DIY Heated DryBox for 3D Printing filament - under $20 & MasterSpool Update
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 พ.ค. 2024
- In this Video I'm showing you how to make a simple heated dry-box for your 3D printing filament that you can use whilst 3D Printing.
The start of the video also has an update on the MasterSpool project - if you want to skip that just to 4:42
* Edit -
A few people are not getting the point of this heated dry-box. It's not intended as a materials dryer for filaments that are already loaded with moisture, that's not the reason I added a heater to a 'dry-box'
It's a dry-box with a stable internal ambient temperature around 30 Degrees C and a controlled humidity - the point being external temperature changes and humidity changes do not affect the filament inside the dry-box - I'm trying to get as much stability and repeat-ability as possible. I want my materials to perform the same way each time I use them - you will still have to dry out materials like Nylon - but then put it inside the heated dry-box and print with it or store it in a sealed bag to get the maximum working life before needing to dry it out again.
I'll also update the Blog post about this Heated Dry-Box project, to explain more about how temperature and humidity are related and define what are good and bad conditions for 3D printing materials.
* Edit -
With just a few basic items from eBay (or similar) and some 3D design files to print (links below) - you can make a drybox for both storage and in use while 3D printing.
My Blog post for this project is here - richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2018/0...
Files for the Heated Dry-Box project are on Youmagine Here -
www.youmagine.com/designs/hea...
And also Thingiverse - www.thingiverse.com/thing:277...
Masterspool files are on Youmagine - www.youmagine.com/designs/mas...
And Thingiverse - www.thingiverse.com/thing:276...
Intro & Outro Music -
Kindly supplied by Mark Wheadon
www.psychosoma.net
Plastic Box info - by Demirel Plastik - Made in Turkey 11Lt capacity / PolyProp material (PP) Freezer (-25 deg C) and dishwasher safe (+95 Deg C) :) - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![[TH] VCT Pacific - Playoffs - Upper Bracket Semifinals // GEN vs T1 | DRX vs PRX](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9cXUFuLLI8E/mqdefault.jpg)
+1 respect for adding in a time to skip to the build
Just fantastic Richard, great stuff. I’m off today and building my Anet A8 Plus. My first printer, so much to learn! However, years and years ago in a past life I was a tech supporting injection and blow molded polymers. I learned then as a lad (British words are better and yeah I’m an American, lol) that properly dried polymers produced the best results! I’m so stoked to be taking up this journey and this is just the kind of thing that will contribute to great success! Can’t thank you enough for sharing. GREAT STUFF!
Perfect!!!
I was looking for a "food dehydrator" but didn't feel like spending $40+ for yet another bulky thing to have to store. This idea of yours uses a storage bin I already have and is considerably less.
Purchasing parts now. Thank you! :)
Fantastic news on manufacturers taking up your master spool idea. You never cease to amaze me Richard, great work and do keep us updated as to which companies have adopted the master spool. As for the heated box for temp sensitive filament again a great idea and extremely cost effective application of everyday products. Brilliant work just Brilliant.
Thank you Dianne, that's lovely to hear. I'll keep a list of companies interested / progressing with MasterSpool and do another update when things move along.
im actually more amazed by the humidity in a bag, great simple idea
Congrats on the reactions by the filament manufacturers for the Master Spool concept. The heated dry box is a great idea as well. Keep the ideas coming....
Thanks, and will do - plenty more in the pipeline :)
I really like the Master Spool concept :-)
Due to your recommendations (and those from CNC Kirchen and Thomas Sanladerer), my filament now lives in a sealed box (generic DIY store brand) that I just dumped a kilogram of plain silica gel beads into. The hygrometer I put in there, constantly displays "Low Level" - I think the one that I had on hand only starts measuring at 10% humidity. My admittedly very crude test consisted of printing a couple of things from a roll of PLA I had just sitting on the shelf unprotected. Loads of issues from underextrusion due to "bubbles" forming in the filament and a few failed prints due to insufficient 1st layer adhesion. The finished prints really did not look very nice.
