I've had a roll of Overture PLA+ go brittle super quick, to the point it snapped at the spool holes holding the end. I was lucky and was able to restore it with a small convection oven that happened to go low enough to hit the right temperatures, and was stable when testing with an accurate probe. The brittle filament became strong and flexible again, but never used it for lack of the means to easily respool since it may have dived under itself. I know a lot of people have had good luck with the round food dehydrators since they're already the right shape, made for low temps, and usually have an air circulator. You have to do a thorough scrub-down cleaning of anything that had ever been used for food though, because traces of fats can also damage the structure of filament.
Some tips: - Some filament spools have an annoyingly small number of holes along the edge to thread filament in. I even have some rolls that only have ONE hole (per side) which is the worst. You usually end up in a problem where the amount of filament you have left isn't enough to reach one of the holes. There are 3D printable filament spool clips that will let you clip the end of the filament onto the spool, anywhere, eliminating the "not enough filament to reach the hole" problem entirely. - If you are looking for a cheap filament dryer, grab yourself a food dehydrator. One of the old school types that are round and have a fan at the base are ideal. That will run you probably $40-50 or so at most places online. Or, even better, just go to a thrift store, you'll probably find one there for a couple bucks tops. You'll need to print an extension to it, so that a spool of filament will fit in it. (most food dehydrators are only deep enough for a few trays of food, so too shallow to fit a spool in.) There are downloadable models out there, but it's trivial to model your own (it's just a giant circular tube.) Works brilliantly, and at a fraction of the price of dedicated filament dryers.
I have been MIG-welding for most of my life so controlling the loose end of spooled wire i second nature to me and has directly transferred to 3D-printing. I find 3D-filament does not tangle nearly as easily as MIG wire though, that stuff is really springy and will make a hopeless "bird's nest" if you let it go for even a second. I have been thinking of getting a filament dryer or a food dryer but fortunately where I live moisture is not a big issue for most of the year, we mostly have it too dry inside in the winter, especially when, like now, it's -20 C outside, the air can't hold much moisture at such temperatures.
Highly recommend printing a filament despoiler in case you ever need to respool. Also useful for purchasing huge rolls and respooling onto smaller ones or rolls too big for an AMS system.
Be aware that about 50% of the bags aren't going to hold air, so factor that in. They're *still* fairly cheap even when half of them are broken. You can also buy 4L cereal containers that are actually almost airtight (except for the hole for the lid, for some reason) that will keep the stuff dry. Stick color-changing desiccant (orange/green, not blue/pink) in there and you can tell if you need to dry the filament again.
Dryers like the Sunlu shown here have a design flaw - they're sealed, which means as the water heats and separates from the filament, it has nowhere to go, so if you don't remove the filament soon after the heater turns off, that vapour will cool and return to the filament. The solution is to crack open the lid while heating to give the water vapour a chance to escape. There are a ton of printable hinges on Thingiverse / Printables for this exact purpose. For storage, I started with the vacuum bags but found they are easily compromised and about half don't keep a vacuum seal sheet only one or two uses. I've instead moved to IKEA plastic containers (365+ range) Which can hold 2 spools, a printable spool holder which includes a container for desiccant (I use the orange ones which can be reactivated), and a hydrometer. I now dry my filament with the heater and then transfer directly to the container. This keeps my spools nice and dry whenever I'm not using them.
Good information, Tom. I had a roll of hatchbox pla get tangled and ended up tossing it out. Been more careful about unloading and storing filament since then
From drying in my convection toaster oven I've learned not to trust the temperature knob. Stick a thermometer in there to figure out the actual temperature. Part of the discrepancy could be increased temperature while convection is running, since air is cooling the built in thermometer as it transports the heat to the objects in the oven; this ought to throw off calibration due to the decreased temperature differential between thermometer and oven interior and may be why when cooking the general rule of thumb is to decrease oven temperature by 25 degrees with respect to the recipe when using convection. You do of course want to use convection if available, to keep moisture wicking away as fresh dry air blows against the filament to replace moist air surrounding the filament. Drying speed is significantly increased with water density differential between the filament and the air at the interface where they meet. Additionally with convection oven temperature will be much more uniform and likely more stable. Finally it is critical to put aluminum foil (or even just some cardboard or a pad of paper) under and on top of the filament spool to shield it from radiative heat transfer when the oven elements turn on periodically to replace heat loss. Otherwise your spool and possibly filament will get toasted. Ultimately I've had pretty good results using my oven to dry filament this way but I've still gone and ordered a dryer for the sake of energy efficiency and the opportunity to print TPU and Nylon (and even PETG) straight from the dryer. It's fairly humid here!
I bought the AMS lite and I live in a humid environment, so I’ve been torn by how often I should unload my filament and throw it in my Sunlu dehydrator. Because my printer is an A1, I’m on printing hiatus at the moment, but expect I will need to do a full dehydration cycle when I get my new head bed.
I use filament clips, for the end of the rolls. Easier and doesn't bend the filament. I also grabbed some of the color changing desiccant, with some 3d printed baskets for the centers of the rolls. The color changing shows when it needs to be charged again and if the humidity level is compromised.
