Dry Box Storage System for 3D Printer Filament, Updated for 2024 and Better than Ever!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- I'm always on the lookout for good ideas when it comes to storing spools of filament and keeping them dry, and I've finally landed on a solution that is perfect for me.
This system is heavily inspired by a design from Stephen Wardlaw. His original design and TH-cam video are linked down below. I've combined Stephen's design ideas with my own past iterations on filament dry box solutions to come up with the system that I show in this video. All the files needed to print the parts required to assemble one of these dry boxes can be downloaded here:
www.printables...
Below are Amazon links to the storage containers and other hardware bits that I used for assembly.
Storage containers: amzn.to/4f6PgdU
Bearings: amzn.to/4ffYrJe (more resistance) or amzn.to/3Xeod9y (less resistance)
Hygrometers: amzn.to/46iyXXw
Bowden couplers: amzn.to/3A3yBI3
M3x8 screws and nuts: amzn.to/46iuUdV
Desiccant: amzn.to/3YgGhkA
If you try out this dry box design and have suggestions or feedback, please reach out either here in a comment or on the post at Printables. My plan is to continue iterating and improving this design, and also to create an ecosystem of useful accessories to make using these dry boxes easier and more enjoyable.
Thanks again to Stephen for the original design inspiration. Here is his version of the dry boxes:
www.printables...
• Filament dry boxes for...
A few of you have noted that the 608 bearings I used have quite a lot of friction. I prefer this style, but if you're after something that rolls more easily I've linked to a second option in the video description.
And while I'm here, huge thanks to everyone who built these boxes and has sent me feedback and suggestions on the design. I really do appreciate it!
The friction is most likely just thick grease. For this application you can clean out the grease with something like brake cleaner, and put in some lighter grease, or even some spray lubricant. With these speeds the bearings will never wear out, not even when used dry. The lubricant mainly acts like a rust preventer, even though that's not that important in a 10% RH environment either.
@@timderks5960 > The friction is most likely just thick grease
And/or seal drag
Here's what I did to address the packed grease bearings:
1. Popped off the bearing shields
2. Cleaned out the existing grease with brake cleaner (not really needed because the next step should take care of cleaning it out a little)
3. Soaked the bearings with WD40
4. Printed hard plastic (ABS/ASA/PLA etc) instead of TPU rollers. I found that using TPU rollers added slightly more drag and friction using cardboard spools. Using hard plastic roller let the cardboard slide a little, thus causing less binding and friction
EDIT: I solved it.. the poor rolling is caused by the little tabs from the end caps where the bearings sit, its forcing the bearings to sit a tiny bit off angle. I cut them off and yours rolls much better to the point this rabbit hole would have never existed and mine rolls for 5 seconds or so after a good hard roll
I really like your design thanks for the hard work.
I ended up making a remix to fix the poor rolling performance(which you must have as well due to feeling the need for TPU on ends) the real issue isn't the bearings at all its how they are so rigidly mounted, if the axle or filament rolling caps are not perfectly straight and square (maybe a bit of elephants foot) then the bearings bind against each other. the fix is very simple, just give a .2mm clearance around the bearing so it can self align a bit it is still tight and snaps into place.. it just allows for some wiggle when faced with 1kg of rolling mass.
My remix rolls like a fidget toy, the best I could get yours was to roll like the bearing had thick grease. When I initially put your design together it bound so bad it was like it had a lobe and locked up at a certain spot requiring a decent amount of force to rotate past the "lobe".
My remix also addresses adding more surface area on the transition to the bearing holder where supports are needed on the base so tree supports can be used without having it want to separate at that transition.
@@Dreded-mr8ls Thanks for working on a solution for this! My big Voron is sadly non-functional at the moment, but I'm planning to print and test your updated base part as soon as I'm able to.
My shrine to the gods of 3D printing is complete, thanks to Mark. May they be pleased, and keep my filament dry, and the spaghetti in the pantry. I ended up with some mods that really help with fast changes on my enclosed printer, and dealing with the cardboard spools.
Enlarged the throat on the feed funnel (rocket). This gives a wider angle to accommodate the change from full to empty spools.
Along with that, I mount the QD/rocket another 20mm or so lower, maybe 25. Again accomodating low rolls.
I put a return QD near the bottom, and have a dedicated PTFE tube on each container. When done, I cut off most of the excess (1 meter) and stick the tube into that. I used PC4-M6 for the return. There's a set of connectors and tubes sold under the brand "Siquk" that is perfect for this. The PC4-M6 thread VERY well into a 7/32 hole.
I printed covers for the cardboard spool edges that really help them roll evenly and reliably. I used the ones from Elegoo, and fond that I needed to size them down about 1% for most spools but not all. I printed a variety.
