Sunlu S1 Filadryer Turbo Mod Mark 2 & Build Guide (Timer, speed control, intake vents and more!)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 พ.ค. 2024
- In this video I'm going to maximise my Sunlu S1 Turbo mod to see if I can improve the drying efficiency further and I'm also going to show you how you can complete the same modifications to your Sunlu S1 with a step-by-step build guide.
As always, let's look at why this video is needed. The Sunlu S1 Turbo mod was a great improvement over the standard un-modded S1 but there was still some room left for improvement.
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You deserve way more subs man.
This guy still does the most informative youtube 3d printer guides. Awesome again man
Thanks!! Great solution. I opted for four 3/16" holes along the bottom on each side, two in the front and two in the back, and four 3/16" holes around the center of the top of the unit. You made a good point about convection and I thought I would take advantage of it. My unit temp stays between 55 and 56 C now and you can feel the heat coming out of the holes on top. I do like your box dryer solution too. Thanks again.
Sounds good Chris, that will definitely improve things over the standard unit👍
This is one of those videos I just can't believe is free. Thanks for going through all this work!
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the great comment 👍
Best Sunlu S1 upgrade ever! Creative approach & real push to replicate. 5 coffies from me, you deserve it for sure! :-)
🙂 Thanks very much for the support 👍☕☕☕☕☕
Nice systematic approach to a hack. Love it!
Excellent video, keep up your good work.
Add a small metal insulated box with a slotted box that feeds the main box air. Fill the first box with desiccant packets so the air inside the metal box receives dry air. Place a heating element in the metal insulated box. Now feed your filament dryer box air from the previous mentioned setup. Also insulate your sunu
If you added a Gore-Tex type vent with membrane that allows water vapour to pass through, you might be able to let the water vapour out (at least till intenal and external humidities match) without needing fans. They're often used to manage condensation levels in outdoor electronics enclosures. Not sure if you'd need more than one to get the required rate of water vapour movement though! I'm going to test one out on my S1, fingers crossed!
hi, have you done the test? I just ordered four valves
Great ideas and designs, thank you for sharing. For testing methodology what about reusable silica gel desiccant beads? The moisture absorption/release characteristics should be much closer to filament than the sponges, while still being measurable (with bonus colour change for visual indication!)
Thanks for the comment 👍 Yes, I should do some tests with silaca beads. I tested with some when the box was new with no mods but haven't gone back and tried again since all the mods have been done🤔
One of the concerns in the conception of this dryer is that it measures the temperature at the bottom of the box. It means that the air above, i.e. around the middle/top of the spool could be cooler. You could then try to relocate the temperature sensor to the middle/top of the box to see how the global temperature evolves. Some other mods do this as well as using a blowing fan to force the hot air to circulate around the spool.
BTW very good video, keep up the good work 💪👍
Sure, my only concern with moving the sensor is that it may cause the heating element to get too hot for the plastic that it is fixed to. This is where the air circulation fan wins as it evens out the air temp without having the element get too hot. The only problem then is that the damp air doesn't leave. I may try moving one of the sensors though, there are two on mine so leaving one may keep the safety control in place. Thanks for your suggestions.
if the air is cooler, it will fall down below again. The issue is that the air too close to the heater is measured, not realistic temperature measurement.
enjoying your modding adventures..
Hope you dont mind, totally sharing this to my 3d Printer group.
Of course not, share away🙂
Got it working ok. One thought ...could you fit a second fan inside the box to circulate the air, and connect it to the nc ( normally connected) part of the thermal circuit board. That fan would circulate until the thermal switch turned on the extraction fan to get rid of damp air. When that fan stopped, it would turn on the circulate fan.
This looks like one of the best mods I've seen for the Sunlu S1. I plan on getting one for myself and doing this.
But I would recommend extending the tempurature sensor out from under the heater plate to the top of the box. And add a circulation fan inside as well that runs all the time.
With the temp sensor right under the heater in an area with no circulation the the sensor will cut off the heater when it thnks the temp is at whatever the set value is. And since there is no air circulation under the heater it may be 55C under the plate while only being 30C where the filament sits.
My sensor is actually touching the plate so it is mainly a way of activating the fan circuit when the box is powered and trying to dry filament. You are correct if you want to use the sensor in a different way to me though.
