jlabrasca
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2016
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I have a couple of spools of wet filament that will no longer print cleanly. Lots of popping and strings and blobs.
Looking at the available drying options, and and after getting a whiff of what came out of the lab oven when I tried to bake a spool of PLA, I decided to try putting them under vacuum for a few days.
I tried to fabricate a vacuum chamber from an old wort kettle, but I couldn't get it to pump down to less than -0.2 bar. After a few fruitless hours trying to track down the leak I decided that my time was worth more than the price of an eBay degassing chamber. I am pleasantly surprised at how well this thing holds vacuum. I don't imagine the silicone collar seal will hold up to too many cycles, but for right now it is working.
I threw in a couple of saturated-to-pink desiccant sachets so that I'd have something to look at for a clue if it is working, After 24 hours in the can, one or two of the sachets are looking distinctly mauve.
I don't know how much water is coming out of the filament, but it is definitely outgassing something. When I cracked the chamber this morning the smell was alarmingly strong.
Its pretty cold in the shop. and I can't think of an easy way to heat the filament while its under vacuum (The hotplate under the pot is really just for decoration).
I am going to leave it under vacuum for the weekend, see if I get improved prints on Monday.
Looking at the available drying options, and and after getting a whiff of what came out of the lab oven when I tried to bake a spool of PLA, I decided to try putting them under vacuum for a few days.
I tried to fabricate a vacuum chamber from an old wort kettle, but I couldn't get it to pump down to less than -0.2 bar. After a few fruitless hours trying to track down the leak I decided that my time was worth more than the price of an eBay degassing chamber. I am pleasantly surprised at how well this thing holds vacuum. I don't imagine the silicone collar seal will hold up to too many cycles, but for right now it is working.
I threw in a couple of saturated-to-pink desiccant sachets so that I'd have something to look at for a clue if it is working, After 24 hours in the can, one or two of the sachets are looking distinctly mauve.
I don't know how much water is coming out of the filament, but it is definitely outgassing something. When I cracked the chamber this morning the smell was alarmingly strong.
Its pretty cold in the shop. and I can't think of an easy way to heat the filament while its under vacuum (The hotplate under the pot is really just for decoration).
I am going to leave it under vacuum for the weekend, see if I get improved prints on Monday.