Drill sizes: The top (hygrometer holder) is 1/8 and I needed to re-drill the holders themselves to make the screw fit easily. The QD into the rocket can be done either with a 3/8 or 23/64. The 3/8 is a tight thread-in fit and you have to make sure you get all the parts fitted just right, but it gives you a great seal. The 23/64 barely threads, barely tight, easier fit.
imgur.com/gallery/shrine-to-gods-of-3d-printing-61WZT1F
PLEASE DO continue developing this ecosystem idea you have. I have already started the process of building a set of these for myself as I watched this video. I think this is an excellent idea that answers a lot of the shortcomings that other attempts at filament storage have.
Totally agree with this! i follow👌👌
I use a center core desecant holder that just screws into the hole in the center of the filament spool. That way, if you build your active heater, you could just pop off the lid opening and put it on the heater, then pop the lid back on when it's done.
I had bought just the bins with the plan of making dry boxes out of them, and I'm glad I came across this video before spending time on a different, less effective design.
One small (seemingly easy) addition that might be handy, if say you have a printer with a long bowden tube where a decent amount of filament will be pulled out from the container - when switching filaments, if you want to avoid a lot of loose unspooled filament being pushed back into the container, I wonder if you could incorporate a round magnet into the outer end of one of the TPU rollers and then have a second external round magnet as the 'hub' of a small crank or knob (or even just the magnet itself) - then if the magnets are strong enough, as you're feeding the filament back in the magnet would allow you to 'reel' the spool externally (in theory), and take up the slack.
I figured magnets would be decent choice, as then you would only need one crank/knob for all of your containers and no extra holes would be needed. An issue might be clearance between magnet on the roller and the inside wall of the container. Just an off the top of my head idea.
Thank you for giving the bits in freedom units. :)
You should update the links with this video with the ones you have on printables. This is an awesome system.
I'm new to 3d printing and really appreciate you sharing the models for this. I was looking at so many different solutions for storage, but these really spoke to me! They went together well, and I can't argue with the results. After 24 hours the empty ones I prepared went from 55%+ humidity down to sub 20.
Nice video, the only thing I can add is that a magnet glued to the side of the spool so you can rewind the spool with another magnet outside the container 😊
I'm planning on trying that this weekend, I've made about 10 of these dry boxes and they are great but rewinding is the only issue I've had. Have you tried the magnet method?
Someone did a remix on Printables with a magnet crank
Was just thinking the exact same thing
Stumbled across this excellent 'how-to' DIY build and made it my first project on my new Qidi plus4 (after the ubiquitous initial PLA benchy of course!). All in all it has gone 100% according to plan. Parts printed perfectly - once I figured out the correct orientation for strength - and I am now the happy owner of 6 of these excellent & cost effective dry-boxes. Thank you Mark from a UK fan. Well done!
I made this pretty much as offered. I thought it was wonderful and worked pretty well.
Some feedback:
-- I used 608 ZZ bearings instead of 608 2SR for less rolling friction. For even less friction you can even use unshielded bearings as this is in an enclosed clean space.
-- Be very careful drilling the top hole. I was careful but some still cracked. I think it is from stresses in the plastic at the fill port.
-- I modified the coupler cap to be easier to remove. Where the "handle" meets the thin tube I changed it to have a shoulder for added space then a cone section for even more space. You can easily remove the cap with one hand.
-- Maybe it's my printer (Bambu A-1 Mini) but I had clearance issues with the roller shafts. I had to sand them all. But other than that the fit and function were perfect. ( I made the rollers from PLA as I don't have any TPU.)
--DO NOT buy the silica gel that is clear then only has a small amount of color-changing indicator beads. It is very hard to see them through the basket. I might try printing in white, but just buy the ones he listed.
-- I was really surprised at how effective the silica beads are! They take an empty box from 60% humidity to 12% in an hour!
-- Has anyone with an A-! Mini made one of these? Have you experimented with having the filament come out at the bottom? Or by moving the Bowden tube directly from the printer to the dry box? I don't know the best orientation to use this in!
Thank you for the great design and for making it affordable. Good work!
I haven't printed this yet but will be soon. Would you be willing to share the couple cap STL you designed?
I would also like to have the redesigned cap if you are willing to share it please and thank you.
I will have the filament coming out of the top for my P1P…. But that’s quite an obvious change.
@@GHOSTYAIRO I tried posting a link but it got removed. It is on the same site as the original dry box, model 995277.
@@iceisrawr I tried posting a link but it got removed. It is on the same site as the original dry box, model 995277.
You mentioned metric vs Freedom units. I think I can muddy the waters for you a little more than that. Those bowden tube entry gromets are sold as M10 but the thread on them is actually a G1/8 BSPP - as are a lot of threads that are on parts that were originally pneumatic parts. This is only really useful if you want to either tap the hole or model the thread in the 'rocket' part. The correct tap drill size you might actually have as it's 11/32 (about 8.8mm).
