Ultimate Filament Storage Dry Box - Print while keeping your filament dry
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ค. 2024
- 3d Printer filament needs to be kept dry. I couldn’t find a filament storage box that was efficient, easy to make and cheap enough that I could build enough for all my filament rolls. So I made one. Then I made more!
Whether you’re printing with ultra-sensitive filaments like PVA or Nylon, or just want a handy way to store your filament rolls and keep them clean, this DIY filament dry box will fit your needs. You can store already dry filaments or dehumidify filament that has been exposed to a high humidity environment already.
With easy to follow instructions, anyone who can drill a couple of holes in plastic can make this dry storage box in minutes. Each box will cost less than a roll of filament and best of all, it achieves the lowest moisture levels for any dry storage box I can find.
I’ve designed the 3d printed parts with ease of assembly in mind so there are alignment slots to avoid confusion when it comes to where to drill.
I’ve used readily available parts and options for imperial or metric fasteners so you can use what’s available where you are.
***Part 2 video with rewind mechanism here***
• Ultimate Filament Dry ...
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - Build
01:32 - Advantage 1
01:50 - Build
03:45 - Advantage 2
04:06 - Build
05:42 - Advantage 3
06:07 - Build
07:04 - Advantage 4
07:32 - Evaluation
08:10 - Understanding the results
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If you want to show your appreciation for the work I've put in to make this box easy to build then please follow the below link to buy me a coffee, thanks.
BUY ME A COFFEE
www.buymeacoffee.com/rickyimpey
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STL. Files
www.thingiverse.com/thing:478...
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Affiliate links (If you purchase something after clicking any of the below links I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. This is a great way to support the channel)
Airtight box (1 needed)
UK - amzn.to/3fn69F0
US - amzn.to/3c4iHhy
Dehumidifier packs (1 needed)
UK - amzn.to/3fmoy4I
US - amzn.to/3oigZi9
Metric Fasteners
Bolts (7 needed)
UK - amzn.to/2PEwaEB
US - amzn.to/3c0QbNV
Nuts (7 needed)
UK - amzn.to/3dfrPjn
US - amzn.to/3n4XfPG
Imperial Fasteners (Only metric OR imperial needed, not both)
Bolts (7 needed)
US - amzn.to/2YGfotU
Nuts (7 needed)
US - amzn.to/34FJJvw
Remember to print the ‘Center Spigot Imperial’ file if you use imperial fasteners!
PTFE Bowden Tube (only small piece needed)
UK - amzn.to/3cwPWex
US - amzn.to/3n5Tn0T
Vacuum Storage Bags (1 Pack)
UK - amzn.to/3fgqED8
US - amzn.to/3CjpC1b (Small size 16"x24")
Filament I used
UK - amzn.to/3C3b8mZ
US - amzn.to/3qv0Rwn
Absolute Humidity Calculator
www.michell.com/uk/calculator/ - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
![[TH]FFWS SEA Spring 2024 Knockout Stage - Day 13](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/K9o3IXb75T0/mqdefault.jpg)
Great box! Went from 50% to 10% RH at 21C = 8.9818g/m3 to 1.833g/m3
Glad you're seeing the benefit👍 I still haven't changed a pack in 6 months too! Thanks for commenting .
@@RickyImpey Just read the instructions for my hygrometer, it states that it operates within 10-99% humidity, so the box could perform even better.
Awesome, to be honest, I don't put the hygrometers in the box any more, I trust that they are as dry as possible in there. When I did all my testing, the humidity just kept going down, I don't actually know just how low it could go ultimately.
@@RickyImpey Glad you took out the hygrometers. See my comment below. they aren't needed nor are they useful. They only give false impressions of what is actually going on. I'm amazed at how many hygrometers must have been sold to the 3d printer community... Unless I'm really missing something, but I believe not. Sorry to also bash your rewind mechanism to some extent ;) no bashing really; I love it, and also the motorized and automated ones that some people have come up with. Genius.
@@RickyImpey I think I broke something. ;)
2:40 Instructions not clear, the nurse says she will be gentle.
Perfect! I found your video, even watched the first one. Printed all the parts required for the geared box and put it together withou issue. As I'm in NZ, Sistema containers are plenty and cheap. Added the Hygrometer to the front panel. Looks really good and functions just like a commerical system. Coffee coming your way.
