How to keep your filament dry: Make a storage box!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ค. 2024
- Struggling to keep your Nylon or PVA filaments dry? Build a simple, air-tight drybox for it. The kicker? You don't even have to remove the filament to print!
🛒 List of materials [🇺🇸]
Waterproof box (needs no extra sealing) 🛒 geni.us/9y9d2nK
Silica gel 🛒 geni.us/73vnJMG
Pneumatic couplers 🛒 geni.us/tU2mO
Contact cement 🛒 geni.us/S0Vvq
Weather stripping seal 🛒 geni.us/cczB
🛒 List of materials [🇩🇪]
Watertight box (needs no extra sealing) 🛒 geni.us/2XNCN
Silica gel rover.ebay.com/rover/1/707-534...
Pneumatic couplers rover.ebay.com/rover/1/707-534...
Contact cement rover.ebay.com/rover/1/707-534...
Weather stripping rover.ebay.com/rover/1/707-534...
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A couple of hints. You can use an old sock or nylon stocking to put the silica gel in so it's not all over the place. You can also save the little packets of gel that come in most filament, medication, new shoe, etc, boxes and through them in there.
There are some containers out there that already come with a gasket sealed lid. Just find one in the detentions close to what you need.
4:10 "Just, y'know, 3D print a clip!"
I love how you said that, ha.
Storing your spools that way doesn't only control their amount of moisture. It is also a tidy way and it prevents the material from getting dusty. Well done!!
just an FYI when drilling in to thin plastics its best to drill in to the object while running the drill in reverse thus making the drill bit warm enough to thin out the spot until the drill just pushes through with minimal pressure.
Wow. That is a great idea. thanks for sharing. Never thought about revers for heat/no snags.
Just use your hotglue gun, remove the gluestick and push the hotend through the plastic.
You could also use your soldering iron if you need a smaller hole , but that will ruin the tip •_•
Tammo Ripken I'd recommended buying a sacrificial tip for this purpose ;)
Yes, the problem is that standard drills are too 'grabby' for plastic. Ideally, you want to grind the drill tip with a much sharper (pointier) end. Assuming you have a drill grinder to hand....
@@ciarfah a sort of wingman if you will
I'm totally doing this tomorrow! Thanks for the excellent how to!
Instead of foam sealing tape, you can simply put down a bead of silicone chaulking. Put the lid upside down and run a bead. Then put a layer of cling film over that and place the box in the groove. The silicone will form a tight seal and the cling film will stop the two from sticking to each other. You can place a little weight on the box, to make it sit properly. A lot better seal.
Also, the lid will not bend up as there is not force on it.
Lykle Schepers
Rather than use cling film to prevent the silicone sealant from adhering to the top of the box it would be better to use a thin smear of grease - Vaseline is fine - before mating the two together and then wiping it off once the silicone has cured.
Yes, that works as well.
The reason I prefer cling film is that you can then shape the silicone a little better. You can mold it into shape and keeping the cling film tight, you can make the silicone nice and smooth around the edges.
Vaseline works perfectly for more complex shapes and tricky areas.
Won't the cling film come off every time you lift the lid? or no?
@@collective1515 You only put it on until the silicone has formed and firmed up. Then you can remove the cling film. You basically use it as a form of mold release.
@@LykleSchepers thank you so much for replying so quickly! I'll do that process for my new box. Thanks again 💯
That's pretty awesome Tom. Gives me a little more confidence in buying volatile filaments
Letting the spool drag through the sea of desiccant has another benefit of helping keep the filament under control. The spools still turns but not freely preventing spin momentum from unloading the spool and making knotty messes. :-)
ur a genus
A knotty genius, the best kind!
Branching out into nylon, so thank you for this.
Anyone else see the irony of him showing the importance of dry storage with the open rails of filament behind him
Thomas Sanladerer that's fair enough, I'll admit I'm new to the hobby so I'm trying to piece all the information together
I was more wondering why the storage style. I mean, if he needs the yellow one, he's got to lift them all up, slide off 5 others to get at it, then put them all back. He also can't see the labels as they are if they are printed on the sides.
Why not have single rods sticking out of the wall?
Wait, so the printer is below the spools as they are? That makes sense now :)
Thomas Sanladerer then why do all my filaments come vacu-sealed with a desicant pack? even the little sample packs come vacu-sealed.