I've just finished printing parts for a system the 'right' way round....but now I'm wondering if a 50-50 mix of the two would let me fit them closer together and get more on a shelf.
Getting ready to build this filadryer! Thnx for al those effort. Waiting for the 2025 Generation with heating option. Maybe we don't need it, but what you said. Its a fun DIY project to do! I Totally agree
Thank you for sharing your ideas. I have 60 of those boxes and will definitively give it a try. One at a time :)
One thing to ease the drilling is to use a step drill. They are cheap and do an excellent job on plastic.
P.S. There is no blank tag on printables.
Good suggestion. If I'm going to make a lot more of these, a step drill bit would be worth looking into.
Great minds think alike... Just bought an X1-Carbon and started thinking about storage solutions. I immediately thought about the same container since I also use one for my zip ties for the drift car. Love the innovation using those, I'll be modifying mine asap. Brilliant. Thank you.
Your approach and design is outstanding. It addresses most all of the concerns and so forth. When it comes to active drying if needed what about cutting an opening out of the other end of the base. In that way one would not need to remove the hydrometer while actively drying. And we could design a TPU plug for the hole when not actively drying.
Just a thought. But really you have a great design here, thank you for all the effort you put into this video. Including all the links, it is appreciated.
That approach could work as well. I'm still not sure whether an active drying solution is going to be something I need. I tend to print enough (and with only a few colors) that I use up spools within a few months after opening them, so I'm thinking that the current system will keep everything dry enough for my use case.
Just place it on the heated build plate and add a fan....
@@sierraecho884 Good idea I hadn't thought of that. Thank you.
@@glennfelpel9785 You are welcome =)
This is a super elegant solution - nicely done!!
Printed 12x Dry Boxes!! Thank you so much for your contribution to this project. Love the upside down orientation. If you progress the agenda to install a heater/fan that fits in the desiccant port… for an active heating/drying system let me know!!
I was thinking the same exact thing about the PolyMaker dryer system.... I'll still probably get a couple to keep my AMS dry and a couple to keep the spare spools dry and ready. I even keep my PLA dry; it really helps with finish quality especially at speed.
I liked your video. As for a heater dryer, I think you could probably just set the unit fully loaded with filament and dessicant in the sun for a little while. It will heat up and the dessicant will absorb the moisture.
I like your style, direct to the point without useless introduction. I also love the way you talk I don't know if you use a script but you sound very natural. Good video, a little long tbw. I would love the same instructions in PDF with photos instead of a video, I think its better to follow a good instruction manual and have a video backup for the difficult steps. Anyway good job!
Just did the print with the recommened items and it worked great. Printing out all my ABS tags now. Thank you, way cheaper than buying the units.
I spent a few hours last night designing and redesigning a simple vibration absorbing foot pad for my new 3D printer. As a goofy engineer who loves spending hours optimizing stuff like this while the grass is uncut and dirty dishes accumulate, I approve of this project! 😀
I print a lot of TPU and it's very hygroscopic. I don't feed it from a reverse Bowden tube to avoid added drag. I feed it from a bearing hub roller mounted above the printer, straight down into the top of a direct drive extruder. I've been thinking about wall mounted boxes that have inherently safe PTC heaters with a small circulating fan and vent to dry the filament while it's stored and while it's printing. The filament would feed out the bottom and down to the printer. Two drying roller boxes would allow one roll to be pre-drying while I'm using the other. Not using desiccant and using an analog dial thermometer and hygrometer makes that a low maintenance solution.
I've also been contemplating a heated column below the filament and above the 3D printer to quickly dry the filament just as it's entering the 3D printer. It would use less power to only heat dry the filament as it's printing, and I could probably get away with not drying the filament while it's stored which would save a lot of hassle. Bonus points for turning on the drying column only when filament is feeding through it.
I have printed tpu from the creality hot filament drier. Despite the fact that the feed is from the top of the box and it has to pull down, it seemed to work fine.
Really cool idea. I have just started printing the needed parts for my first box. I have a Bambu Lab A1 with AMS Lite and my idea is to have a dry box for each of the rolls of filament to make easier switch of filament, feeding the AMS Lite from the boxes.
I like your idea about an active dryer system. I guess food dehumidifier with a printed "lid" with a "coupling" that fit opening in the box could du the job, but it will need an exit hole for hot air as well 🙂
Keep up the good work and keep the videos coming 🙂
Thanks.
Hello friend, I found that if you will print this on Bambu Lab A1 unit, both bottom parts fit at once on print bed, you can use the Bambu Lab Studio (previous to print) overlap them a little bit, merge them and print at once as a single piece, it saves time and filament on printing.