Getting ready to take my 1st steps with filament after a couple of years of resin printing, going to be in a cold humid loft so this looks great, off to find your enclosure vid now as it looks very smart...
Thankyou for this share. Made it for about $14AUD and it works like a charm. Humidity here is around 66%, box is at 22%. Just seen your rewind mod so I am going to do that now. Cheers.
just got around to making one of these and it works a treat! not that I doubled it would as your video was especially brilliant at explaining the idea and the steps required, many thanks for your efforts
Thanks William, I love hearing when someone gets some benefit out of any content I put out. Glad you are happy with it.
I just made three of these and they work great!
Absolutely brilliant idea Rickey. I've made two and am in the process of making a third. I'm going to add the rewind mechanism at a later point in time but the whole package seems the best solution I've seen so far on TH-cam. 5 coffees on the way mate. Here's to more fantastic vids.
Thanks Gaz👍
Well this seems to keep the air dry around the filament but what if the filament is already wet? Wouldn't you need heat to drive the already existing moist out of the filament?
@@PREDATOR0140 The moisture level on the filament and in the air around it tend to normalize as the air absorbs the filament`s water, so you should just leave a wet filament in there for a day or two and it will be as dry as the air
Nice build! You got a good chuckle out of me I admit!
Thanks for the work and for sharing. Very simple and ingenious.
Great idea. I was looking for a simple and cheap solution for some time now. I will definitely build a few such boxes
Great, glad you liked it. The plan with my projects is always inexpensive but as effective as possible. Thanks for the sub and hopefully I can bring you more content that you like👍
The filament box is great.
I thought this design was overkill until I watched the video and saw the logic of the design. I really appreciate the science and measurements and the detailed explanations (and expressions like "Nip these up." I love how the English speak English. 😊👍) Great video.
this is possibly the most impressive/cheapest version I've seen. excellent workd
Wonderful and well thought out solution that I have been fighting myself. I have filament dry boxes I have bought off Amazon and to be kind, they are very difficult to work with and do a poor job of limiting the humidity. I will be attempt your design and try it out. Thanks for sharing.
I just finished my dry box and it came out Great! I also bought you 3 coffees. Thank you.
Awesome, I hope you found it easy to assemble. Thanks very much for the coffees 👍
Nice. I have this exact same box (they’re made in NZ) in the cupboard. Now I just need some new filament as mine is probably wet af, and to recalibrate and level the printer, do some test prints… now I remember why my filament has been sitting there so long. 😂
Great instructional………I live in an area that has high humidity for half of the year and I print exclusively with translucent PETG. This will come in handy……….I bag my filaments with desiccant but it ends up exposed to atmosphere while printing……which can be hours. Thanks…….
Thank you sir! I bought you SEVERAL cups of coffee for this. I ordered enough to make three boxes from your affiliate links! Can't thank you enough for 1) doing all this research 2) demonstrating a simple approach 3) designing parts that work (I've built one so far) 4) making it easy to download / and build . . . seriously . . . hats off to you sir . . . hope you enjoy the coffee . . . (oh . . . I ordered a nice oscilloscope shortly afterwards as well . . . hope Amazon hooks you up for that as well). Thanks again! Keep doing this!
Thanks very much. Glad you like the design 👍
do you mind me asking how long each print took you? I am doing one at the moment and it is saying it is going to take 50+ hours and I am only doing 1 set - is this normal?
@@kita1993 sounds like layer heights and speeds could be adjusted significantly depending on your hardware/material
Very nice and simple solution.
Greetings from the Galilee.
Just made my first. Really great design, so big thanks!! I modified mine by reduced the leg height. I trimmed a good 10mm+ out of the legs with PrusaSlicer as will be routing the filament via the top.
Nice work!
You are one of two people of who's advice is what I follow, and your videos and his help have assisted me to become a novice printer into a designer of my own products.... Awesome videos, buy a coffee, I'd buy you a coffee machine :-)
Ha ha, I wish i'd seen this sooner, my coffee machine just broke and no amount of 3d printing would fix it!🙂
I legitimately love your style of video. The little bit of humor was nice too.