You could try blowing hot air in and have a restricted vent. Great video and ideas I look forward to more.
Excellent!!!
Thank you for your excellent mods! I was thinking, with a simple ESP8266/ESP32 with a humidity & temperature sensor and a PWM 5v fan, maybe the control could work better. The PWM fan will allow to make it slower or faster, depending on the air flow needs, and the humidity&temp sensor will tell the microcontroller if it is time to turn on the fan, if the humidity is getting higher, and to turn off the fan if the temperature is dropping.
Also taking measures of the values could help to fine tune the process, and maybe a second humidity&temp sensor outside the box could give better understanding of the surroundings.
Thinking the sam band Hong here
Wifi connection to the box ;) but this project seams to be ded.
Brilliant hack, no, it shld be Brilliant ReInvention !!! Impressive work and thank unfor sharing w us this video!
I like it! Maybe try drying the air before it comes into the box...kinda like a hair dryer 😉
I built this up with the 50deg switch and mounted it initially to the wall behind where the relay board is. It wouldn't get hit enough to turn on. I had to move it off the wall and get it to basically touch the heat plate to go. The lower temperature switch may be better choice, or just make sure your thermal switch is basically touching the hot metal.
I found similar results Daniel. I ended up with mine tucked just to the side of the plate, touching it on the edge.
I modded my sunlu s1 by installing a blower fan to circulate air down over the element and around back to the fan. I also moved the sensor to sit near the fan intake to ensure even air temp through out the unit.
To reduce humidity you need to use desiccant. It's much more energy efficient. Ideally calcium chloride as it's much better than silica gel. But this is not easy as there is little spare space in this unit and calcium chloride turns liquid as it absorbs water so you can't really place it in the spools axle hole.
The Sunlu unit is better suited to keeping pre dried filaments dry while printing. Not so much for drying filaments outright.
Useful if your printing Nylons or even petg if you live in a area with high humidity.
does your blower just circulate the air inside with no extractors for humidity? One guy on youtube does this simple mod without moisture extraction and shows thermal imaging of the filament getting warm, however this does not mean moisture has decreased i guess. im still undecided..
@@olpallix pretty much as you describe, however I store my filaments in a air tight tote with calcium chloride. The only time I use the sunlu dryer is if a hydroscopic filament has been in open air for a day or 2. Mainly petg. I also stuff silica in the middle of the filament role when using the sunlu dryer.
@@ashleywhitehead3710 thank you. I’ll buy some silica. The thing with me is I leave the filament attached for weeks. So I hope that leaving it in the Sunlu box switched off with silica inside will stop moisture getting to it. Cheers.
Recently I learned something about housing insulation that could possibly be applied here. Humid air rises faster than dry air, so measures of passive ventilation via a single or a couple of holes on top should exhaust the humidity buildup without the need to fully exchange the air within.
As filament releases humidity way, way slower than a damp sponge on a hot plate does, I believe that adequate internal air circulation with a passive air intake at the bottom and the passive exhaust is all you need honestly. Perhaps through some kind of a permeable material that's slowing down the hot air draft.
Though I love a good over-engineered approach. Way to go Ricky!
Actually humidity is measured relativly of the cability of the air to carry water. At 100% humidity the water falls out (fog, or in greater amounts rain). If you heat up the air, the absolute amound of water does not change, but the relative humidity drops.
Drying filament is about the difference between relative humidity of the air and of the filament. Obviously, having very cool air heated up, you get very dry warm air, so drying works best.
So in adition to get the air out after it has absorbed water from the filament, first check the relative humidity and temperature of any room you have available and convert the result to absolute humidity. Choose the room with the lowest absolute humidity to do the drying. In winter at freezing temperatures you might even considering doing the drying outside (add some thermal insolation to the dryer).
Check the $10 STC-3028 humidity and temp controller, have different versions for ac/dc etc. Gives the option of independently controlling the temp and humidity. I'm thinking over using a styrofoam box, depending on the size, it can accomodate 1 or several spools. A small glass/plastic window is easy to cut in. Also, how anout using a small membrane vacuum pump, to get rid of the moisture... Lots of options
Yes, I think I've pushed the Sunlu S1 as far as I'm going to for now. I would like to be able to dry multiple rolls of filament at a time but the hardest thing is finding a suitable box.