I print few of those (thanks), but still working on a different support for the base two overpasses instead of the support block. For some reason when printing with PET-G those blocks are almost impossible to remove.
Other, I installed the bowden coupler on the top, 1/4 from one edge, so the filament gets out vertically, and I shorten the hygrometer holder arm just to hold the indicator, eliminating the long bottom curved (I don't feel any difference). The box(es) stay aside the printer, it is better way to exit vertical.
I also made a tube like a medicine bottle with cap (full of narrow slits), a bit of smaller diameter, 50% full of silica gel, insert into the spool hole, it turns slow along with the spool and move the silica. With that it reaches 14% moisture. Have few of those tubes ready, bake them whenever empty the 1kg spool. Always fresh silica gel.
Did you ever get a better base support? I just got an A1 and was looking to make some of these. Have you tested with Bambu spools? I think someone commented that they didnt fit in this design.
I had the same issue.. printed with PETG and the supports are completely fused.. also - for some reason they printed with a very high infill, which is (1) definitely contributing to their inability to be removed and (2) a waste of material. These should be applied with a very low infill since they are purely meant to be used as support and discarded post-print.
Sometimes setting "Top-Z Distance" higher can help create supports that break free more easily. Personally I set to 0.275.
This is a awesome way to store and use filament. The Bambu AMS doesn't like to load mixed types, with this I can load the AMS with PLA and use this system to store and feed into the external port, while leaving the AMS untouched. Just a side note the ROG font works in Bambu studio. 😉 I'll leave feedback when I have my first one together. A second filament guide STL for the round humidity meter would be great. :)
I printed the rollers in TPU. That way, the spool has more grip than on hard plastic. I printed the filament stop also in tpu. A bit of flex gives better fit (I think).
I just did my first box, working great, only issue I have with my Bambu A1 is need to build something to put the box while is printing…
But thanks love it…
Love this! Thank you so much... I'm a newbie to 3D Printing and this is exactly what I was looking for. Nice and easy project, fun to make!
I ordered all the parts and am currently printing 6 of these sets. Eventually will do all 18 that I ordered and will help keep some dry. Testing soon.
Great video Mark, thanks for sharing your project and information!
In reference to your workspace, if you have AC in the room and the humidity is too high, there are solutions to help lower it if this space is actually a seperate room in your garage. A decent exterior door that is made to be waterproof with seals, instead of using an interior door, would help quite a bit. Again this assumes this is a seperate room within your garage. Next are the wall, ceiling, and floor. They make moisture barrier concrete sealer if you have a concrete floor. If you have carpet over the floor, it makes sense to remove the carpet, seal the floor, then reinstall the carpet. They also make moisture barrier paint that can be applied to both the walls and ceiling, which should also help the intrusion of water vapor into your workspace. Once you have sealed the room from water vapor from external sources, your air conditioner should easily reduce the moisture in that space to below 40, or even 30%, possibly more, depending on how well the room is treated. Any hear generated in the room will cause the AC to run even more, further reduce its moisture content.
Thanks for all the suggestions. One of the four "walls" of the studio is actually the garage door, so unfortunately there's only so much I can do to keep the humidity away.
Just ordered the parts for making 6 of the dry boxes. Thanks for sharing the idea.
Fantastic! A much sturdier option than the roller system for these boxes I’ve been using. Thank you for the great redo! I have a Polydryer and hate it. The storage box they use was a good, although poorly set up, idea. These cereal boxes have worked very well for me and this build makes them even better!
I've been thinking about buying one. The boxes are too pricey though at €30+ each. You don't like the dryer?
@@Yggdrasil42 I don’t. It’s very very noisy. The main switch is on the back, and the base is extremely light. The lid to the box is a bit difficult to open and close, you really have to put some serious force behind the latches.
I've got seven of them made and in use so far, love them, except for one issue. When a cardboard roll got to about 75% used (25% remaining), the roll got pulled off the rollers and stuck so the print failed. This happened three times. I wanted to be sure it was not just a fluke, and happened in two different boxes. This didn't happen with a plastic roll.
Two thoughts:
The cardboard's friction over plastic is probably involved somehow. Its edges are likely able to climb the roller sides if pushed that way. It might be good to make the roller sides (lip) larger. Or perhaps make them slightly conical to use gravity in our favor.
I think that the coupler nut (rocket!) needs to have a much wider throat, and/or be lower on the box. I noticed that once the roll is low, the angle to the rocket is steep and the filament catches on the edge, with a LOT of friction. Surprising amount of friction really. I'm going to print this to see if it helps, it's just a crude 50% scaling of the throat. I have zero CAD skills but I can wield a slicer like a caveman with a new club.
imgur.com/a/KK4ElMr
Thanks for the feedback! I. Actually in the process of completely redesigning this system, and one important aspect of the new design is moving the filament outlet down to the bottom of the container so that nearly empty spools get pulled downward toward the rollers. I hadn't thought about widening the inlet to the coupler but, but I will do some testing with the new design and see if that's needed.