Thanks Abby👍
Thanks for the video, models, links and smile on my face! 😁
BTW, rounded corners of spindel plates would be much better for adhesion.
Thanks, good point. I'll look at tweaking the files👍
i gave em a twist very nice
Took one video... this one... for me to subscribe... lol the humor is great and you're not a loud mouth.. Calm is the way! haha Thank you for a great video my friend!
I just stumbled over the fact, that silica gel, what some people seem to use, has a terrible water affinity at low relative humidity. I've been using room dehumidifier packs, like you, which are most probably calcium chloride. They seem to work but last week I found out that the r.h. within is still 23% (well ok, after years...) and that's too much for my perfectionalist brain. I'm a chemistry guy and went through all the drying agents that came to my mind. At least the somewhat safer ones that are also easy to obtain and cheap. Like sodium sulfate or magnesium sulfate, maybe molecular sieves, and began to read up. I couldn't find data for most drying agents, but there was a surprise candidate: calcium oxide. Or "burnt lime" / "quick lime". It can't be regenerated as easily, since it requires a modestly high temperature but those filament boxes don't see a lot of water in absolute terms.
To sum it all up, if you want to stay below 10 % r.h. quick lime is good for 26 % of it's own weight in water absorption (which is close to it's maximum) while silica gel only manages 4 % (which isn't close to it's maximum at all...). Above these absorption percentages the r.h. will rise above 10 %. The rate at which it will rise is pretty bad with silica gel. I have no data for calcium chloride, unfortunately, but an experiment to find these equilibrium points would be pretty easy. Molecular sieves get 15 % of their weight in water, before the r.h. rises above 10 % and thus might be a good compromise.
Quick lime is relatively corrosive, so don't touch it. I'd still consider it, as opposed to maybe concentrated sulfuric acid, which would be a great drying agent, but might be a tad to dangerous and a bit of a hassle. Quick lime is also comparatively slow to take up water (10 to 20 times slower than silica gel and others) but considering the low absolute amount of water we are dealing with, that shouldn't be a problem.
To my surprise quick lime is sold for gardening purpose, so it's available and dirt cheap. I want to try this and just ordered 10 kg for all of my boxes xD .
Be great to hear how you get on👍
This is awesome thank you!!
Great video you’re marvelous thank you 🤓
Great Video ordering the parts now
Hi Ricky great idea for those boxes. I been having trouble keeping my filament's dry. Those Filament dryers can get expensive. I have added your channel. And left a like as well.
Great, thanks. Good to have you on board 👍
box all up and running 11% humidity and remixed the spool holder to take bearings worked well as I had to reduce e steps.
Nice👍 I actually started with bearings but found the filament was unwinding a little too much each time the printer 'tugged' on it so didn't bother. If you like them, that's great.
Great info here, thank you!
This is such a great video!
Aah, the camera just doesn't stop moving! That makes me feel dizzy.
Nice idea with the household dehumidifier.
Don't watch it on nags then 🤣🤣
Just built one, and might I say, how exciting! It works great. Although, I am wondering if anyone else found that the main spindle (110mm) puts quite a lot of pressure on the lid when closed...
I had one box that the lid was not flat on so it did give a bit of pressure initially. It's fine now though.
One upgrade I can think of would be some kind of locator tabs on that big plate just to stop the dehumidifier pack sliding around as that would bug me, even if it doesn't actually affect anything. I was looking at using a cereal style storage box as that wouldn't require printing legs and use less hardware but not sure how easy it would be to assemble. Also, no shops locally to me sell a cereal storage box big enough for those OP dehumidifier packs + spool, but they are available online. Not sure what I'm gonna go with yet but I now know for certain that I need filament dry boxes. I had quite bad stringing issues and that went away immediately after I dried my spool (left it sat on a storage heater for several hours 45c-55c under a cardboard box).
Yes, I believe some way to contain your filament in a dry environment is essential. I didn't use the cereal style boxes for exactly the same reason, I couldn't find them big enough to fit the dehumidifier packs. You can of course use silica beads but they aren't quite as efficient as the calcium chloride packs. I see what you mean about the pack being able to move but it hasn't been something that's bothered me at all. As you say, you could easily add some corner lugs but then you couldn't use the plate as a drill template for the bottom holes.
Making this!!!