I saw a video which made a strong argument against heat-drying PLA: when heated, wet PLA undergoes hydrolysis which fragments polymers and degrades quality while making the filament more susceptible to moisture. Other filaments like PETG are much less susceptible to irreversible chemical reaction with water and can be heat-dried repeatedly without significant degradation as long as you stay well away from the crystallization temperature, apparently. The video recommended not to heat dry PLA at all and claimed it doesn't really suffer from moisture much anyway, or at least not quickly. I've seen another video which appeared to show significant PLA quality difference due to ambient moisture absorption in as little time as a day, however. Perhaps additives such as colour made a massive difference? What's your take on this? How often should I heat-dry my PLA and at what temperature, if at all? I do already use vacuum bags and even a little activated alumina dessicant to preserve dried filament, so that provides a fine solution. But I wonder if I can just leave my PLA on the spool and reheat regularly to redry, or leave on low heat perpetually to keep it dry without the use of a vacuum bag.
I have colors I use rarely (like once every three years), and while only one roll got enough moisture that the filament snapped when I tried to feed it, I have had others that absorbed enough to affect print quality. (I keep them in sealed storage containers with desiccant, but don't use vacuum-sealed bags. Maybe I should, but my Lock & Locks are so convenient.) I very much like my S1 Sunlu filament dryer, but anyone considering buying one needs to be aware it won't accommodate 2-kg spools, or ones that are unusually wide/tall. (It works for every brand I've tried other than the Prusament I got five years ago.)
Don't know if you would take requests, but I'd love to see a video on how to reduce visibility of layer lines when it comes to painting these great creations!
He did one. He applied acrylic floor polish to the model, and it filled the grooves between layer lines. They don't make the brand he used in the video, anymore, so you may have to shop around and experiment a little bit.
The filament dryer I have has a reading for Relative Humidity. Do you have a recommendation of what that number should get down to before I throw it into a vacuum bag?
I use Elegoo PLA, its cheap and prints great on my Neptune 3 max and Bambu P1S. Need to get rid of the cardboard spool for when my AMS gets here though.
Pla will get brittle when wet but it dont happen very fast unless you are in a humid environment. i have had rolls of pla for 5 years exposed to air in my house and they will print fine that said yes it can get wet but it really gets brittle and breaks with little bending. petg is a bear when its wet, it will get wet way fast and will pop and steam and string like crazy. nylon as well it will swell when wet even injection molded parts have to compensate for this. but as its a more exotic filament not many ppl print with it. if you ever wanted to try nylon go get some weed eater line its nylon and the right size just make sure you dry the crap out of it first
Hey, Tom! Thanks for the video! What effect does moisture have on bed adhesion? For reference, I live on the Gulf Coast and it is VERY humid, even in what passes for winter here. Recently having tremendous issues with bed adhesion and not sure if it is the bed leveling (which seems fine) or filament with too much moisture. The roll has been sitting around for six months or more. Also: thoughts on using a food dehydrator to dry out old filament rolls?
Depends how hot the food dehydrator gets. I would check with a reliable thermometor that its really just hitting 50-55 °C for PLA. If you have one, go for it. But for stuff like PTEG or ABS i would choose an option i will never use for food again.
how do we test the filament if to see if its water logged, is it true if it brakes easily like a noodle its wet? i have all my filaments in a zip loc bags but just in case i leave some out as i do live in humid climate here in Canada especially in the winter.
Would regular vacuum sealer bags (where you buy a role and cut to size) work just as well? My 11 year old has gotten into 3d printing and we just got her an A1mini so I'm just trying to ward off potential problems by watching videos :-) We already have a countertop vacuum sealer that we use for freezing food so if I can avoid buying anything else that would be great!
Yep, I used a kitchen vacuum sealer for years, it works great. The only difference is these bags are re-usable, but if you already have the food vacuum sealer it will be much cheaper for you to go that route. :)
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors @slkinyon1 If you buy the bags in Rolls. You can seal it with extra space on the end ( say about 6 inches or so). Then when you open it, trim the bag down 1/4" and then reseal it. You should get quite a few uses out of it before you have to make a new one. :)
PLA Especially? All other videos and info from 3D print groups suggest that PLA are one of the least hydroscopic materials?? It is said it can absorb some, but so little that most do not dry PLA. I have done with a few rolls, just to be sure, but not sure if it actually made any difference. That said I also use the bags to keep open filament rolls in, and have that usb pump also. Just be careful not to pull out so much air that you risk bending the filament roll sides. Also got a filament dryer for when needed.
This channel covers the materials most used by gamers for tabletop gaming models, so we do not examine/advise/compare anything that is outside of that focus. That said, PLA does absorb moisture to the point of being noticeably evident on printed models (at least here in Ohio, which isn't the worst area of the country for humidity, and drying has resolved the issues experienced.)
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors huh, for some reason I always thought you're a Brit. Regardless, and totally unrelated to this video, your tip on fixing z-banding on the Ender 3 proved very helpful. Now I get the prints I always envied others of. ^^
@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors correct, I was not. This spool is a color I don't use often which is why it's am old spool. Typically when I find water content to affect my prints you can hear it as it's extruded. Sounds like popping sounds along with print quality issues as mentioned. I am far from an expert with 3d printing, but this has been my observation.
Why not 3d print the container? It shouldn't cost much in materials, and is infinitely customizable. With a cheap humidity sensor, it can even be "smart" a few bucks.
PLA is the only thing you should be using for gaming minis and terrain, so why you are comparing it to other types of filament? Any moisture in PLA will become apparent when printing miniatures, and as it increases become apparent on terrain.
Yes I just got myself some vacuum bags but is it just me or does anybody Else here though the bad to the bone affect playing there had when the skeleton’s head turned in the intro 💀