I expect to have the new design ready for release within the next month or so. Don't worry - there is an upgrade path for the containers you've already made.
@@gunplamark Do you have a timeline on this? Just curious. This is my first real project and I've printed out 24 of your parts sets, but have only built 6 so far. I'm going to hold off on actually drilling and building the other 18 until I see your next version. My plastic reeled rolls have only bound up once on me but the cardboard has been a problem. Glad a fix is in the works. Thanks in any event. Oh, and if you want someone to build and test and provide feedback, I am more than glad to.
I had the same problem with my only cardboard roll. The rest of mine are plastic and have worked fine. I might have to try your drawing though too. Thanks!
@@gunplamark Can't wait for new design, thank you for letting us know. Let the creativity and efficiencies roll!!!
I really love this, and will probably be using it for building a DIY MMU (tradrack). I like the drop-in desiccant, versus the glue-in one the other guy did, but the innovation of doing the lid on bottom, was a really cool thing the other guy did, and I like what you've done to improve it. Good work
Thanks! And I agree... the idea to flip the container upside down was the thing that unlocked a lot of new possibilities for me, and is the key thing that makes this all work so well.
I would definitely be interested in a drying system to work with these. I just started assembling my dry boxes. Thanks so much for your design!!
I too started out with roller bearings, however it is best to have a little bit of friction otherwise the roll might unwind in a bad way. Just use some PTFE tubing for the contact surface instead.
i wish id have seen this video a month ago before i started prototyping my own version of this... i ended up drilling out two middle hole for a bearing roller and attatching a fan and 5ohm resistor for a bit of mild heating. powered by microusb. all attached to the lid. doing it all upside down is great but you have to remove the filament from the tube if you want to uncap it.
had to make like 6 different sized rollers for different hole sizes. cheaped out and just poured dessicant beads into the bottom.
now I'm going to prototype a version that uses 2 nested containers for insulation and i can put the electronics in the gap.
I use this setup on my PPS-CF and PET type of filaments, works great thanks...
Make the pilot holes in the cereal container with an awl warmed up using a propane torch or a gas stove. Chase it through with the right size drill.
We have a similar setup. I was considering doing the active cooling trick by using a special "lid" for the Eibos EasDry (I have the same model) which has the connection ports (for two containers, with the Eibos getting feet on the backside and being positioned lid up) -- I'm working on an ESP32 upgrade for that to add active temp/humidity logic to it first, I just need to finish the prototype.
Given that humid air is less dense than dryer air, I would store these such that the silica gel is up top. I would install the hygrometer upside down then. I wonder if that would actually make a perceivable change. Anyone who built it try to store it upside down and let us know!
I might also design a different capped filament outlet so I don't need to buy PTFE tubes or their fittings. Over all this looks super elegant and I can't wait for the parts to arrive so I can build it. Thanks for the great video!
Air in a closed system of this size is not going to have any measurable variation in humidity from top to bottom of the chamber.
Well i have started and built my first 2. everything is going together well. I hope you do build racks for these and if you do please include something for he hexagon peg boards please. And please do build the dryer bottom you were talking about.
Again. Thanks for the build
Very Nice and I am building 6 of them in the next few days.
this is a pretty cool project. one thing that i might mention though is that, in your old design you had the desiccant in the top. there's one reason in particular that this was the better design. specifically because humid air is less dense than dry air, and because of that, it rises. in the new design you are in essence drying the dry air with the desiccant in the bottom, while the filament 'soaks' in the upside down 'bucket' full of humid air....
What I've found in practice is that since the new design allows me to open the container exactly once to load a new spool of filament and then never open it again for the lifetime of that spool, the location of the desiccant is less important. At least for my use case, there is enough desiccant in the bin to dry out the interior of the container and keep it dry until I've used up the spool and it's time to load a new one.
Great job! Making an adapter for it to sit on the polymaker dryer would be a solid win.
I am torn, I wanted to go with the polydryer completely. I just hate the missing temperature input, limited to only three "strengths/modes".
Maybe this selfmade system could be it, with a different dryer.
Tho all the parts, here in Switzerland, probably cost more than a polybox. 😅
@@eye9have5you35 I have both and I am trying to see when I might have time to look into making an adapter to sit them on the polymaker dryer. This is a lot less expensive for me.
@@eye9have5you35 just got mines today to try out and so far not impressed. Been drying the petg for 6 hrs and can’t get under 32% humidity
Great design, Boxes ordered… one tiny change I will, use a bit of blocked off Bowden tube to seal the filament hole, printed stop is too likely to get knocked/sheared off.
