Filament Dryers, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly?

Silicon Si · 26 Mar 2023 at 16:42

As the title says what's a good one and what to avoid, does anyone use them?

VeNT · 26 Mar 2023 at 18:56

I've a clippy box filled with desiccant if that's what you mean?

tbh it's only really an issue if it's humid where you live and or you're storing filament for a long time (ie over a year).

Haze · 26 Mar 2023 at 19:16

All a waste of money, don't get brainwashed by the Internet, just keep them in a zip lock bag

Scougar · 30 Mar 2023 at 15:36

Haze said:
All a waste of money, don't get brainwashed by the Internet, just keep them in a zip lock bag

Disagree. I see even fresh out the bag filament print poorly that after using a heated dryer be restored to decent quality. I regularly use my dryer as I see degradation of quality after a day and a half with PETG. I'm in a basement so the affect is faster even though I have a dehumidifier down here. TPU suffers worse.

Now... Atomic recommend using a passive dryer with silica beads instead. They said that heated dryers are only drying to the value of the surrounding air. I am a little skeptical since heating by CF PETG seems to maintain quality, but I do use silica beads in a bag for that as well.

I use a food dehydrator with rings cut out, for any roll that hasn't been used in a week or more. I also have an active filament dryer for a roller, that I ironically haven't plugged in lol (I hate that it isn't 'smart' and only active whilst printing or before hand). Any active dryer needs a fan to extract the moist air, or at minimum something to let the moisture out.

Note: I print for a side business for two years+, so I keep a careful eye on quality.

Haze · 30 Mar 2023 at 15:58

Thats a different ball game though, normally when people ask this question it is related to PLA, I completely agree with you that some types of filament would benefit from a dryer, but you would need store your PLA in a bath full of water to need one

Silicon Si · 31 Mar 2023 at 13:56

In fact it is PLA and TPU I am printing with at the moment. The pla is in a vac bag with some silica gel at the moment the TPU is on the printer,

bimbleuk · 31 Mar 2023 at 14:15

As above my friend uses a hand vacuum pump and compatible bags plus a silica gel which seems to work.

shalke · 2 Apr 2023 at 14:37

I have tried the Sunlu S2 dryer, and it was kinda slow, lacked ventilation. Now using the EIBOS Series X: Easdry and its super great, just can't fit very wide spools, but there are some extensions to print if you need very wide spools.

Scougar · 3 Apr 2023 at 16:54

The part about the spool dryers is they are not smart. Would be nice to hook them in as another accessory rather than having to manually set them.

shalke · 3 Apr 2023 at 16:58

Scougar said:
The part about the spool dryers is they are not smart. Would be nice to hook them in as another accessory rather than having to manually set them.

Its mainly to keep the costs down. Making it smart, with thermostats and IoT would probably double the price.

Chaos · 14 Apr 2023 at 13:35

Some cheap options -

Silicon Si · 17 Apr 2023 at 15:58

Thanks for the replies, I did buy a Sunlu S2 dryer before Shalke made their comment, not tried it yet as the TPU i am using is still printing fine at the moment.

shalke · 17 Apr 2023 at 16:01

Silicon Si said:
Thanks for the replies, I did buy a Sunlu S2 dryer before Shalke made their comment, not tried it yet as the TPU i am using is still printing fine at the moment.

Should be alright, make sure you search for some mod that will keep the top part slightly opened.

Printables

www.printables.com

Silicon Si · 18 Apr 2023 at 10:41

Thanks