I then tossed the spool into the drying box overnight and printed the same parts the next day. Same files, same temp settings, printer sat untouched for the entire time. The prints turned out a lot nicer with the dried filament. No stringing, layers were all consistent. Personally, I do not necessarily see myself building a heater in for my filament, but then I do not normally use any highly specialized materials.
this masterspool concept is so cool!! I can't believe I've never seen it before
Thanks for the idea. I put ball bearings on each end of the spool rod to reduce friction as much as possible and just dumped a bunch of orange desiccant beads on the bottom of the case. That's another check on how your humidity is doing. When they turn green, it's time to replace/rejuvenate them. Humid air rises (counter intuitively) so the desiccant really should go at the top, but I couldn't think of a easy way to do it. Obviously a not-yet-existant 3D printed part is called for!
Thank you so much about the update. You lucky one to receive a coil from "Das Filament". I've finished my Masterspool this morning. Now it's waiting to be fed with some filament. I will post a picture of the spool on Twitter. That DryBox system is a very interesting concept.
I don't have one quite yet, but hopefully soon. I will work on a way to secure both the ends of the coil and check how to make sure you can re-fit reusable tie-wraps after install.
3 long slim slots from center to edge (@120 degrees) on the reel should make reinstalling cable ties a breeze. You just need a more sturdy rim on the outer diameter of the reel. Nice concept, love to see it adopted by all manufacturers.
In the USA, there are bins of the brand Sterilite, available at Target and similar stores. One particular set of bins have soft seals around the lid and do a good job of closing the bin, sealing in the desired environment.
I purchased my tote from target. It has a seal and nice clips to close lid down
I just ordered one from Walmart to go pickup. Gasket and everything. I had experience with them before (to keep food away from roaches...).
Your idea of using a "master spool" is brilliant. Looking forward to it gaining traction.
Really nice job. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us 3D printer folk.
Brilliantly done, good sir. I think this will be a near-future project for me!!!
This is one of the better designs I’ve seen. Good job and thank you for sharing 👍😎🇦🇺
This so handy.
I ended up switch to PETG because I was tired of the filament breaking.
LIked-Subscribed-Notified. Very nice project. I'm getting more serious about my 3D printing hobby-wanting better print quality, faster print times, more consistent results. I am upgrading/modding my printers. Thank You for answering many questions on your Blog page.
Very Nice ! I have a system of dry boxes with dessicant but I am just getting into Nylon and love the heater and moisture meter ideas. Thanks
This is great info. Thanks for sharing it. Just put a printer together and am interested in spending more time tuning that up and working out the kinks than putting the effort and time into designing a and thinking out a system to maintain filament. The links for those pieces still show up on EBay. Took a guess with the plastic box but I’s sure it will be close. Thanks also for sharing the files for the printed components. Very helpful! Cheers!
great update and project - I've already priced out this method and it's great! Much better than using an old heatbed with temp control system like I had planned. I've emailed Push Plastic to encourage them into the master spool idea.
Thanks Dean. Let me know how you get on with the build.
Richard, hi! Saw your canal on TH-cam and with pleasure subscribed. You are a good fellow, your videos are very useful to beginners as I. I from Russia, badly know English, however a lot of things are clear. I will be glad to see your next videos.
Very slick dry box. Nicely done.
I store my filament in an 80L storage box (Wham style) with door draft excluder around opening. It contains a "Caravan Dehumidifier", which is basically a silica gel box which has a built-in heater for drying back out when not in use. I have had values as low as 10%rH. It does feature a bowden connector for feeding filament to printers, but that one I don't use anymore (has a piece of tube blocked with hot glue). I now use a seperate box for each printer (currently 3 + a spare for visiting printers (ones I'm repairing for folks)), started out at a 7L ASDA food box (I designed feet, spool holder, sensor holder & etc). And those contain 1 spool and a 100g sachet of silica gel. The single boxes will generally get damper slowly, and when they get to 40%rH I'll dry the silica back out.
