done with a roll I seal it in a reusable e-Sun vacuum bag with some dessicant.

https://www.amazon.com/3D-Filament-...e-sun+vaccum+bags+for+filament,aps,249&sr=8-4

 

[OzHybrid]

I built my own filament dryer using a old dehydrator I had laying around and a large plastic container. It does a really good job and didn't cost me hardly anything. And I can still use it as a dehydrator if I want. The only mod I made to it was connecting the container to a tray. When I get done with a roll I seal it in a reusable e-Sun vacuum bag with some dessicant.

https://www.amazon.com/3D-Filament-...e-sun+vaccum+bags+for+filament,aps,249&sr=8-4

try this link. A lot fewer trackers

https://www.amazon.com/3D-Filament-SUNLU-Filaments-13-38inch/dp/B0BR36VBLM?th=1

 

[Greg Furtman]

try this link. A lot fewer trackers

https://www.amazon.com/3D-Filament-SUNLU-Filaments-13-38inch/dp/B0BR36VBLM?th=1

That is a lot shorter. How a url is generated is still somewhat of a mystery to me.

 

[OzHybrid]

That is a lot shorter. How a url is generated is still somewhat of a mystery to me.

The bit of a URL that you need is usually up to the first "?" excluding the ? As you can see below even posting it on the forum added extra tags to the end.
"https://www.amazon.com/3D-Filament-SUNLU-Filaments-13-38inch/dp/B0BR36VBLM?th=1&tag=forumyield-20"

 

[OzHybrid]

4% humidity using a cheap fridge and a cabinet. The good stuff is from 5 mins if you want to jump ahead

 

[cwbullet]

4% humidity using a cheap fridge and a cabinet. The good stuff is from 5 mins if you want to jump ahead

Interesting video.