+jimfun71 For long term warehouse storage this is a must. Because warehouse storage is rarely perfectly climate controlled (read: Many warehouses are climate controlled, but it's difficult to keep such a large place at a perfect humidity for specifically printing filament). In addition, shipping will also possibly expose your filaments to the elements. So for best results, and to ensure the consumer gets repeatable performance from spool to spool, they vacu-seal and desiccant pack them. At home storage, it's not quite as important in many places; because your home is generally a more hospitable environment for general filament. Specialty filament however would require more careful protection and attention to storage to ensure peak performance. Overall, it's a good idea to keep your filament stored well, particularly if you do not print very often, or do not use large amounts of filament. I would hazard that Tom here goes through that filament relatively quickly, to the point where their storage on the spool holder is negligible. :)
Awesome silica gel, I'll definitely buy some of that. Thanks for the video!
Thomas thank you for this video. You inspired me to create a few of these types of boxes and I'm holding roughly 12+ rolls of filament in 3 of these types of boxes. My design is roughly based on yours, but it has made a HUGE difference! Along with the fact that I got a food dehydrator and dried all of my filaments with it and then put them in these boxes. Thanks again!
So i got a qeustion i got a sv06plus coming with a direct extruder should i just make a box and have the bowden tube come out above the printer.
Or will that create to much drag.
Sv06plus is basically a prusa mk3s clone for clarification
They sell plastic totes like that with gaskets at big box stores in the US now. There is now no need to make a gasket. What an era to live in! Great video thanks. :)
There is a cheap water and airtight container available here in Korea (they are called Lock&Lock if you are going for brand-name ones or Tark if you are going for Daiso brands) and they have built-in snaps and full silicone seal, are reasonably sturdy and has thick walls so you can thread in Bowden tube and seal it up.
Get the big ones that can contain spools either horizontally or vertically then align the box accordingly.
I like this simple design. Although I can see bike theft increasing 👍😎🇦🇺
Cool, gonna do this as one of my next projects
I reseal mine in either s vacuum bag or vacuum bottle. So far so good. A dryish day here is 75% humidity above 90% is all too common.
Hey Tom, its a little strange, but one thing that works really well are frosting buckets. You can usually get 3 or 5 gallon buckets that are food grade and air tight, used from a local bakery or from a grocery store. You have to wash them out and your filament might pick up a slight frosting smell, but they work really well, are very strong and easily stack.
For storage I just use a 5 liter ziplock bag together with a little bag of silica gel. They cost next to nothing and are perfectly air tight. I found no need to pull it vacuum since the silica gel will dry out the air left in the bag (and in the filament).
im amazed nobody has made a commercial product like this yet
hard to market a lot of commercial products to a community that largely prides itself on homebrew solutions, I think.
Yeah, amazing nobody is making money selling simple plastic objects to people with 3D printers and enough filament that they need a storage solution!
that's a wonderful idea.... good job...
gonna have to get that set up, I'm tired of constantly having to dry my nylon.
Did they have Blue Peter in Germany? You just need a "and here's one I made earlier" moment and perfect.
I think this is the reason my prints are getting stringy recently. First time I got the filament out of the box, the print came out perfect. After like 1 week my prints are mess with string even though I'm not changing the setting. Humidity level average in place I live is around 60 %RH, I guess that's too high for plastic. Thanks for the tutorial!
Its a great idea, thanks.
Thanks Tom! I've been thinking I need a better solution and I really like this one (currently using ziplock bags and it's annoying). I had two ideas and I'm wondering if you think it would be worth it / improve:
1) some how work a one way valve into the lid and, using something like a wine air pump, pump out some of the air. This would remove some of the humid air as well as make the lid self seal. Issue would be if the filament seals aren't air tight, it would just slowly leach air back in over a short amount of time. Obviously not a perfect vacuum, but just enough to have the lid keep itself shut.
2) using the bike tire method, place seals on both sides of the wall, i.e. Inside like you show and outside as well. This would create a double seal that would better resist air leaching back in if I pump some of the air out.
Thoughts?
Thanks again!
Simple and genious.
Good video and very informative
For drilling plastic, look up "brassing your drill bits". You actually dull them so they don't dig in and grab/split the plastic. Clickspring and Tom's Techniques are both good vids on the technique.
After watching the video, I liked the concept of the bike tube method, a little better than the Bowden tube. It would seem, a person could print a gasket out of TPU, Ninja Flex, or some other flexible filament and have the advantages of the rubber membrane (bike tube), with a more refined look.
