Hi. There appears to be some confusion regarding how the process of drying filament can be undertaken. Maybe a little clarification would be helpful. Relative humidity measures water vapour, but RELATIVE to the temperature of the air. It is expressed as the amount of water vapour in the air, as a percentage of the total amount that could be held, at its current temperature. Warm air can hold more moisture than cold air, meaning that the relative humidity of cold air would be far higher than that of warm air, given that the ABSOLUTE HUMIDITY levels were equal. If a spool of filament containing moisture, is put into a sealed container containing the desiccant Silica Gel, the moisture will slowly be liberated, and absorbed by the desiccant. If the air is heated, the process of evaporation will be increased and this will reduce the time taken to ‘dry’ the filament. Once the relative humidity falls to an acceptable level, say 12%, the spool can safely be removed from the container. The filament will then slowly start to reabsorb moisture. However, if the spool is put into a sealed container, an AMS containing desiccant would be ideal 😉. The desiccant in the AMS will absorb any moisture, and the relative humidity will remain constant. To release the moisture, in the desiccant, and regenerate it, requires it to be heated to 120 °C for 1 to 2 hours, or 15 minutes at low power, in the microwave. This is evident in my ‘sealed’ AMS, which contains a FULL set of silica gel containers, where the relative humidity remains at 10% If a reel of filament, containing moisture is introduced, the RH temporarily increases, to around 14%, and then drops back to 10%, after a couple of days, due to the desiccant absorbing any moisture. There is no need to heat the air in the AMS. All that needs doing is to monitor the relative humidity in the AMS, and replace the silica gel when it gets to say 15%, with ‘regenerated’ silica gel. The removed silica gel can be regenerated, as described above, and used again. I store open reels of filament in a sealed container containg desiccant, and a hygrometer. When I need a stored reel, I swop it for one in the AMS. Doing this increases the RH slightly, but after a couple of days later it drops back. Cheers Noel.
You'd think by now someone in the 3D industry would have partnered with a large plastic tub company to market a cover and inserts solution... #rubbermaid
@@andyb7754 Heh, yeahhhhhhhhhhh i just got some cereal tubs (a lot are not correct dimensions for a spool) some pc4 connectors and print something round to go into the lid and something else for the spools to roll on.
I store my filament in a similar fashion to Adam Savage from Tested/ Mythbusters. I use an enclosed cabinet with a small dehumidifier inside and a fan to circulate the air. Keeps my filament at around 30% humidity, and I live in Arizona so I was surprised when one day I actually saw a tiny amount of water in it.
That's totally the ideal situation in my opinion. If I could just temp/humidity control a closet or something that would be cool. Although, I don't have nearly enough engineering filaments to warrant something like that. A man can dream!
It's surprisingly cheap too. My steel cabinet was only about $110 and the dehumidifer was only about $40. pretty comparable to this unit plus an additional box.@@KeoPrints
@@KeoPrints abs, petg, and pla. Prob have petg more than anything, followed by abs, then pla. I used to only print abs and petg, only recently started to print pla. If all were equal, its just 20 per type, been printing over 8yrs now.
@@tombo7719 PLA can be printed ootb but PETG, TPU, ABS, and ASA are far better when dried properly. Consistency, layer adhesion, and smooth finish when dried. Engineering mats need to be actively dried as in running in the dryer during the print cycle.
I love the idea of these but like others have said it’s just not a practical option. Even if I had one for every ams slot I have it would be over $500 for one base and 16 boxes. I may get one base and a couple bins like you have. I have the Comgrow brand of your sovol dryer. And I just got the s4, haven’t even opened it yet lol I came across a way to integrate the AMS lite with the s4, I’m debating that. But also wanted to use it as the external spool holder for all three of my printers. 🤔 May need to get another one or two 😂 This hobby is addictive badddd
I think this product has a separate electronic dryer that fits underneath the spool holder and can blow in heated, dry air, and suck out the air that came from the spool and presumably has water. That's what the two removable pads on the underside are for. I myself bought the sunlu dryer that has place for 4 spools. And I already have a large amount of vacuum bags that I keep my spools in. And then I have 2 different spool holders that can be used for drying with silicone and feeding a printer. I am not too concerned with transferring a spool from one place to another. Sure, they will start to suck in a little bit of water, but it won't be soaked in the one minute the transfer takes.