With a 40 mm fan placed in the front top corner pointed down you should be able to have a circular circulation of air, so that the colder top air will pass down and heat again, so that overall everything will stay hotter. Periodically, the existing fan will push out air, or simply use natural circulation, with a smaller hole always open (use a iris diaphragm to tune the diameter of the hole for passive removal). On the transparent top you can put insulating foam everywhere, it should not affect the spools.
I was recommended by TH-cam this video which shows exactly what I was proposing! th-cam.com/video/6FG4O5l9XpE/w-d-xo.html The results are amazing.
Some great ideas, what about a heated air intake blowing hot air into the enclosure.
Linked to a thermostat you could push the temperature closer to 70 deg and drying things like nylon a possibility.
Good idea Raymond, I don't love the idea of another heater but if there is a way to do it re-using the warm air then it's promising.
using the timer relay, have you a circuit diagram as getting confused what to wire where
I’m super late here, but I actually redesigned this from scratch with a fresh PCB. I added wifi, and ventilation similar to this, but watching your video gave me ideas for a new version of my design.
But I need just one thing… I designed the dryer in fusion360 to get my fittings for the PCB, but if you can share your model of the filament dryer I would appreciate it!
I need the top acrylic dimensions, but it would be nice if a model already existed.
Hi Micah, drop me an email and we can discuss your project, it sounds really interesting. I may also have something interesting to add. Address is in my 'About' section.
Great video. Add on parts are very well designed.
Just wondering if changing where the thermal sensor that’s at the bottom of the box worth moving further up for a more accurate reading of the overall heat. As it must be picking up inaccurate temperature so close to the heat plate at the bottom. Or has this been addressed?
I found that when I tried the sensor higher, it just wouldn't get hot enough to trigger. I would have had to buy lower temperature sensors which weren't easy to find. The sensor is only there to turn the fan on and off with the heat so having it close to the plat works well. You can of course experiment with placing it wherever you like. You may find a better location.
I have 2 of the Sunlu S1's that have been modded to include the fan to move around the air, and the thermal sensor. I also use a couple of packs of desiccant placed in a holder in the center hole of the spools. I forget the exact name of the holder, but I got it from Thingiverse. Using a gauge almost identical to yours, I can watch the humidity raise significantly (sometimes with visible moisture in the lid), then significantly drop as time goes on. My biggest issue is that despite setting them at 55C, the temps rarely get above 48-50C inside. This is verified by not only the gauge, but an IR temp gun. If I could get these things to actually reach 55C, it would rate #1 on my list of dryers. For reference, I also have the Sovol 3D dryer, and the PrintDry Pro dryer. Both of them have advantages, and disadvantages over the Sunlu unit.
Do you already have a towel to insulate?
@@olafmarzocchi6194 I do not have a towel in it. Why would I?
@@tommyc8333 to reduce heat losses
@@olafmarzocchi6194 not really sure how that would work. I would think a towel would be too heavy and cause the spool not to rotate. You certainly cant put it on the bottom near the heater.
Thanks this is really cool
I am looking at using a peltier to condense the moisture out of the air blown out of the dryer on the cold side, then have the air recirculate through the heat sink on the hot side and back through the dryer.
Not sure how well it will work. In theory it should work.
You can try setting up the fan switch to work off of humidity instead of heat since thats what youre concerned with removing anyways.
It would also be nice to use an ESP32 with a relay or Mosfet to control the fan and display the humidity via a web interface, so you can remotely check it.
🤔 Interesting....
Sunlu has come out with a PLUS version that has a fan. Will you be reviewing that as well?
I have an idea for damp air in the dryer.
Have you tried using silica gel beads in the dryer ?
I was kind of curious about something with this model. I noticed that the control board has what appears to be a non-functional circuit for a fan. Do you think that maybe they originally planned to put a fan in this version but decided against it?
This box is my only filament dryer or I would be willing to experiment and see if that circuit actually does something.
Hi Ricky. Great video. I have a two filament Sovol 3D. Do you think these mods would work. In their promo video they recommend leaving the lid open, so doing this might be a better option.
Can the timer flip between two fans? In the time you are not pushing air out of the box, have another fan move air around inside the box (or just have an internal fan on all the time). The temp sensor for the Sunlu controller board may do better if it was also moved to in front of an internal fan.
My filament feeder box is just a sealed dog food container with a thick layer of cat litter (on the bottom inside). I dry the filament (and cat litter crystals) separately.