Another option would be to use a SMA coaxial, bulkhead connector and drill out the teflon insulator to the appropriate diameter (1.75mm or 3.0mm), for your filament.
I just poked a hole into the box that it comes with and tape the sized closed, leaving the desiccant in the box. Simple and I needed was tape and a poker and BAM! I'm just using PLA right meow though
I've been storing by filament spools (when not in use) in a large zip-lock bag, with some silica jell bags inside. My workshop is air conditioned as well. Only PLA and ABS, and I don't think I've had any issues with 'bad' filament, even stuff that's been stored for over a year. BTW, I don't think the stuff actually goes bad to the point of having to throw it out, you can always 'bake it' to remove the moisture and recondition the stuff, but better to not to have to!
Silica Cat sand is cheap and easy to find at any pet shop. Also while you're at it you should store your open packs of cable ties in a box like this as well as they also get brittle ones opened.
When looking up silica gels on Amazon for my own storage box for PC and PA filaments I found some comments mentioning that the humidity indicator in the standard orange silica gel (crystal violet) is deemed to be carcinogenic. BASF has developed a newer humidity identificator which they sell as Sorbead Orange Chameleon or KC-Trockenperlen which they claim to not contain carcinogenic materials. Might be of interest especially if one tries to print out models that may later on get in contact with food or babies. I'll opt for the BASF material, especially as it does not cost too much more.
Did the state of California tell you that?
@@bigchooch4434 to be fair, that's one of the few things CA has done that I'm grateful for.
Good info, thank you!
Or you know, buy that kickstarter box that holds one spool and weighs it and costs like 2x as much as my printer did. I'm sure 2 load cells and an arduino would split the difference in cost right?
Big boxes like that are cheap at ikea btw. I'd say the pneumatic fitting is a bit redundant, drill a hole the size of the outer diameter of the bowden tube, run bowden tube through the hole, seal with something like hotglue.
hotglue doesnt stick to teflon very well...
I dry it it the toaster oven then put it in a air tight extra large cereal box with dessicant, a gauge and a PVC roller installed works well.
Instead of a drill bit I use a soldering iron for cutting/drilling the holes. That way the plastic doesn't crack.
yea but that ruins the soldering iron tip
I would suggest 120C to dry reactivate the silica-gel. At 150C some dyes might be decomposed.
80°C in a hot air oven works perfectly.
Just a piece of advice if is permitted. Next time when you make a hole in a thin plastic wall, keep a wood piece (sacrificial one) behind it for support and use the wood bits not the one for metal. This will help you to make a clean hole in suck conditions. Good job anyway.
In the us you can get mimi brand silica kitty litter from walmart. 4lbs for 8 bucks you can fill and old sock or nylon.
One other thing is silica can be dried and reused.
Push lock fittings are plenty airtight I use them with teflon or nylon tubes at 200+ psi on a regular basis
Now I can think about nylon!
Hey Tom, you should check out the PrintDry filament drying machine. It works wonders for resurrecting wet filament, especially Nylon. I think it deserves a review.
My mom brought a big bag of desiccant from her work the other day, kinda looks like cat litter. Gonna get me a other Ikea samla 15 box (I find they perfectly fit 4 of pretty much any 1kg spool) and do this with it. Always been interested in Nylons as I do like to make tough prints and I got some things in mind but never really had a way to store the spools. How about for every spool you have 2 seals? Like a pressfit with a tube to go to the printer and a tube seal you can put the other end in when not printing, would create a ''fully'' airtight loop.
Great video as always.
I've had some filament in a similar box that was sitting in a storage rack behind the printer, and the filament wasn't really wound up perfectly onto the spool. Result: The filament tied itself in a knot around the spool, and the printer actually pulled the box out of the storage rack. Luckily no damage was done, except for the printed part of course...
Cracking job 😂
Funny, I just recently bought 2 big boxes with built in rubber seals. This would have been much cheaper if I had thought of it!
I use crystal cat litter for my camera bag, so i use it for my spools also instead of the silica gel it´s way cheaper , i put it in a old sock so it is easier to replace :-)
For those in the US , Ziploc makes these tubs that have a seal built in already. Not sure if they are available elsewhere int he world.
NDFPV - Sterilite also makes a great sealing set of containers with built in clasps. I think the Sterilite is a bit cheaper than the Ziplock containers. Both have great sealing capabilities and use is instant.
Wow, Thanks for sharing :-)
An easy way to get bulk silica crystal is at your local pet shop; it is sold as a kitty-litter material, and normally well priced.