It’s a pretty good system for sure. I have seen the Sunlu dryer and it seems to be a good one as well. I may check it out as well because drying/storing four spools like that would be good to have
I don't get why you not have a ton of followers: your videos are extremely entertaining, well edited and informative. Btw I am gonna steal your idea attaching the dryer to the ams ;)
@KeoPrints it works well for 1.75mm and 2.85mm filament. I don't use it for storage just drying pre print and during the print. Otherwise I store my filament in their ziplock bags with a desiccant satchet inside another box with desiccants.
After dehydrating, air-tight cereal containers and a tin full of indicating silica gel in each one keeps my filament dry for ages. I've got an average of 10-15% humidity in each container and as soon as I see one of them climbing over 15%, I replace the silica. Buy some skate bearings and design a roller mechanism that fits into the bottom of the container and you're good to go.
Seems like a good DIY option. I’ve wanted to make my own using similar materials and likely still will. I’ve never thought about the cereal containers like that. Good stuff!
I don't use multi colour filaments since I don't make pretty stuff. I keep my filament in a Sunlu drier, but I have added a fitting to the outlet that allows me to join my Bambu A1 mini feed tube directly to it. So the filament never comes out of the drier, which I run once a day. I never have any damp filament problems.
Yeah was thinking if you have a smaller spool that you want to print from within the box, this would help it rotate. Typical 1kg spools likely don't need the spool holder though. Kinda glad that I live in a semi arid environment. Got to love me some low humidity lol
They are a nice box, be nicer if there was an adapter to install a Bambu AMS cell or slot into the box. So you would print something like the Hydra or Python. Only using these polymaker boxes and use one or two dryers.
A dryer needs to pump hot dry air in at the bottom and let moist (and a bit less hot) air out at the top. So a dryer has to let air out. A drybox has to keep any moist air out, keeping only dry (made dry by dessicant) air in. So a drybox needs to be fully closed. Nothing beats a simple food dehydrator for one and some Ikea 365+ boxes for the other.
Thank you for the insightful video on the PolyDryer! It truly seems like an excellent solution for both storing and drying filament. However, I have a small concern: placing the desiccant next to the hygrometer might affect its accuracy. I worry that this setup could lead to incorrect readings for a few weeks after sealing the unit. Overall, the design appears very well thought out. I do have one question that wasn't addressed in the video: Does the opening at the bottom and the front for dispensing filament allow any humidity to enter when opened? I’m curious if it introduces around 1-5% humidity, which would still be acceptable.
These are good questions! The hygrometer being so close to the desiccant very well could lead to biased readings so that is likely something to keep in mind if you find yourself using this setup As for the filament plugs; I am sure there is a degree risk of humidity/moisture ingress while these ports are in use but I would imagine this is a negligible value. Although, I have no idea and have little experience with this particular setup Surely things to consider! Thanks for the notes!
Just a word of advice...please be very careful with the space pi dryers. There have been multiple reports of much higher temps than shown and it's lead to filament melting together.
The dryer dries the filament not the air. So it doesn't matter if the air around the filament has moisture if the filament is too hot itself to hold moisture. This is ok if you're just going to perpetually run the dryer while using a filament and don't plan on storing the filament. The desiccant in this system is to dry out the last of the air pulled into the box after the drying process is complete for storage while the heat is off.
I think that rod "spool holder" may not be as much a spool holder but instead is a support for the walls of the box. At higher temperature drying the box sides may want to bow inwards. I could be wrong but that's an issue with my Creality Dryer. The lid on the Polymaker I think would possibly make the sides bowing inward a little a non issue. In comparison the Creality box gets little gaps along the lid seat because the sides bow inward. I just learned of this filament dryer/storage solution the other day and it looks like a cool system. As long as the dry boxes cost is reasonably low I think it's great.