Yes, the timer closes one circuit for a set amount of time then opens that circuit while closing another. I only used one side to open and close but you can also wire a fan to the other side so it switches between two fans.
Very nice mod ! ... But to make the look even cleaner I'd have made the part with the flaps less bulky and would have put it inside the box (other side of the fan). Since the spools are anyhow round there should be enough space in the corners of the square box.
At 0:28 you have a drawing of a desiccant holder but make no mention of it. Have you tried something with it?
I’ve downloaded your .stl and modded it to have a mesh shelf for calcium chloride and a catchment for liquid below. Calcium chloride absorbs seven times more moisture than silica gel. Do you think that could work?
Hi, check out the first video as I tried silica gel in containers as one of my experiments. th-cam.com/video/5jCVT0lXKyU/w-d-xo.html it didn't work very well for the foam but could still be an option for filament which is why I still included all the stl files for the parts if you want to try it yourself. The reason I didn't try with calcium chloride is the dust that comes off it if you don't contain it very well. There is something else that might work well too but it's in the list of future videos🙂
I dry my filament with a cheap food dehydrator. By cheap, I mean half the price of the Sunlu mk1. There are a number of modifications available, but for now I simply cut a hole in the trays sufficiently large to fit a spool. This morning at an ambient temp of 27° and RH of 84% I had 26% humidity @44.7° at the top of the box. I am wondering (apart from the fact that you already own the Sunlu) is it worth persevering or is it actually the wrong base for the project? I am also wondering if the internals of the food dehydrator would make the beginnings of a better filament dryer!
Hi, there are many ways to do the same job of course and the Sunlu is far from the perfect starting point. What frustrates me about the Sunlu is that it could be so much better with a little better design. The heating element is fine and can reach high temperatures but the rest of the box falls short. I think they went for looks over function unfortunately. All we really need is accurately controlled temperatures and a way to move the damp air away. If a food dehydrator does that better then it very well could be a better base to start with. I may get one to play with one day. I chose the Sunlu as a lot of people have already bought them and been disappointed. Thanks for your comment 👍
I really like your simple version. Would it help to have that small inlet vent with the blades ?
Do you mean just adding the inlet vent and not the timer circuit? I believe it would give too much airflow without the timer.
Have you given any thought to increasing the input voltage? I would imagine that alone would allow the heating element to reach higher temperatures. May need a different temperature controller and, at some point, may lead to a meltdown.😬
To be fair, the element gets plenty hot from my testing. The problem seems to be that the heat just dissipates too quickly. I think, like you say, there could be a whole world of extra problems from increasing the voltage😬
Put the Mod together tonight and did some preliminary testing. I first had the temp switch at the bottom and it turned on well before the plate reached 55C. With the exhaust fan on the plate temp never got above 45C.
I moved the temp sensor above the plate near the bottom of the lid. Just about where the top and bottom meet. The temp switch did not activate even with the plate temp at 55C. So I moved it down slightly so it was hovering just above the plate's back, top edge. It the fan turned on when the plate temp reached 55C. I'm using a 50C switch.
The remaining issue is with the fan going and the temp switch not turning off below 50C, the plate temp drops below 50C. As low as 43C on one run. Definitely need a resistor to slow down the exhaust fan. I'm thinking about half the air flow would be about perfect. I guess I'll be looking for an online Ohm's law calculator.
Yes, I'm currently running mine with a 330 Ohm resistor and pretty happy with how it works.
@@RickyImpey thanks I'll start there. Appreciate the help.
@@RickyImpey Just and update. The 330 Ohm worked well for slowing the exhaust fan. However, and this is a brain teaser, the plate temp is reading lower (41c) with the slower fan speed at this slower exhaust fan speed. Oddly enough, when I remove the front vent (just leaving a hole for incoming air) the plate temp goes up and stays steady at 52c. I'm assuming hot air is rising to the top and being exhausted out the back, leaving the air around the heating unit under the spool relatively untouched? The ultimate question is will this relatively free pathway of air at the top of the unit dry the filament effectively? I'll let you know what my testing shows.