That's an excellent solution... maybe 1 thing I'd add is an external handle if possible to be able to roll back the filament into the spool without opening it.
Love this idea! Can't wait to start building mine. One question and possible suggestion.
Have you thought about making provisions to mount this box directly to the top of the ender frame?
I see in your video you have your machine in an enclosure. But for those of us that don't, it would be great to mount this box directly to the printer. Maybe just incorporate the width of the frame into the legs of the box, in a U shape, so the box can easily be snapped onto the frame of the printer, and interchanged with other boxes containing different filament easily.
Hi, thanks for the comment. I don't like to mount anything with any weight to it to the top of the frame as it can cause increased movement when the printer moves in the Y direction. It's generally best to keep your spool holder mounted separately if you can. Also, I have quite a few of these with all of my most susceptible filaments in so I wouldn't want one mounted anywhere myself. For my Ender 3s, I have a couple of boxes with the exit out of the side which works well.
Thanks
Unbelievable sir thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks Colin 👍
Great Video I'm gonna build a couple. Some stellar effects like the snowfall backward...Nice. a little too much turning though but still cool edit chops mate! I have watched a few now, I sub'd and shared this. Looking forward to more...
Nice idea. A pity the boxes are so costly though as ideally I'd like to get a few of these for the filaments I mainly use.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the comment David, do they seem expensive? I thought they were really good value considering I can reuse them forever. Did you look at the US or UK option to buy the box?
@@RickyImpey It looks like the US one is double the cost of the UK one, although pretty much any airtight tupperware of similar size can work with this with minimal mods.
@@garrettbrainard1496 unfortunately it is more expensive in the US, I don't know why. Like you say, a different box will work. If someone finds something in that is better priced in the US that will still take a reel and dehumidifier pack then I'll happily do another version 👍 Just send me the details in a comment.
If on the US link you click the set of four the price for each is less than the UK.
@@dvohwinkel good spot👍
Best I’ve seen. Cheers👍😎🇦🇺
Thanks John, glad you like it.
Hiya Ricky. I realise this video is 2 years old but apparently systema have changed the angles of their drybox and reversed the locking handles. I found last week after printing the feet out, but nothing that a few washers added to the rear of the legs doesn't solve but could cause worry for some.. Great information thanks mate keep up the good work.
Thanks, I will check out the new boxes👍
Bloody Kiwi's ...
I was worried when I read this cos I'd just ordered one!!! Turns out that Sistema have two completely different ranges, the "Klip-it" and the "Klip-it Plus". The Klip-it is 7L and has the handles on the bottom section while the Klip-it Plus is 7.5L and has the handles on the lids. I have loads of their tiny Klip-it containers which I use for freezing food like herbs and sauces and I absolutely love them, superb design, and I much prefer the ones with the clips attached to the bases, which is the type shown in all the variants available currently (December 2023) on Rickey's UK link, and I was very relieved to see that the box that arrived a few minutes ago from Amazon has got the clips attached to the bottom section as per the video above. I hope the angles haven't changed, I guess I'll find out when I look at the STLs for printing the bits 😄
Nice !!!!!
Hi rickey. Just found your channel and a new subsriber. Great idea for storing filament. can I ask what the overall height of the boxes are. Just working out how much space is required in my cupboard, compared to using a vacuume bag and the existing boxes.
Loved the box, Easy to follow, just purchased you 5 coffees!
Wow, awesome, thanks Jay👍
I use two FLSUN S1 Dryers to keep the spools being used dry as possible, they can do 55 C so not perfect for PETG, But still better than the spool of PETG on the spool of the printer in the open air.
Also I store any spools in e-sun filament vacuum bags using a electric small vacuum to take out as much of the air as possible and I put in each vacuum bag a big bag of new silicone desiccant.
The bags are then vacuumed until the bag is tight around the spool they are then placed back in the original filament boxes which I have written the temps and speed and flow for that filament.
They are all then placed away from any sun light in a cupboard under the worktop that holds the printers. Not a perfect system but still it works well.
I print using the dryer units which sit up on a set of brackets on top of the two small printers ( Aquila & Neptune 3 ) I was looking at buying the new S2 FLSUN Dryer which goes up to 70 C temp
and has two elements top and bottom and a big lit LCD control screen, those still pricey at around £70 in the UK.