Now that is awesome. I especially like the use of the flexible heater. This is got to be one of the best DIY dry box designs I've seen yet.
Good update! Very happy for you! It would be great to implement some indicator of remaining length / weight on the master spool. Only very few manufacturers do, unfortunately.
A fantastic idea.
Improvements: Gel silicate bags mounted so close to the humidity sensor alter the result. It is possible that the humidity in the bag or at the filament is different from what the sensor indicates because the air that reaches the sensor is air near the silicate.
Great job Rich, thanks for sharing
Thank you Steve.
Just a small warning these heating mats do not have any thermal safetys or sensors.
If you do this i think it would be better to wire in a thermal fuse for safety sake just make sure you get a good value and place it in the box preferably on or near the heater so it cuts out if it does somehow heat too much.
Excellent video Rich, awesome
That is a very good idea and very well executed! Congratulations :)
Thank you for sharing this Sir 🙇
Awesome work, Richard! Glad I found this video. My printers are all in the garage and we have considerable levels of humidity here. I'm going to try it out (as well as Masterspool project). Can you provide a link and measurements of that plastic box? I can't seem to find one in a square shape (all rectangular)
Thanks!
Great video! a question, if I may. I was thinking of adding small 12v fans to extract air - so it would warm and then the fan would extract the "humid" air from the box. Would you advise against that?
I got this weather station in my living room with wireless sensors, shows 3 external sensor readings on screen. One was unused, so just stuffed that in my drybox which is in a storage room :) Reads temp and humidity.
Genius ideas!!
I was really enthusiastic about master spools when I heard about it but It works out more expensive than the filament I usually use
You're fantastic.. This was I'm looking for an Adjstable heater ... for Pets !! AWESOME Idea.
Great Idea.
I were looking for a dyi that is a clean look and do what it says.
I even took a roll of PLA to the oven for remove the moisture until the filament be soft, like 5m.
Note: the roll were on a Pyrex Glass.
And work for a couple days it was great but the moisture get in again.
I live near the sea and the weather moisture is 70% to 90%, not counting the days that rains.
Good video do yourself and for 20$ is a good price and I was looking for bags for the filament thanks for the tip.
Stay true to yourself.
Thank you, I'm glad this was helpful. Let me know if you make one.
Great video. I was wondering if anyone has tried using those vacuum sealed storage bags together with desiccant. Pumping the air out might be helpful as well.
Hi,
I was wondering if you could advise the minimum dimensions of the plastic container so I can get something similar.
I tried at the local store but all the small 10-15l ones are very shallow.
Thanks for your awesome idea.
This is amazing stuf. I plan on putting it on top of my diy enclosure (from PRUSA) where the filaments go. I was thinking of adding another LACK table on top of it, enclose the sides with acrylic, then put 1 or 2 of these heating mats on the sides. Would 2 14w mats be too much? Currently there are 2 filaments on it but I want to put all my filaments there.
I am building something similar with a heat and dessicant element, however I plan on getting the temperature a little closer (not much) to the glass transition level to dehydrate it better.
The thing I'm worried about is it being too warm for the descicant to absorb anything or it releasing any moisture it has gained right back into the filament.
Great video. Do you have a link to the round thermometer humidity measuring thing? And how accurate are they?
Master Spool, Great Idea!!! but here is a Couple thoughts ... Companies might have different center diameters of there coils, Maybe have interchangeable center circles or Have multiple arms that slide in and out in center to adjust to different Diameters. Also maybe a slot on side to hold Paper to show brand, ABS, temps or what ever info
Great idea
Way to go Frodo! I subbed THANKS
Hey Richard, how about including an auto rewind in the master spool ? Great idea to reduce waste btw :)
For safety you could use a thermal fuse at what ever temp you not want it to go over for. It will blow if it gets too hot.