@@twms8728 I find it really difficult to predict how the airflow is going to behave. Sometimes the strangest things work and things that you think will definitely help, don't. I work on the principal that the air around the filament needs to be as warm as possible, as that is what will draw the moisture out, and there needs to be some way of removing the damp air periodically. Sometimes the plate temp can be lower because there is more air flow moving the warm air around the box but effectively cooling the element. Tricky 🤔
@@RickyImpey I'm definitely with you on getting the filament temp up. Doing some semi-scientific testing on a small amount of PETG now. I'll let you know what, if anything, I find. I'm also looking at your timer idea. It makes sense to let the air heat up, grab the moisture, then purge it several times during the process. I'm thinking once every 15-30 minutes.
The SL-1904-V1.3 pcb used in these dryers has a "fan" header output and spaces to add a mosfet and resistors to control it. There's also TWO temperature sensors on the board, one that's underneath the heater and one that's actually on the heater itself. How much of that is used by the firmware I don't know. Can anyone work out what the controller chip is? There's no markings on the one I have.
I wonder if it's possible to use passive convection to circulate the air? Small holes at the bottom as intake and small holes at the top as outlet. The air gets heated in the box and rises.
Yes 100% that works but you won't have a sealed box when the timer turns off the power.
How about using a Peltier element? Guide the air along the cold side and dry the incoming air before it enters the box. Just like how the ac of your car works. The air gets dried by condensation on the cold surface of the condensor. In your case on the cold side of the Peltier element.
The Peltier element has of course a hot side too. Use out coming air to cool this side.
I've never played with a Peltier element but always wanted too. Yes this had crossed my mind and in theory could work if done correctly. I can't remember the reason why I didn't persue this option more, maybe it was the power source or their efficiency but I'm keen to look at it again. Running the warm damp air over the cold side so that the moisture condensates would help remove the moisture so that the air could be re-used. As I'm sure you know, the warm side could be used to warm the inside of the box. We would just have to turn the element off periodically to let the condensed moisture drip off rather than just freeze on🤔 I like this, it sounds like fun to try. I'm thinking it may be best to design into a completely new Drybox, it may be a little much for a mod. Thanks for getting my brain going today👍
11:52 How's blowing wet air gonna help?
I know that those thermo-hygrometers measure relative humidity, so that 82% humidity in that air, measured at 7.5°C, would be read as much less once the air is heated up to the 31°C inside the dehydrator (even though the humidity in that air would be exactly the same), but I still think that, wanting to blow room air inside the Sunlu, one should start by running the air conditioner in dehumidifying mode for at least half an hour before starting...
I wonder... what about using only the towel for insulation and opening a hole in the bottom for new air to slowly get in, and a hole on the top for humid air to get out? it would be a continuous, but not excessive, removal of humidity without all the complex modifications
Yes, that would remove moisture but when the heat it turned off, the filament would start to absorb moisture again. All my kit is in my garage so I don't want to keep going out to move filament rolls in and out of dry boxes etc. I know it's all a bit OTT but I learn as I mod and enjoy it.
@@RickyImpey of course your solution is better because it adapts to all kind of applications.
My question was more parallel to your setup: since you acquired quite some experience on the topic, assuming that the filament stays there only to be dried, do you expect the drying performances of a device modified only by adding bottom and top openings, plus "towel insulation", to be adequate and better than the original setup?
My guess is that natural (therefore slow and one-way bottom to up) air circulation together with insulation could be quite good.
Thanks!
@@olafmarzocchi6194 oh yes, air vents alone would make it better as convection would move the damp air on. Just opening the lid a little improves the drying capacity quite a bit. The towel or any other insulation would just help get the heat up which would also help.
That was the question I asked a supplier- how does the moisture get out of the box? As expected, the answer did not address the question... It seemed obvious to me that an extractor was needed- but the replacement air will also have a humidity, which will affect the drying rate- and it will also cool the air inside. Instead of a timer, a variable flow would seem optimum- but the best flow rate will depend on the current humidity of the filament. So, a controller (e.g. an Arduino) reading both external and internal temperature, plus inlet and exhaust humidity, controlling the fan speed should allow an algorithm to be developed to give the best moisture reduction for a given time/power. Passing the inlet air through a desiccant, especially in warm weather, should help a lot. That the box is insulated is, of course, obvious; this lack (and no air change) shows that the commercial dryers are not serious.
I spent my latter career designing embedded systems for companies; this is a typical design brief. May get sufficient interest to give it a go...