Before I had the dryers I used to keep the filament dry by using the e-sun vacuum bags, I would have the standard side mounted original spool holder and put the spool on it and get the e-sun vacuum bag to go over the spool and holder from the left then put in the desiccant bag in the left corner of the bag then seal up the double seal on the top of the bag and just leave a tiny gap up
the top of the left part of the bag so the filament can still feed out to the extruder. Again not prefect but it works ad the vacuum bag id not vacuumed it is just loose around the spool and holder.
I will look into this one you done too?
Sounds like you have a good system there Colin. We definitely need some way of preventing moisture getting to our filament here in the UK, it must be so much easier to print in areas with lower humidity.
Genious!
I am grown up But it still makes me smile.. BTW Nice design.
🙂, Thanks Antony
Great and simple desigh, @RickyImpey. May I suggest you to add bearings for smoother filament feeder and a holder for a runout filament sensor?
Hi, I did start with bearings but found that the 'tug' from a printer's exruder could unwind a little extra filament. Multiply this 1000 times over a print and I ended up with a lot of tangled filament to sort out. The small amount of drag with the 3d printed parts touching helped in my case.
With the filament runout sensor idea, it would be hard to implement something that suited all the different designs out there. What i do is run a length of PTFE tube from the drybox to any runout sensor to avoid any kinked filament.
@@RickyImpey makes sense. Thanks for sharing your experience.
@@RickyImpey I was wondering if you could provide longer legs so I can put my filament runout sensor just below. Current legs are 37mm. 80mm would be perfect for me. Thanks in advance
do you think adding a small 12V fan inside the box to create/force more air movement through the drying media can improve the results?
another great video from you so thank you for sharing and explaining everything so clear.
There might be a slight improvement but it's not something I've tried.
Hi, Very interesting, thanks for sharing the video. Can I ask you how many liters is the box? I'm in Italy, many ads only indicate liters and not cm, and I don't know which is best for this project. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this video, I was looking to make one for my roll while printing. May I request you to make a 3d print part to attach the box right over the Ender 3 or if it may not be stable then an attachment or something to fix it on an IKEA Saadi’s peg board which is on the wall right behind the printer? I will greatly appreciate if that is possible as I don’t have a casing for my printer and neither am I a cad designer, I am a cake and cookie designer and instructor who prints cutters for my students. Thanks so much your video has helped me a lot! Thanks 🙏
Hi, I wouldn't advise attaching something as heavy as this to the top gantry of a printer, the weight will cause movement in the frame which will affect prints. I tried googling the IKEA board but didn't have any joy. If you'd like to drop me an email with a picture and maybe some measurements then I can see what I can do. rickyimpeyyt@gmail.com
@@RickyImpey thank you so much, that is so kind of you, will send you an email with the photo. Thanks so much & gold bless!
Interesting that you’re using the same boxes I bought to try as passive dry-boxes. I didn’t consider modifying them as spool-holders. 🤔
Great idea. 👍
Perfect, if you already have a box, you can try for just the cost of a bit of filament 👍
If we change the base to be more of a gravity held stand (the box sits on the base instead of being bolted to it could even mount to the printer), then you just design a storage system to organize multiple boxes. then you have hot swappable dry boxes for different filaments.
You could do but the legs don't take much filament of time to print. What doesn't come across so well in the video is the angle of the side of the box. It's not square so tricky to store without the legs.
Hi, thanks for sharing. May I ask how did you keep the rest of your filaments when not in use? Thank you.
Hi, I have a few boxes so that I can just switch out the whole box without exposing the filament to potential moist air. If I ever have more rolls of filament than boxes then I put them in the vacuum bags with a dehumidifier pack in. This keeps them dry while being stored. Links in the description👍
The boxes for me were £18 when i went looking.. & the one i got didn’t seal well. I wanted a nice nozzle that sealed around the filament as it pokes out.
That was £7 if i added up the cost of the printing for the stands would have been £1.
i could buy one £29.
So very very close!!!
I wish i had found this sooner!!
£9 for the box!! Thats brilliant!
I brought a box that fits 3 rolls as i don’t print a lot it will do!