Nice one 👍
Hey, eSun has done it! I use their filament. It's great.
So, what if the little tube the filament comes wrapped around had connectors so you could snap the outer plates on? That would still save packaging, plus the master spool would just be identical outer plates that clip onto the tube the filament is wrapped around.
How about that being made an industry-wide standard?
Very nice, thank you friend . . .
wow Amazing! thanks
Richard that is Fantastic news! please link or make a video of the manufactures that will be processing un-spooled filaments, Hopefully the north American manufactures will fallow ! Bravo its a great step forward ! I see a you as father trying to leave his daughter a cleaner less polluted planet ! Which was the original idea of Adrian Bowyer, father of the reprap's, goal of less manufacturing waste by products.
Thank you. That's a good idea, may help encourage others and show what progress is being made - I'll also list problems and any issues etc.
can anyone tell me the total height of the build with the spool on it ? so i can find a proper box for the whole thing ?
Great video Richard, do you have the exact dimensions of the dry box? I am trying to find it on amazon/ebay
Awesome video thanks allot
Late to the party, but that’s a really cool dry box design 👍
Masterspool is great idea! But they are needed to made out of polycarbonate to withstand drying heat. Like abs or pc 60 to 70 C pla would deform on those temperatures
Hey Rich, have you found that you need to recharge the desiccant inside your dry boxes? Wondering how effective the heating element really is.
engeneer at work.. everything is cool as usual..!
i was thinking of using a humitity and temp combo controller (27eur) and an old ender3 pro power supply and heated bed to heat up the dryer box tho im making my dryer box from aluminium i have laying around
A better name would be a RichRap Spool :)
Very cool!
Do you know how warm/hot it gets with a reptile heater? Should I get a thermostat to avoid it getting too hot or is this not an issue with this type of heating?
I wonder if you could use your heated build plate to make a filament dryer?
A simple plastic box with a usb fan, et viola!
Some large radius fillets should make the spool way stronger. Probably room to make it of less material too.
how hot does this thing get?
I ordered from Aliepxress
2x 12v, 20W silicon heating mats for - 2.5$ each.
1x PSU 10A 12V - 11$
1x1x Incubator relay with thermo sensor and control - 9$
Yeah, more expensive than the 6$ reptile warmer but I can expand it to several boxes by paralel connecting the pads to the psu.
However its yet to be yester. but I have a feeling 40W might be too much for my PP container. I hope it doesnt melt or give in.
Was hoping to set temp to 50°C for the nylon spool, so i dont have to bake it on the oven over night.
First, this is an awesome design. I got one setup and I'm designing some additional brackets for a tangle and/or runout sensor to interface with your dry box.
Richard, What is your typical temp and humidity that you see you in your dry box? I'm getting about 29C and 37% humidity. My zip-loc bags are 21C and 62% humidity.
i know this is quite old, but im thinking of taking this a bit further, there are loads of old kitchen cabinets in my attic where i live and i might just convert 2 of them for filament hotboxes
Great idea.
What would be a good % of moisture to look for on the hygrometer?
I'd be reluctant to sign up for your course when you you do not take the time to answer questions here.
The % shown on the hygrometer is relative to temperature, so it's not the most ideal indication as we are also using a heater inside the enclosure. You will actually see the percentage rise up after switching on the heater, this is quite normal and to be expected.
What you are looking for is stability of the system - so for me that's around a display of 30 degrees C and a percentage of also around 30%
If you use the same sensor in a sealed bag with silica gel, and the temperature drops, and the silica gel takes moisture out of the internal atmosphere, you will see readings of room temperature and percentages of around 10% to 25% if you just leave the same sensor out on the shelf, you will see much higher readings depending on where you live and the ambient conditions.
Short answer is that the heated drybox is to keep things warm, dry and stable. so a reading of 30 degrees and 30% is really good, and it's all working well. An even lower percentage is even better, but it's more important to keep things consistent, this way every time you use the material you should get the same quality print results.