I definitely think there is scope for a fully optimized home filament dryer. Some of the commercial units are very expensive but do no more than warm the air in the box. It would be an interesting project to develop.
Very nice 👍🖖
I wish I could buy this controler displays (or similar) somwher for a couple £ 🤔
You should try putting a heater on the intake then you can have it always running
Greetings. I live in a semi desert environment. In the summer, temperatures can reach up to about 44 degrees c. My garage (where I keep my printer) can reach 48c ambient temp with a relative humidity of less than 10%. Will Mod 1.0 bee sufficient?
Hi, what sort of humidity do you get there? Do you need a filament dryer? I live in the UK where we have high humidity most of the time. It sounds like you may not need one. The process of removing the moisture relies on the air around the filament being dryer than the filament itself. Heating the filament up helps release the water molecules into the air. You may have those conditions naturally.
True. But the winters are a bit humid and gets pretty cold. Might get the sunlu to have just in case.
*UPDATE* Ended up buying the eibos easdry.
@@eddiemorales1705 Let us know what you think of it 👍
I have an S1 but I really don't want to put that much effort into modding it, have you found a dryer that actually works fairly well or are you still using modified S1?
Ok, I have everything wired correctly, relay and thermal switch is working properly. My issue is the 40mm fan listed in the parts comments is barely moving any air. The louvers aren't moving at all. There is no issue with the parts rubbing, the louver flaps move very freely; the fan speed is just way too low to push them open. It's a 24 volt fan, just nowhere near the RPMs of the fan in the video. Any suggestions?
Did you use the same fan that I linked to in the video description Bryan? If not, then it's possible that you simply have a fan that doesn't move enough air.
@@RickyImpey yes, used the link to order the fan directly from Amazon US. Maybe I got a bad fan? I can order another and try it.
@@BryanBalak Strange 🤔. In that case then I would just be extra careful to make sure your fan flaps are completely free moving. They need to be able to drop when you turn the whole assembly backwards like when you open the lid. When the fan is on, mine only open approx 3-4mm but it's enough to push moist air out.
let it breath dry air in by using an oil bath/ silica gel bead contraption like a "transformer breather"... and/or heat incoming air and dry it again, using silica.
Is it possible to mod the Sunlu v1 to achieve higher temps (form ABS, NYLON and ASA materials)?
Thinking back about your self-closing blades I have two suggestions: if you use carboard or transparent plastic foil (like for projectors) you can reduce the weight and maximise flow (which means, shorter running time or lower fan speed for less noise). Blades can also be shaped as a "P" instead of a wedge, so that they weigh less.
Since an axial fan is not suited to be operated with a back-pressure (the blades), you could try even a very thin stator to convert speed into pressure, like th-cam.com/video/rDq4KSlZcTo/w-d-xo.html Likewise, more flow and therefore shorter run time, or lower fan speed. It increases thickness by 10 mm which could be either inside or outside of the enclosure (I'm not sure about space inside).
🤔 Very interesting. I love this sort of stuff Olaf. Definitely some good ideas here. What I have done is far from optimised so there could be a lot more to come. I tend to think that more drying efficiency could come more from consistently higher temperatures but all of your ideas are valid for making the fan duct better. The video you linked to has actually given me an idea for an improved hotend cooling duct too. I'd definitely like to investigate a little further. Thanks👍
@@RickyImpey I was thinking of active cooling of air being removed and replaced, Sounds counter-intuitive, but if you re-circulate that air back in, and have the hot side inside the box just before the air goes back in, the waste heat from active cooling should be reused and useful to the system. Peltier.
Have the intake outtake opposite sides of the box, or? then any moisture that condenses on the cold side should be allowed to run down a drain tube, to a small open reservoir,
Thermal insulation on the whole setup would be a big benefit. Combined with your timer setup, I have a feeling this will improve the moisture removal time considerably.
Love your videos, getting great ideas and tips from you. keep up the good work.
I am also wondering if some sort of convection could be used here with the hotside coldside, reducing the amount of fan time needed.
@@brycering5989 I've toyed with the idea of trying to remove any moisture from the air and reusing it but haven't experimented yet. Let me know how you get on if you try it.