Good info here. Yes this is a pretty cool system if you have a few spools that you’re wanting to handle. The boxes are around 30 bucks so it would certainly add up but the ability to move the dryer base around is super cool! Have a look here if you’re interested any polymaker stuff us.polymaker.com?aff=839
And every company that has injection molding machines is just shaking their heads at the 3D printing industry for like 15 years now. Because technology, methotology and equipment for properly handling the plastic pellets are around since the Americans did send this pointy flamey thing to the moon. 😁😜 Seriously: a 3D printing hotend is basically a scaled down part of an injection molding machine: plastic gets pressed through a heated nozzle, gets melted and then cooled again. And in the big machines moisture also has ugly consequences. ✌️
I am totally on the wavelength of the efficiency of the system. Injection molding needs plastic, the machine, and the mold. FDM only needs the machine and the plastic. Of course molding is way faster but FDM catches up if you add a bunch of machines working at the same time. Still cheaper than cutting a mold in most cases. Different use cases
If you’re stacking that many spools but not emptying them fast, that would definitely be more economical. Less convenient but way, way cheaper. Likely what I’ll be doing for overflow stock as we get into more materials on the channel anyway
Considering that a EIBOS 3D Series X EasyDry costs around 45$, I will not invest in such an elaborate System that seems to need desicant as well... I love that my Series X is super small and can be printed from while drying. And it is working with an actual exhaust system, so the moisture gets out of the housing!
That is an interesting point that I hadn’t considered; trapping the moisture in if there isn’t a dedicated exhaust system. It makes me wonder where the humidity goes in these fully sealed systems
@@KeoPrints it goes in the air that is IN the container 😅 You can easily fix this by adding a small hole that you can open during the active drying and then use a rubber plug for storing. Or just crack the lid seal open a bit. I watched many tests, Systems like the Eibos have massively better result for one reason only....exhaust air
This one is quiet but I certainly can’t have it going while I’m filming. I would say it’s just louder than a Bambu A1 Mini but quieter than my P1S for sure
When they have filament boxes down around $10 each (for the box itself) I'll get some, until then they can find another sucker. Thanks for a good review though.
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I love my polydryers and boxes
Hi.
There appears to be some confusion regarding how the process of drying filament can be undertaken.
Maybe a little clarification would be helpful.
Relative humidity measures water vapour, but RELATIVE to the temperature of the air. It is expressed as the amount of water vapour in the air, as a percentage of the total amount that could be held, at its current temperature.
Warm air can hold more moisture than cold air, meaning that the relative humidity of cold air would be far higher than that of warm air, given that the ABSOLUTE HUMIDITY levels were equal.
If a spool of filament containing moisture, is put into a sealed container containing the desiccant Silica Gel, the moisture will slowly be liberated, and absorbed by the desiccant. If the air is heated, the process of evaporation will be increased and this will reduce the time taken to ‘dry’ the filament.
Once the relative humidity falls to an acceptable level, say 12%, the spool can safely be removed from the container. The filament will then slowly start to reabsorb moisture. However, if the spool is put into a sealed container, an AMS containing desiccant would be ideal 😉.
The desiccant in the AMS will absorb any moisture, and the relative humidity will remain constant. To release the moisture, in the desiccant, and regenerate it, requires it to be heated to 120 °C for 1 to 2 hours, or 15 minutes at low power, in the microwave.
This is evident in my ‘sealed’ AMS, which contains a FULL set of silica gel containers, where the relative humidity remains at 10% If a reel of filament, containing moisture is introduced, the RH temporarily increases, to around 14%, and then drops back to 10%, after a couple of days, due to the desiccant absorbing any moisture. There is no need to heat the air in the AMS.
All that needs doing is to monitor the relative humidity in the AMS, and replace the silica gel when it gets to say 15%, with ‘regenerated’ silica gel. The removed silica gel can be regenerated, as described above, and used again.