BTW the correct size drill bit to create an m5 thread is 4.2. The pneumatic coupler is not a thread cutting device, but then again you are working with think plastic, not steel
Hi, I have a question, I have a pla roll that starts to break easy so I wanted to bake it, did someone know the temperature and the time for baking it?
I seek to edgamakate mahself. I love this build. I've looked online and can't seem to find a consistent answer to the following question:
My average humidity range is between 25-40. Do I need to worry about this with regards to PLA and TPU?
How do you decide which type of adhesive to use (e.g., hot glue, contact cement, superglue, ...)?
Well, I suppose it depends on the materials you want to bond, the required strength, etc., and you simply have a good working knowledge of these. (Like, presumably contact cement wouldn't have worked (well enough) for the printed rod-holder, and hot glue wouldn't have worked on the bike tube?) I suppose what I'm asking is: can you recommend a guide or lookup table?
If you are good at running a line of silicone, that could replace the weather stripping
If you "brass off" the drill bits they will be less likely to lunge into the thin plastic and crack it.
ClickSpring has a great vid on it "Spare parts #7 - Modifying A Twist Drill For Drilling Brass"
Very cool, How about using dry rice instead of the silica gel?
Can you link the spool holders files for 3d printing? Thanks and great video
First, I suggest try finding an enclosure with built-in rubber or silicone seal. I've found some, but that's the US side, don't know about EU. I think it's best to use as small of a container as you can find that fits one spool + desiccant. Having multiple filaments in one case means opening the container to replace one spool exposes all the spools to new "wet" air. "OXO Good Grips POP Big Square 2.4-Quart Storage Container" fits one Taulman spool and a good amount of desiccant or a good size desiccant container.
The push-to-connect type connectors are meant to supply air pressure so the connectors themselves should be air-tight. I've even run a PTFE line all the way to my extruder so there's only at the hobb where any moisture might enter.
I built a box like this but had issues with extra drag on the filament causing printing defects. When the extruder has to pull extra hard on the filament it causes displacement in the nozzle. I would love to see an ultra "low drag" design that will minimize issues with the printing process.
Newbie question: Tom, those reels of filament on the wall behind you - do you periodically dry them out? Or perhaps you have a dehumifier that runs full- time in your print workshop? What's your strategy with filament drying? Vielen Dank aus NeuZeeland.!
Jochen
Pretty slick. Was the 2 different exit methods (bowden tube & fitting vs the bike patch) just to show examples of different methods with whatever you have on hand I guess?
I love this project but when building it myself, I found that the link for US pneumatic couplers did not work well for the application. They scraped the edges off of my filament and left a curl of plastic like a cheese grater. All the other supplies work fine, but I recommend different couplers.
Could rice dry filament in a box + keep it dry just laying on top of the rice.
? little late started 3d printing this early year 2018. Thank you for your great comment, your tips saved my filament spool!
Only if you have dried the rice before in the oven. (Newsflash: It doesn't work on the drowned phone either.)
Use your drill in reverse when cutting polycarbonate. It will take longer but you won't crack it. Or even better get an Expanding Hole Opener Reamer
@Thomas Sandelerer I am printing Nylon 6.6 and connot get it to stick to the bed. Tried many adhesives alrdy like PVA gluestick, hairspray, 3dlac... wolfbite nitro I did not try yet. Just ordered Phenolharz Platten for now... Do you think it will work or do you have anything else on your checklist that i could use? I do not care if it permanently bonds (i can remove bonded stuff with powertools if needed) it just needs to stick nomatter what cuz i am in a real hurry with this part... basicly my future depends on it.
Would love to see a comparison in effectiveness of using alumina or molecular sieve 4A
what humidity should i keep my room at? my house has a humidity control system so i just want to know what is the max. we currently have it set at around 60%.
Will such a container recondition a PVA that has absorbed moisture over time? I left my PVA out for too long at 60% humidity and now it is not very reliable.
what all filiments need too be kept in a dryer then a avrage home enviroment? i have been working with pla and a short but unsucsessfull atempt with abs. do i need too worrie about ither of theese?
Can't we get a similar result with one of these vaccuum plastic bags they sell to put clothing in bags and a bit of silica gel? not for printing, but storage only purposes
That is what many quality filament brands do, so I guess it works.
Just out of curiosity couldn’t you have stretched the bike tube then poked the hole so when it’s unstretched the hole shrinks and creates a tighter air seal?