@@brycering5989this actually is a very good idea, take the air out, run it over a cold peltier cooled (preferably really cold, and pid controlled) heatsink, and then feed that back through the hot side and let the air warm back to temp that way
make the peltier alternate after each few mins to defrost the cold side and have some sort of condensate catcher and voila, you basically have a peltier powered dehumidifier (thats exactly how some small electric dehumidifers work)
peltiers should be able to reach about 70°C tdelta so approx -20 and 50 should be doable, just need to watch the fan speed dependant on how powerful (or not) the mentioned peltier is
How about a Gore Vent Plug. It lets moisture out but not back in
My understanding of Gore Vents is that they don't let moisture pass in any direction, only air. I will have to check them out again 🤔
Call me crazy but I just reuse desiccant and a perforated tube that sits in the center of the filament roll so when moisture is released the desiccant takes care of it..
I like the different paths you have looked at here... I'm just thinking these type of "driers" just don't do the job very well. The cost is too high for the return.
Use something as easy like a food dehydrator to dry the filament and then place it in a sealed boxed with desiccant to absorb any moisture that may get in. So much simpler and cheaper. Remember the K I.S.S. rule.
I will say though, you need to be hired by these companies as an engineer! I use to mentor for a local FIRST robotics league for high school students. My fist group of kids we won the state championship. While I was even going through through cancer treatments as well. I'm still friends with the head mentor and team leader. It was great fostering the learning spirit in these kids minds.
Keep up the great work Ricky!
That's why I bought a jayo S1 dryer (same as the sunlu) which usually goes on sale for ~$35. Got it used (new in box) for under $20 and it's a great dryer. Had I not gotten that deal I would've just gone the food dehydrator route, though I can still use this for keeping filament dry during printing.
I do agree with K.I.S.S Jeff and I know I'm going way over the top with all these different addons for this dryer but it's fun and I'm learning. I don't plan on stopping either🙂 I think it's possible to create a filament dryer that can get the internal box air temperature to over 50°C and be controlled and have the air inside really dry. I also think I'll be able to do it in a way that can be simplified and made cheaply. It may be that a food dehydrator is still the better option at the end of it all and that's fine. Thanks for your support and comments 👍
@@RickyImpey I understand.
Why are you using a temperature sensor at all for determining when you turn on the fan? If you use a humidity sensor and place it in the middle of the box then the fan would only turn on when the humidity is high. It would then pull the moist air out and outside air in. Though you might want to also have a humidity sensor outside to make sure you arent going to pull in air thats more humid. Nice mod though.
Yes, good idea but I've never found a very good humidity sensor. I'd be happy to try one if there is a good one that's not expensive.
I unfortunately broke my thermistor :( Does anyone know what value it is supposed to be? Thanks
Could you possibly help me out I think I accidentally damaged the sensor that goes to the front controll panel has black wires on can I buy a replacement or one that would work do you possibly have a link to UK Amazon if there's a replacement thank you
Hi Tom, I don't know for sure of a replacement but I imagine it is probably a pretty standard thermistor. I could have a look next time mine is apart and see if I can identify what is needed. I'm pretty sure it's a case of measuring the resistance at a known temperature. I just googled and found someone confirming that it's a 100k NTC thermistor. If this is the case then it's the same as many 3d printer hotend thermistors like these. amzn.to/3suONvY I haven't tried this myself though.
@@RickyImpey do you know the name of the plus on the end of that end I know larger plus are jst but what's the names of the smaller connectors called
@@tombadham999 I think they only have jst connectors on them. I'd probably just cut and solder rather than trying to buy the plug, assuming the plug isn't damaged obviously. Crimp terminals can also be a good idea for thermistors as heat can damage them if you're not careful.
@@RickyImpey also i cant seem to get the flaps on the fan shroud to be loose enough then open when you tip it over like video they open but only if you push them any ideas or tips on sorting it out
also may i ask what infill you used for fan blades
Hey, i am working on the idea to us a arduino with a DHT21 Temp./Huminity-Sensor that forces the fan to blow the wet air out when the huminity inside the Sunluu reaches 70% for example. Has anybody tried that so far?
Sounds interesting, let me know how it goes.
Instead of the fan you can put Sponge into the hole so it stays sealed and also absorbs the moisture
Make a single wall case for the foam.
Why no mention of placing this in a warm place, like the top of a refrigerator or sunny window? Then you have free heat.