Why this vid didn’t show up while searching.. & got recommended to me this morning ill never know
Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately my channel like everyone's is reliant on TH-cam showing my videos to people. Every like, comment and subscriber helps so in time we will grow and more people can join our little community. Glad you found us and hopefully there will be more content that you will like👍
@@RickyImpey indeed! I'm just glad I found it now! I will have this saved for the time when I need to add more storage!
Keep up the good work mate!
Thanks for the solid video you got a new sub here!
Great design, I have been looking to make a dry box but couldn't find one I liked and stumbled across yours and this ticks all the boxes. One thing I want to ask is that I already have some silica gel that changes colour when saturated so do you think printing out a mesh out with legs (for space to deposit moisture) to sit on the bottom and adding the silica beads on top would work as well as your dehumidifier pack?
The silica beads aren't bad and will work. I find the packs to last longer but they can't be 'recharged'.
@@RickyImpey Brilliant, thanks for the quick reply. I just realised I already have some mesh I didn’t use as well from my fish tank so don’t even need to print it out 👍
great video ....I feel like somehow amazon jacked the price on this storage boxcus of your video...20$ CDN for a plastic box is bananas....but the plan is vey helpful.
Made the box need to alter my bench the printer is on to get to fit but all looking good. Put one Desi bag in and it is now showing 21% humidity and 46% outside the box! Looking at a usb heater for inside and adapt your vents/fans to fit?
That would be an interesting project Phillip. Let me know how you get on.
@@RickyImpey could be some time on a budget
For anyone thinking of making these great boxes, Asda and Tesco are selling dehumidifier packs for £1.00 each or 4 for £3.50.
Thanks Paul, I'll stock up👍
Do you have the measurements for these?
@@fenrir7969 Dimensions are 152mm x 85mm x 87mm (LxWxH) for units bought in ASDA.
Doing my test run on your Free filament dryer box first then I'm going to build this Ultimate box as well. I think I'll be expanding it to hold up to 3 rolls as I tend to constantly be switching colors. Plus if the Dehumidifier packs are as powerful as you claim then One should easily handle 3 filament rolls, Right🤔? Okay fine I'm a little lazy and don't want to build a half dozen of these boxes😅. Love the step-by step instructions btw.
1 pack will do 3 rolls of filament no problem. It just might need changing a little more often.
What about a dry box that works with the creality ender 3 v2 and creality enclosure. Is that even possible?
I would be curious to see that same time lapse of the humidity doing down inside the dry box but without the filament inside. How much of that moisture was absorbed by filament vs the desiccant?
To handle the little leaks from the filament exit tube etc, how about putting the sealed box inside a vacuum bag between prints?
I have this printing on my Ender 3 at the moment - is it nrmal for this print to take 50+ hours? I'm new to 3D printing and I know it can take a long time, but that is far more than I ever would have imagined! 👀
Brilliant idea and inexpensive.
You have a new subscriber and i sent you a few coffees.
Awesome, thanks very much. Glad you liked the design 👍
I made a few iterations of heated dry box with sensors and display. I knew that the CaO type desiccant is the simplest and efficient way of drying stuff. But as an undergraduate in engineering I always try to make "high tech smart" and get mediocre result😂. The CaO desiccant really sucks the moisture, and works in almost all temperature, super easy to see how much desiccant is left and performance doesn't drop with moisture absorbed. Tyvm Sir!
edit: it's CaCl2, not CaO!
Thanks for the positive comment Yonggor, I started going down the high tech rabbit hole at the beggining and a friend of mine actually went the route of warming and cooling the air to draw off the condensate. To be fair, he did manage to get a bit more moisture out of the air but it takes a huge amount of power to run relatively. I was really pleased with the results I got here and genuinely think it's a great solution but it's difficult to get that across. I'm glad people are recognising that this is a neat solution.
It's CaCl2, to be pedantic. I used to use these tubs in a Tupperware to store opened bottles of super glue. Recently I needed to find a way to store PETG filament and discovered they make a pouch version of these, which have a gelling agent in them. Nice and flat, and lay on top of filament spools I store in a tub.
Great idea. I had several tubes of silicone cured up in the past. A tupperware drybox could be an easy solution to save these moisture sensitive stuff.