I hope that helps, and sorry for the delay, I have been away.
Thank you for the reply.
@@RichRap3D I am new to all this and really appreciate your willingness to share such knowledge... From what I understand then -- over time the silica or whatever moisture-absorbing materials being used - may need to be replaced? Would seem -- may take years -- ;)
@Russell White This seems a strange comment. You answed my question 3 years ago and i thanked you for your answer.
Do you have specifics on the tubing and fittings used?
Would you please post the inside dimensions of the storage box used for this project?
Do you or can you point me to a link on amazon for the bin? Because theirs many out there in many different sizes....
I’m no drum banging environmentalist but I see the value of your idea. Print or buy a few master spools and filament manufacturers can sell their filament for less without a spool, plus it would save a lot of trash plastic.
can this take place of a food dehydrator?
cheers
genius!
In USA we could get boxes very similar at WalMart. Sterlite is the manufacturer's name.
So what should the readout on those humidity devices actually read for the filament to be good?
10w filament bulb should also work for heater right if you can still get those kind.
One question heater inside will dry but where will moisture or water vapour will go they will just stick to container ,so there should be intake exhaust fan with heater exhaust will push out moisture
Plastics absorb noticeable amounts of moisture in as little as 2 hours after being removed from a industrial dehumidifier dryer.
Im curious how your drybox can achive 18% humidity. my 40W homemade drybox can reach 45°C but only get humidity to around 35% (normally 50%).
What is the maximum temperature in the box with the 7W heater? I'm concerned that it would not work for anything but PLA.
What is the ideal humidity of a filament before storing or printing, like pla and petg? 🤔
Congratulations on the success of #Masterspool. Now, I understand the reason for wanting a low humidity environment for your filament but what is the reason for it being heated? The concerns I have with the design of the box is that the heating element is only heating one side of the spool at any given time so wouldn't that create some warping as it expands and contracts possibly bring the filament out of tolerance? Then too the filament is feeding off the top so aren't you losing any advantage to preheating your spools as its cooling while moving away from heat source? And since it's feeding through those long tubes wouldn't the filament essentially be room temperature by the time it reaches the print head? If you wanted an all over ambient temperature I would think moving the heating element to a more open spot and using a small fan to distribute the air would be more effective like a convection oven. This would also help the silica do its job and you would avoid any humidity condensing on cooler surfaces like the lid. But if you just wanted warm filament to feed into your printer winding it from the bottom might be better as its at its warmest in that position.
Hi Fern. The heater gently heats the air inside the box, that translates to the entire spool and everything else inside the box including the silica gel etc. It's only a small, gentle heater, just keeping the inside around 32 degrees C - this really just helps drive out the moisture from everything inside. when in use the coil is turning, but it's all around the same temperature, and I have not seen any negative issues for the materials. Only improved print quality and less brittle materials. Hope that helps.
Can i use clothe heat pad?
Master spool is a fantastic idea. There is so much waste inherent in our hobby!
Hello. Do you keep the heater on 24/7?
Could I just put my sunlu in a airtight box if I already got one?
Does a vacuum bag affect the hygrometer>
Hello Richard, nice dry box but does the heating reduce the amount of water in the box or just the relative humidity? If you look at a point on a psychrometric chart, for example, 25C and 50% relative humidity. Heating this air to 45C will move the point to below 20% relative humidity but the amount of water does not change. When I build mine, I will do a test to see if the heat actually removes water. Best regards
Results?
@@nategoodwin3329Since I am building a dry box for my new Ender 5 Plus, I was able to take some measurements: at room temp 22C I had 47% relative humidity, the absolute humidity was 9.1 g/m3 . I heated up the box with a thermal pad up to 43C, the relative humidity went down to 15% but the absolute humidity was 8.9 g/m3, practically the same (at 43.5C it would be the same). I have tested freezing the water in the air with a Peltier module and I can get 19% relative humidity at 22C or 3.7g/m3. That is 2.5 times less water vapor. Keep in mind that inexpensive temperature and humidity sensor are only 3 to 5% accurate. I use a bin with a soft seal from Walmart. Best regards
Hello, do you have the ebay link to the shop for the plastic box, ther are many similar ones that are brittle. 😕
Can we get links to all the stuff u used like the heating pad and the thermostat/Hygrometer thing?