I store open reels of filament in a sealed container containg desiccant, and a hygrometer. When I need a stored reel, I swop it for one in the AMS. Doing this increases the RH slightly, but after a couple of days later it drops back.
Cheers Noel.
Good stuff here and great to compare as I develop the idea further. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience!
You'd think by now someone in the 3D industry would have partnered with a large plastic tub company to market a cover and inserts solution... #rubbermaid
Interesting thought. Seems like an easy win
That's what I use, holds 4 spools and a tray of dryer beads. I also have a 2 spool dryer, either drying and printing or drying and storage in the tub.
@@andyb7754 Heh, yeahhhhhhhhhhh i just got some cereal tubs (a lot are not correct dimensions for a spool) some pc4 connectors and print something round to go into the lid and something else for the spools to roll on.
I store my filament in a similar fashion to Adam Savage from Tested/ Mythbusters. I use an enclosed cabinet with a small dehumidifier inside and a fan to circulate the air. Keeps my filament at around 30% humidity, and I live in Arizona so I was surprised when one day I actually saw a tiny amount of water in it.
That's totally the ideal situation in my opinion. If I could just temp/humidity control a closet or something that would be cool. Although, I don't have nearly enough engineering filaments to warrant something like that. A man can dream!
It's surprisingly cheap too. My steel cabinet was only about $110 and the dehumidifer was only about $40. pretty comparable to this unit plus an additional box.@@KeoPrints
Problem is I have around 60 rolls, way too expensive to buy into.
That is a lot of rolls! What filament are you storing that much of? ABS?
@@KeoPrints abs, petg, and pla. Prob have petg more than anything, followed by abs, then pla. I used to only print abs and petg, only recently started to print pla. If all were equal, its just 20 per type, been printing over 8yrs now.
@@tombo7719 PLA can be printed ootb but PETG, TPU, ABS, and ASA are far better when dried properly. Consistency, layer adhesion, and smooth finish when dried. Engineering mats need to be actively dried as in running in the dryer during the print cycle.
Just doesn't seem practical to buy a single roll dryer for every roll I store.
I love the idea of these but like others have said it’s just not a practical option. Even if I had one for every ams slot I have it would be over $500 for one base and 16 boxes.
I may get one base and a couple bins like you have. I have the Comgrow brand of your sovol dryer. And I just got the s4, haven’t even opened it yet lol
I came across a way to integrate the AMS lite with the s4, I’m debating that. But also wanted to use it as the external spool holder for all three of my printers. 🤔 May need to get another one or two 😂
This hobby is addictive badddd
I think this product has a separate electronic dryer that fits underneath the spool holder and can blow in heated, dry air, and suck out the air that came from the spool and presumably has water.
That's what the two removable pads on the underside are for.
I myself bought the sunlu dryer that has place for 4 spools. And I already have a large amount of vacuum bags that I keep my spools in. And then I have 2 different spool holders that can be used for drying with silicone and feeding a printer.
I am not too concerned with transferring a spool from one place to another. Sure, they will start to suck in a little bit of water, but it won't be soaked in the one minute the transfer takes.
It’s a pretty good system for sure. I have seen the Sunlu dryer and it seems to be a good one as well. I may check it out as well because drying/storing four spools like that would be good to have
This was a useful video. You should edit the title so that people looking for reviews of this can find it with a search engine
Great video… love the humour 😊 Looking forward to opening my PolyDryers!!!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for hanging out
Got me a sweet deal on the creality space pi for £39 delivered from ali express (usually £60-£80) happy with tat for the little I need to use it.
That one seems like a decent solution as well. Especially having material presets. Big fan of that stuff
I don't get why you not have a ton of followers: your videos are extremely entertaining, well edited and informative. Btw I am gonna steal your idea attaching the dryer to the ams ;)
I appreciate that so much! Thanks for hanging out friend!
The Sunlu 4 roll dryer is pretty good so far. Solves a lot of these issues
I have seen that one floating around. Seems like a reasonable system as well. Do you store rolls in there as well as use it for drying?