Where did you buy the silica pearls? I checked on amazon but there are hardly any at the moment (it's mostly the tiny pre-packaged bags) and what they have is really expensive (about 30€ for 1kg, including shipping).
Hello Thomas.
Where do you buy the white tube? PS: great video!! :-)
You could have put a block of wood under the plastic box, and drilled in reverse to mitigate breaking the fragile plastic.
I wonder if a cooler would be practical? especially if it has a water drain at the bottom for the filament to come out of.
Has anyone tried large mylar bags? It seems that they would be much easier to use, as they can conform to the shape and size of the spool, and their seal can be more easily verified. While a clear plastic bin may be useful for stacking and such, their seals are rarely reliable when something gets stacked upon them. Perhaps a combination of using clear bins that are multipurpose and allow visual verification, but mylar bags for the spools.
Hoped to grab some information about the different kinds of tube-materials to minimize friction. What is the best transparent material for a tube, feeding filament from the box to your printer?
Congrats, you just made a sterilite Gasket Box, only one that never seals quite right. The 32 qt version is on amazon for $15 and lets you put in 4 rolls in on a pvc pipe across.
Posts this before he buys one, forgets, checks next day and it is bought. -_-
I find an easier way to make holes in the box is to just use a soldering iron or a torch and an awl. Then you don't run the risk or cracking the box like he does at 8:55 I know (/think) that was on purpose for demonstration but still I find this way easier.
Next time use a "HOT" nail for the holes... need it bigger use a tapered shaft of a center punch or a drift punch.... want a smaller hole... use a sewing needle!
I don't trust heat glue to stick those holders to the edge of the box well. I know mileage may vary though. Could be fixed with some screws through the side of the box.
Hello Thomas, thnx for your German links.
I'm trying this for the first time and don't really understand what the pneumatic couplers are for. Are they providing friction-free travel of the filament? Because if they would 100 % seal air off there would be friction I guess .... could you tell me what the wanted functions of that part are?
It doesn't really matter. The seal isn't really airtight anyways and remember: there is a lot of silica gel inside
Any thoughts on using Drierite or zeolite desiccants ?
While waiting for my prusa i3 I have some time to get all needed materials and learn more about 3d printing, cad designing, etc. And creating a filament storage container. I have all but the silica gel. I am wondering though, can filament be too dry? Dry stuff can break more easily, but perhaps that doesn't apply to filament.
I am in the business of producing Nylon cored drive belts.Very dry Nylon does lose some of its impact resistance and can get borderline brittle, but Nylon is so tough that you won't notice that at the loads that filament is subjected to. You'd have all sorts of other mechanical problems (jamming) before the filament comes even close to its tensile strength.
With other hygroscopic materials (TPU) you definitely want to get rid of as much water as you can when melting them, because the water vapor will not only blister, but chemically break down the carbon chains of the material, inverting the polymerisation process. (This is a polycondensation for TPU, meaning forming chains by splitting off a H and an OH from the ends of the monomers being joined, which then bond into a H2O.)
Good video. Can you turn your mic level down when you are recording and increase the level later in post production? It sounds like it is almost clipping from a high impedance.
genius.
do I need to build one for the Flexible Filament Fiberflex 40D?
I'm so cheap right now I'm gonna use Cat Litter so I don't have to buy normal silica gel, but keep in mind.. its high quality Cat Litter. I hear I can do that
@Thomas Sanladerer , another cheaper way of obtaining good silica gel is buying 100% silica gel cat litter, its much cheaper than buying bags like those.
Have you shown how the tube and bike Tyre valve are to be used?
Gr8 video
Tom, I don't see the files for the smooth rod holders you made in your description. I have looked in other areas and sites for something similar but have not found anything close. could you post those links?? thanks and great channel!!!
Tom as always your a stand up gentleman!!
Heya, when drilling in non-supported plastics, just hold a block of wood behind it and it wont scatter.
Silica gel hace always dust, put your hand in the Silica gel and you can see and feel it.
Anyone have the link for the rod holders that were 3D printed?
I was wondering the same thing
@Thu Nell Ⓥ No I would argue that is a very cocky way to approach that subject. Not everyone has every single skill set in their toolbox metaphorically speaking. I guarantee I have skills that you do not possess however I’m not a beta that has to put people down because they don’t possess all the skills I do.
In my experience PLA gets brittle with long enough exposure to normal humidity levels, aka 40-50%
Can a filament be overdried? My box keeps humidity at around 17% and my printing room isat around 30 %