I want to know what the name of the coupler things he used.
Here i foud it in Aliexpress: www.aliexpress.com/item/32664302015.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.433713e3ZjMzle&algo_pvid=0f187d1e-3c71-40d8-9885-5b8d4a556735&algo_expid=0f187d1e-3c71-40d8-9885-5b8d4a556735-10&btsid=08b42328-13f4-4339-9bf4-740af3ab7ca6&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4,searchweb201603_52
what is the ideal humidity for PLA spools?
Hi @Richard - any thoughts on using a cheap(ish) domestic kitchen vacuum sealer to store fussy filament?
I have started to look into it - I like the zip-lock bags as they are reusable - but for some materials that I only intend to use occasionally then vacuum sealing may be a good idea - just make sure the bags are not nylon based!
I'm wondering if the vac bags could be reused multiple times - if you sealed it with a fair bit extra, then you may be able to seal it again and again, the bag getting smaller each time.
Good point - that's worth some further investigation
I am building my own dry-box from two refrigerator vegtable draws , using oven lamps and a fan as heating and a digital temperature control as wel as serveral printed parts, total price will stay under 16 euro's.
It wil hold 2 rolls of 1 kilo.
On the subject of RichRapSpool ( to be confirmed by Richard ) the most obvious concerns would be the possibility of deformation of the filament by the " holders " of all kinds during the mass production, packaging, shipping etc. IMHO, I highly recommend the use of wide, softer than filament strips of material to hold the filament in place.
I agree, it needs a secure, but not damaging tie. Nylon zip ties seem to work well, but I also like seeing reusable ties so we get less waste. It really only needs a simple but strong tie because when an outer bag is vacuum sealed that holds the coil perfectly well during shipping.
@@RichRap3D FYI, I have seen a few 3D-Printing suppliers adopting the idea. Although I have not experimented with their " Spool-less " filaments, Here is my local source:
filaments.ca/products/econofil-1kg-refill-coil-abs-filament-grey-1-75mm?variant=7739153383477&
Will this really drive down the price of filament?
Richard,
What were the size dimensions of your box? I can't seemingly find one that looks similar to the one you chose but the contents seems to fit well, so I'd like to try and match as best as possible.
He hasn’t uploaded in 2 years, so I doubt that you will get an answer from him.
Most people use IKEA Samla boxes, especially the 22 Liter and 45 Liter Version, since they fit the spools nicely, are rather cheap and can easily be modified.
Also using loose silica gel instead of the small sachets works very well, since the loose gel is just as effective, much cheaper and it changes colour when it gets saturated, so you know when to bake the gel to get it dry and functional again.
And most people stopped using heaters, since the loose gel works well enough to keep the filament completely dry.
There is a good video by Thomas Sanladerer on the whole topic:
th-cam.com/video/OY5n9q-wS7k/w-d-xo.html
What is the maximum temperature you can get? Nylon filament needs at least 65 degrees Celsius to get dry. Maybe ordering a silicone heater like the one used for our heatbeds would be better?
Around 30 Degrees C inside - But this is not a dryer - it's not for drying - it's a dry-box with a stable internal ambient temperature around 30 Degrees C and a controlled humidity - the point being external temperature changes and humidity changes do not affect the filament inside the dry-box - I'm trying to get as much stability and repeat-ability as possible - you will still have to dry out Nylon - but then put it inside the heated dry-box or store it in a sealed bag to get the maximum working life before needing to dry it out again.
Can I install the same temp/humid sensor thru the case/tote the heater assenbly is installed in???
PS I have a water tight tote from target