By the way, those humidity sensors are very poor. I have them and mines are reliable only down to 39%. Below that, and the start dropping WAY faster than the air. Compared to a proper sensor, for example, they may indicate 33% for 38%, 25% for 34%, and so on. The difference between indicated and real RH is about zero at 39% and increases below that. Temperature is fine.
Get a reliable one, like Xiaomi or Aqara temperature humidity sensor (zigbee), which I tested down to few % RH.
How loud is the relay? Switching on and off annoying?
No not at all. It's almost silent, there is a bit of fan noise depending if you slow it down with a resistor or not.
Hi, i t5hink you have skipped one test.
From my experiance having a fan sirculating the air trrough silica gell boost its efficiency X2 X3 times.
adding a fan inside that circilates the are trough a compartment of silica gel might give better results (even if you have to replace the silica gel quit often).
I have built a dry box that uses zack --Void star Labs fartfighter 5000 with silica gell . my results were to acive within few house what normaly take well over a day .
I live in israel close to the sea so my room air humidity is normaly 60-70 % ... so replacing the air with more moist air doesnt help much
Hi Ricky,
I did the mod you showed, but with my personal touch and the result is simply AMAZING !! I strongly suggest you to do the same and maybe share to the community.
I added the exit vent on the back as well as the small intake dock on the front. It's exactly the same as you did. Thank you, by the way!!
I also added the time relay in series with a thermal switch. I preferred to go with a 40° thermal switch because the air change cycle will keep going for a longer time after the heat turn off and it will allow more humidity to go out by the time the entire air temp get back to room temperature.
The main addition I did, which also helped a lot, is that I relocated one of the thermistor right under the back dock and also I connected a blower in parallel with the timer relay. Doing so, the blower fan will start to circulate air inside the chamber as long as the timer relay is powered. That small addon help to reach lower humidity level.
The only down side is that the inside temperature is reduced by 2 °C when the other dock fan kicked in for 5 sec. Which mean even more air have been pulled out of the container(as well as the humidity).
The positive is that by circulating, it "cheat" the temp reading between both thermistor so the temp can reach 56-57 degree quite often.
By the way, I'm looking for a way to change the limit of 55 degree in the controler. If anyone has an idea how to do that, that would be amazing!
Sounds awesome Carl. What did you use as a circulating blower? Where did you mount it?
@@RickyImpey I mounted a 24v blower (pointing down)right under the docking on the back side. I drilled the hole for the dock slightly higher than what you showed, but I believe the blower would fit either way. The blower hold in place with velcro and I mounted the second thermistor to the blower with a tie-wrap.
With that setup, I can reach 16-17% humidity without desiccant.
why not use a humidity sensor instead of temp sensor to control the relay?!
I've never had much joy with humidity sensors myself. I find temperature sensors more consistent.
Hey Ricky, still not looking into the S2?
Honestly, they are all still a little expensive considering i'm not expecting it to be better than what I have. I should probably buy one though.
S2 mods coming soon?
I haven't got hold of one yet unfortunately 🙁
@@RickyImpey Now it's on Amazon, please help us!!
Wtf. My s1 came with a fan preinstalled in the bottom. Is this normal?
Umm, no. They don't usually have a fan. Can you email me a picture? Email address in about section on my channel.
next You should invent a 24V motor Spool Rotating system based on Stepper motor(28BYJ-48) and Driver board(ULN2003) or else
Rotating the spool would help heat the spool evenly but it might be easier to even the heat out around the box🤔
Instead of blowing wet, warm air out, how about pulling 8t through some dessicant?
It has crossed my mind Kent. I'm also thinking about circulating the air through some desiccant to not waste the heat.
2 mins on
30 mins off
Also, NO on the relay is Normally Open and NC is Normally Closed. So the thermal switch is an open path (Normally Open) and when it hits either 40 or 50C the path closes and the circuit is complete.
BUT THERE IS NOTHING AT THE INTACE TO STOP YOU FROM TAKIN IN MORE HUMID AIR
You're at the point where you can build your own box from scratch. There is no need to stay inside the limitations of some Chinese manufacturer. You can do better than them
The thought has crossed my mind .....
@@RickyImpey I’ll buy from you
Me too
Surely you should be using a humidity switch not a temperature switch
Or Just pay 20$ more for a good filamentdryer?!
Where's the fun in that?🙂
What would you buy?
EIBOS Cyclopes works pretty well.