Great design. I’m finally getting my moisture sensitive filaments out of dry bags and easier to use. I’ll second what someone else said about the bearings. The first 6 dry boxes I used the 2rs bearings and had to pop the dust covers off and degrease them. A small dab of graphite and they are silky smooth. I was getting way too much drag before.
You are a gentleman and a scholar! This is so great, I've been eyeing the PolyBox system but they are hard to get where I live. Would LOVE to see the active attachment version. My only concerns with this design are with the slack potentially tangling, and with the cap not being air tight. I see that you have worked to address both of these issues, just my impression from the video.
Ha! I'm neither a gentleman nor a scholar... just a guy who likes to make things. But thanks for the kind words, and for the feedback.
You could probably change the description to say that this video exists on your older one. Great solution, I will definitely be seeing if I can source some containers.
Not sure why I didn't think to do that, so thanks for the good idea.
If you do in the future decide to modify these to do the active drying, remember that airflow and having some place for the moisture to escape is much more important for effective drying than the heat is. So to have success on that project, ensure you have both a way to ensure good air circulation in the container and a way for the moist air to escape. Both of these could probably be aided by building a vent into the top of the container with some kind of method to seal it when it is not actively drying.
The inlet and vent could be done through the same hole if the inlet air flow is directed well enough via a baffle or two.
Yeah, this was my initial thought as well... create a circulating airflow through the one big opening. Of course I'll need to do some testing to see how effective this approach can be.
great solution, I live in the Mohave desert but monsoon season is coming and it can get humid.
Small weak magnet attached to the spool on the side would enable you to roll back the filament onto the spool from outside with another magnet without having to open the box. Spacing between spool and box should not be too far so that magnet would pull the spool down from the bearings.
Do you have found magnets that work? I’m stilling searching some that work good
I currently have 10 open spools that I try to dry before use. Some are in resealable bags with small descant pouches in them. Imma gonna try it. It could save a lot of time and possibly filament. Thanks
Very cool. Thanks for the walk through.
Reading some feedback here , I agree a magnetic winder would be a great idea, Same for the desicant as the center roller but also why not put the base mounted desicant holster inside the original
lid so the original lid is the air tight seal. The best upgrade I can suggest however is printing a transparent window so we can see the desicant colour.
Nice. Really slick implementation.
Many thanks Mark for a great & helpful video! I bought my Ender3 V3 last week and, apart from the odd benchy, this the first real project I’ve printed. Everything printed and fitted perfectly. All the parts were easily obtainable from Amazon here in the UK for roughly £10 ($7.7) per box excluding the desiccant. I found some connectors that came with 5m of Teflon tubing which will allow me to run the filament from the floor to printer fully enclosed. Thanks again
I love the term "freedom units" vs. Metric 😅
I'm thinking I can mix & match your two designs. One for filament storage that I plan to load into my AMS but not print from and the other for TPU or other filaments I want to be able to print from. Less work overall and the up/down of the containers will look good with their natural opposing tapers. I'm new to all this, so right now, it's an initial thought.
I've constructed about ten of these units and so far, they seem to be doing the job. These are things I've noticed or done. For me, in the Northeast in the beginning of winter, and in my first floor office, I can only get the humidity down to 20% of every container. Not complaining, that's dry enough, but I thought I saw others get it lower. Whatever. Also, make sure to follow Mark's suggestion for the drilling out of the holes. I skipped one size between subsequent drills except for the last three (largest hole on side), which I did sequentially since there was a more drastic size difference between the bits. Next. I have broken 4 filament caps so far, they are very weak right where the smaller and larger parts of the cap connect. If you can do anything about that, Mark, or make any suggestions, it would be appreciated. BTW, I am printing all parts in (Overture) PETG except for the rollers, which, as you did, I printed in (Overture) TPU. I may in the end decide to build only the enclosures I need for the more finicky filaments (PETG, TPU, etc.) and just use the containers alone for the basic PLA filaments. Remarkably simple and effective and they ended up costing me about $12.50/ea. (not including tax) when all is said and done. Thanks, Mark.
For me, the secret to getting the humidity levels down around 10% is to dry each roll of filament in my active dryer before putting them into these containers. Even brand new rolls of filament are likely to come out of their packaging needing drying, and especially if they are on cardboard spools.
I'm pretty sure someone on Printables uploaded a remix of my design with a stronger cap piece. You could check that out if yours are breaking. I'll probably release an updated version soon incorporating that and a few other improvements that have been suggested by all you amazing people!
Also, I've noticed mine also live at 20%, and that's even after having them in a dryer for 6-8 hours. I have a large sealed tote that lives around 10%, so not sure why I can't get these smaller containers below 20%.