@KeoPrints it works well for 1.75mm and 2.85mm filament. I don't use it for storage just drying pre print and during the print. Otherwise I store my filament in their ziplock bags with a desiccant satchet inside another box with desiccants.
After dehydrating, air-tight cereal containers and a tin full of indicating silica gel in each one keeps my filament dry for ages. I've got an average of 10-15% humidity in each container and as soon as I see one of them climbing over 15%, I replace the silica. Buy some skate bearings and design a roller mechanism that fits into the bottom of the container and you're good to go.
Seems like a good DIY option. I’ve wanted to make my own using similar materials and likely still will. I’ve never thought about the cereal containers like that. Good stuff!
I don't use multi colour filaments since I don't make pretty stuff. I keep my filament in a Sunlu drier, but I have added a fitting to the outlet that allows me to join my Bambu A1 mini feed tube directly to it. So the filament never comes out of the drier, which I run once a day. I never have any damp filament problems.
Printing from the dryer is a total game changer with some of these plastics!
the middle is an assist for some spools. this is what I was told by my polymaker friends on that discord.
That makes sense. Might use it if the spool calls for it. Who knows
Yeah was thinking if you have a smaller spool that you want to print from within the box, this would help it rotate. Typical 1kg spools likely don't need the spool holder though.
Kinda glad that I live in a semi arid environment. Got to love me some low humidity lol
They are a nice box, be nicer if there was an adapter to install a Bambu AMS cell or slot into the box. So you would print something like the Hydra or Python. Only using these polymaker boxes and use one or two dryers.
Higher temps hold more moisture.
Excellent - better than DIY.
Agreed
A dryer needs to pump hot dry air in at the bottom and let moist (and a bit less hot) air out at the top. So a dryer has to let air out. A drybox has to keep any moist air out, keeping only dry (made dry by dessicant) air in. So a drybox needs to be fully closed. Nothing beats a simple food dehydrator for one and some Ikea 365+ boxes for the other.
I'd bet that the Spool Hanger is for those small 200kg spools that might not contact the rollers.
That’s fair. Very well could be the case
Thank you for the insightful video on the PolyDryer! It truly seems like an excellent solution for both storing and drying filament.
However, I have a small concern: placing the desiccant next to the hygrometer might affect its accuracy. I worry that this setup could lead to incorrect readings for a few weeks after sealing the unit.
Overall, the design appears very well thought out. I do have one question that wasn't addressed in the video: Does the opening at the bottom and the front for dispensing filament allow any humidity to enter when opened? I’m curious if it introduces around 1-5% humidity, which would still be acceptable.
These are good questions!
The hygrometer being so close to the desiccant very well could lead to biased readings so that is likely something to keep in mind if you find yourself using this setup
As for the filament plugs; I am sure there is a degree risk of humidity/moisture ingress while these ports are in use but I would imagine this is a negligible value. Although, I have no idea and have little experience with this particular setup
Surely things to consider! Thanks for the notes!
I'm using the creality space pi. It works great.
Just a word of advice...please be very careful with the space pi dryers. There have been multiple reports of much higher temps than shown and it's lead to filament melting together.
@@OhImKiCkiN So far, so good.
@@JustNice980 Cool. I hope yours isn't one that's affected.
Okay so the polydryer heats the air and circulates it - but where does the water vapour go? What if you don't have the dessicant in there?
This is a good question. I wonder how filament dryers tackle that issue in general
The dryer dries the filament not the air. So it doesn't matter if the air around the filament has moisture if the filament is too hot itself to hold moisture. This is ok if you're just going to perpetually run the dryer while using a filament and don't plan on storing the filament.
The desiccant in this system is to dry out the last of the air pulled into the box after the drying process is complete for storage while the heat is off.
condition the room (dehumidifier and heater) dry ALL the things
PolyDryers are nice, still need to resolve my drying issues
I’m enjoying this setup. Especially the storage aspect of it. Super cool
I think that rod "spool holder" may not be as much a spool holder but instead is a support for the walls of the box. At higher temperature drying the box sides may want to bow inwards. I could be wrong but that's an issue with my Creality Dryer.