Thank you very much for a great design and tutorial. I will be doing a slightly improved version of your box. I plan to add two extra holes at the bottom of the box with sealed caps to fit the Polymaker Polydryer. This will still give me plenty of dry boxes for all my filaments but at a more affordable price than buying an extra box for each filament I want to store.
Sounds great, let us know how you cut the box so the opening matches tour Polydrier
Looks like a solid design. I like it because of its simplicity and size, almost no wasted space.
I do have a question regarding just how good desiccant storage is for removing moisture from a spool that has absorbed a lot of water. Is the system capable of actually drying out a saturated spool of filament? If so, how much time does it take to do so?
I dry my spools in an active dryer before putting them in these containers. I don't expect they would be a good solution for drying very wet filament.
Another great video.
Works great! Thank you so much for sharing! 😃
thanks for sharing this amazing design
I love your video and design! Thank you for sharing and making everything easily accessible! I had a question about the filament guide. I have tried printing 3 of them and all 3 fail at the same point while printing. When it starts to print the first part of the top, it just prints a birdsnest. It eventually gets back on track and finishes the connection to the bottom and front side where the hygrometer gets placed. I am using the Flash Forge Adventurer 5m Pro and Flash point 5 for slicing. Could it be the slicing software? Thank you so much!
I'm not familiar with that slicer, so I'm not sure how to help. What orientation are you printing that part? It designed to print with the side that has the rectangular opening for the hygrometer facing downward, flat on the print bed.
I am soooooo glad you made this video. I have assembled about 36 filament driers from the previous video you mentioned. The most common issue I had with those, is when I opened the top of the container, and the cap for the desiccant/hygrometer holder would pop off, causing desiccant to run wild all over the room. This looks like it will eliminate that problem. On a side note, I loved hearing you say "Freedom Units", I love that phrase. There are two types of Countries on this planet, those that have put a man on the Moon, and those that use the metric system. MURICA!!!!!!!! 🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆
Yeah, I had that same problem with some of my older desiccant bins popping open. I'm enjoying this new system a lot more as I continue to replace the old bins.
And I tend to use the term "freedom units" in a joking way, because I really do prefer metric and wish we could just use it everywhere.
So you use 68thou 9 tenths filament 🤔😁
Guess which institution (NASA) works in metric but converts all their units to imperial because the public of the country they're in (US) is the last country on earth to refuse uniformity in their measurement systems?
I was a little hesitant because someone mentioned the Bambu spools don't fit, but I received my initial supply of containers and they seem to fit pretty well in there. The only other issue I need to consider is the storage space the containers take up on my shelves. Currently I bag my filament and lay them horizontally, stacking them four in a column for four columns, 16 rolls in all. I figure in the same space I could fit about 7 containers, so it leaves me less space to store them. But it would look much nicer and I would be sure they would stay dry.
You might want to consider a desiccant holder that goes into the middle of the spool as it will allow you to add an additional amount.
We have the same problem in Canada: it is a metric country, where Imperial measurements are still the norm. I'm building boxes using your ideas. I'll keep you posted.
Very nice, thank you and greetings from Germany.
This is great stuff and I am planning to build some for my burgeoning filament collection. And I, like many of the others here, are interested in integrating some type of heating unit. Several good suggestions were mentioned in the comments. However, I am trying to reconcile best practices when using this system in conjunction with an AMS or other multi-material system. I want the best of both worlds and at the moment I don't think that's gonna happen. But wouldn't it be cool to take your system and be able to feed it through a multi-material system?
Great design. Just a thought. Would there be a way to combine the filament tag holder to be that part of the “wasted” support material you built in. Would be material efficient and a cleaver way to reduce waste plastic
Maybe. Good suggestion, and I'll look into it.
@@gunplamark just want to add, I’ve made 6 of these so far and ordering another set of containers to make more, I’ve tried other filament storage methods in the past and this really is a fantastic solution. Going to be putting all of my loose rolls in these from now on, having them in Individual containers ready to print is so much easier than having mass storage in totes and compromising the humidity level everytime you just need one of the spools out. I added hot glue over the top screw and over around the coupler exit to reduce air potentially entering and have most my rolls sitting around 10-15% in what is normally a 45% humidity room.
Nice! I have a zero power, passive, low cost idea for long term ,easy fast access, storage. Purchase a big plastic box with airtight lid, fill the floor with a few inches of Silica crystals that absorb water. Get another smaller box to house your filament spools made from any mesh. Make sure you have a few inches between the inner box and outer box, also fill space with Silica crystals, make sure the lid also has a layer of silica. A 50kg sac used for making Beer is a low cost bulk price. & wont pass the mesh. After use just but the spools back. seal lid,. Maybe to preserve the crystals for long term storage , can add a small vacuum pump, to remove the air from the box. If the crystals ever get to wet, just dry them in an oven or the sun. If you are worried some filaments get wet unopened? Just fill a bin with those crystals and bury your stock until needed. A clever designer would take that idea, and could build that around an ,in use, spool hooked up to a working machine. and the 6 x silica panels would be removable to easily remove for drying.
Great work and Thanks for Sharing
Love this design and have decided to have a go. I would like to replace the hygrometer with a zigbee version so my smart home system can monitor the humidity of each dry box and warn me if they start to rise. Would you be prepared to share the 3D cad file for the filament guide so I can modify it for my zigbee hygrometer? I would of course be happy to share the modified design, should anyone want to do the same.
This is great! Thanks you!!
An excellent build overall, thanks for the video and part links! Question on the filament guide/hygrometer mount: what's the rationale for the curved section (filament guide)? Mine broke off (PLA print). Thanks!
I love it. But one question... wouldn't it roll more smoothly if you made a couple of arms that come up from the base to support the roll from its hub, and use two bearings there rather than 4 bearings on the bottom rollers?
Yeah this earned you a sub.
This is my 1st time hearing that imperial = freedom!
Ha. I've heard other people use that term, but I tend to use it in a sarcastic way because I'd much prefer if everything was just metric.
How about a magnet attached to the spool side or maybe a spool hub with magnet insert along with an eternal disc or similar method with the corresponding magnet to be able to wind the spool back in?
Very cool solution. Thank you
If you use more powerful desicants like calcium chloride then you will never need to actively dry the filament with heat, risking degradation from repeated heat cycles.
Furthermore this is counter intuitive but if you wanted to dehydrate the dry box well below 10% then COOL the box this will increase the relative humidity but it will help the desicant to absorb even more moisture and when the dry box warms back up to normal room temp, the RH will drop.
Best one so far ! so so cool !
This is a nice design. Compact and well thought out. My only issue here is when the filament get's pushed back out from the machine there will be quite a lot of slack left over that can't be easily reeled back into this chamber. You'd have to open the chamber up and wind it manually, unless I'm missing something?
I just manually push the extra length back into the container. It winds loosely around the spool but doesn't tangle. That works fine for me, even with somewhere around 3 feet of filament to feed back in.
It would be cool to modify these to work with the modular polydryer system.
Hi, Thanks for this solution and this great video. In this video you talk about an future active solution for this box. Does it go on? Thanks
Yes, I'm looking into a few options for an active drying solution, but I haven't found one that I'm happy with just yet.
Would you be able to share your original design for just the desiccant and the lid? I don't have a need to print from the box itself, but it would be useful to be able to store the filament in these type of boxes with a desiccant holder!
All the STLs (including the ones for the desiccant holder) are at the Printables link in the description.
I really like your design as well, I'm building some. I was wondering why you have access holes at the top and not the bottom where it would be easier to pull the filament through? I'm going to try that for at least one and see how it works. Again, really nice work.
The filament exit is designed to be across from the curved underside of the printed part that screws into the top of the container. That way, when you unload filament and push the excess back into the container, that piece works as a guide to keep the filament from tangling.
Nice! Gotta try this out.
had to break off the bottom part of the filament guide/hygro holder as it kept jamming up on my filament rolls occassionally
Hey thanks for sharing this brilliant idea. Did you manage to build a mounting system to Ikea Skadis pegboards? Looking forward for that.
I've actually just spent a bunch of time over the holidays working on a redesign of the whole system. Once that is finished and released, pegboard mounting is next on my list.
@@gunplamark Awesome!
Great idea, thank you.
I see comments about sealed bearings having too much friction because of grease, that the spools just slide around and don't turn the rollers. This makes me think that it isn't needed at all. Before I go nuts with this, I am going to try a print with the filament just sitting on some pvc pipe (that does not rotate) or even bypassing the whole roller concept altogether. I am wondering if this is at all necessary. I will try a TPU print as an ultimate test of this idea.
I love this. Well done.
Thanks for sharing. I think I will make some of these. 🙂
This is an FYI for anyone who might run into the problem of the support piece in the base-with-support_x2 STL file not slicing as a separate piece. Prusa based slicers don't recognize the gap between the support and the bottom of the roller platform. I had to use Ultimaker Cura to slice the base piece with support built in. I didn't try any other slicers after finding Cura worked.
What should we print the parts out of considering you might add some heating to the next revision? PETG?
It'll depend on what types of filament you're planning to store in the containers as that determines the temperature needed to dry them. PETG would be fine for containers that are going to hold PLA, TPU, and PETG, but if you're going to be drying things like ABS, ASA, or nylon you may run into issues trying to heat to those higher temps. I've been printing my parts in ABS or ASA just to be sure they'll withstand whatever temps I might subject them to in the future.
@gunplamark Makes sense! Thanks! Great video, I subscribed!