The lid on the Polymaker I think would possibly make the sides bowing inward a little a non issue.
In comparison the Creality box gets little gaps along the lid seat because the sides bow inward.
I just learned of this filament dryer/storage solution the other day and it looks like a cool system. As long as the dry boxes cost is reasonably low I think it's great.
Good info here. Yes this is a pretty cool system if you have a few spools that you’re wanting to handle. The boxes are around 30 bucks so it would certainly add up but the ability to move the dryer base around is super cool! Have a look here if you’re interested any polymaker stuff
us.polymaker.com?aff=839
@@KeoPrints sorry can't afford to patronize you're affiliate link right now.
@@KeoPrints the rod is meant for smaller spools.
And every company that has injection molding machines is just shaking their heads at the 3D printing industry for like 15 years now. Because technology, methotology and equipment for properly handling the plastic pellets are around since the Americans did send this pointy flamey thing to the moon. 😁😜
Seriously: a 3D printing hotend is basically a scaled down part of an injection molding machine: plastic gets pressed through a heated nozzle, gets melted and then cooled again. And in the big machines moisture also has ugly consequences. ✌️
I am totally on the wavelength of the efficiency of the system. Injection molding needs plastic, the machine, and the mold. FDM only needs the machine and the plastic. Of course molding is way faster but FDM catches up if you add a bunch of machines working at the same time. Still cheaper than cutting a mold in most cases. Different use cases
My opinion: Vacuum bags and a vacuum pump is THE solution if you own 10+ different filament rolls. Dry the filament with whatever you want...
If you’re stacking that many spools but not emptying them fast, that would definitely be more economical. Less convenient but way, way cheaper. Likely what I’ll be doing for overflow stock as we get into more materials on the channel anyway
Considering that a EIBOS 3D Series X EasyDry costs around 45$, I will not invest in such an elaborate System that seems to need desicant as well...
I love that my Series X is super small and can be printed from while drying. And it is working with an actual exhaust system, so the moisture gets out of the housing!
That is an interesting point that I hadn’t considered; trapping the moisture in if there isn’t a dedicated exhaust system. It makes me wonder where the humidity goes in these fully sealed systems
@@KeoPrints it goes in the air that is IN the container 😅
You can easily fix this by adding a small hole that you can open during the active drying and then use a rubber plug for storing.
Or just crack the lid seal open a bit.
I watched many tests, Systems like the Eibos have massively better result for one reason only....exhaust air
Funny guy. 😅
I just need a setup for 5kg spools i printed the adapters for these just need to figure out a box i can print from for them
Those are big spools for sure. A lot harder to find solutions for that format
7:39 congratulations on not spilling 😊
Also dry and ready love it!
Steadiest hands in the midwest baby
How loud is the dryer?
This one is quiet but I certainly can’t have it going while I’m filming. I would say it’s just louder than a Bambu A1 Mini but quieter than my P1S for sure
"Not a SINGLE bead", just a dozen or so, lol.
Exactly! Someone gets me
2:17 bearband
Best place for worms
drier has been sold out for quite a while
That’s a bummer. It’s showing up for me
us.polymaker.com?aff=839
I got it on Amazon
When they have filament boxes down around $10 each (for the box itself) I'll get some, until then they can find another sucker. Thanks for a good review though.
That would be ideal. 10 bucks would totally be scalable no matter how many thirsty spools you have
Only problem is that terrible colour :D
I kinda like it even though I tend toward the purple and orange a bit more
Way to expensive for a single filament spool solution. Nice concept, but as i said, to expensive if you have a lot different filaments.
It would totally add up if you had a lot of spools needing storage, you’re right. What do you use to dry/store?
@@KeoPrints I use a SUNLU S4 dryer and a lot vaccum bags. But as said, i really like the concept a lot.