@@yonggor I'm not sure that would work, since I'm not sure it's moisture that sets off silicone. Moisture does set off superglue, and it sets off polyurethane adhesives (e.g. Gorilla Glue). The latter are really expensive and go bad very quickly if you don't keep them in a box like this.
I was under the impression that moisture is what makes silicone harden too. Shame, if it did work it would be great to save a whole tube going off when i've only used a little bit.
Great video, and great design!
However do you know if theres any Ikea boxes that would for for this design? Im asking because Amazon is not available in my country, and i actually find the 12 pounds a little pricey (for all my filaments).
If you want to get it dryer, just use a better desiccant like NaOH(lye) or even better KOH(used in soap making). Just make sure to put it in a container it won't react with like glass. Though at high temps KOH can etch glass. I'd still use the store bought dryer to remove the bulk of the water, though the KOH is such a good desiccant, it will probably dry out the store bought dryer!
@lotsofthingsgoboom found the safety police! These work fine. Obviously, ppl should use precautions when working with any chemical. However, neither is going to instantly dissolve your hand off! Wear gloves and eye protection, and don't eat it, and you'll be fine. Next you'll yell at ppl making soap!
Just found your channel, thank you for this video. I’ve already downloaded the STL files and have the box on order from Amazon.. The link you provided for the imperial nuts is the same link as the bolts. Can you provide me with the correct link to the nuts I need? Thanks!
Great to have you on board Michael👍
Hi Ricky, Do you use these boxes with your Ender 3 S1 pro? If so Have you built an enclosure?
I printed on and I am working on my second box for another color, any idea how long the dehumidifier pack lasts? I can keep an eye on the meter but just wanted to know how often I should be buying the dehumidifier or refills for it.
Hi Brian, these packs collect the moisture and drop it into the bottom of the box when they start to get saturated. I use them in other places like my car in the winter. None of the ones I have in dry boxes are showing any signs of dropping anything yet and I have had some in for over a year!
Total n00b question, how do you tell if your filament is over hydrated?
Damp filament will generally give you increased stringing and blobs. Sometimes you can hear a slight popping sound at the nozzle where the moisture is boiled out if the filament.
I like your design, especially the desiccant holder, so I hope you will take this as constructive criticism. If I want to keep a container air tight, I think a good starting place is NOT to put holes in it in the first place. The legs could have been a cradle that the box slides into and the holder for the spool could have been entirely internal. I think only one hole is necessary for this design. Also, the equation for transforming from relative humidity to absolute humidity is linear, so the percentage drop is the same. Maybe I'm missing something regarding bothering to do the calculation? And just out of curiosity, why does the holder for the spool have a square-ish cross section? Why not round? Is there less friction? Thanks.
Hi, yes technically no hole would be best but as each side of the hole is sandwiched with a plate, there will be virtually zero air gap. Far more air will leak around the filament inside the PTFE tube. With regards the the relative vs absolute humidity, no they are not linear. Warm air holds more moisture than cold air. The relative humidity may not change on your gauge but if the temperature rises then there is more moisture in the air. Absolute humidity takes the temperature (and pressure) into account so you know actually how much moisture is in an environment. Relative humidity is a pretty useless figure without knowing any other information. Yes indeed the squarer section gave lower friction in testing so that's what I used. Have you seen the rewind mechanism? That uses a different setup that is even nicer I find.
Regarding the holes, each sandwich is much like a bulkhead connector. However, an impermeable seal could be placed on either side of the hole and then sandwiched with the plastic pieces. Such a seal can be made using either rubber gaskets or a bead of silicone. Your hardware store probably has both.
Make added to thingiverse: I have just used the spindle and it's attachments. The two screws on the spindle mount the box onto the wall of printer enclosure with two additional screws in the two lower corners of the box. This keeps the box firmly fixed on the wall in the correct location. I also made one other small hole which I tapped a bowden tube holder into. This allows a bowden tube to directly feed my direct drive extruder. I have added some silca gel packs and the humidity inside the box, is now approx 50-75% lower then the humidity in the enclosure. I am currently printing the winder upgrade for the box and I'm going to get some more boxes to make more. I'd like to work out a quick release bracket to mount the box onto the wall without screwing it on, to allow for the box to be changed without opening them to undo the mounting screws.
I will be sending you a "coffee" for you great design.
Sounds like a great remix Duncan, I'll check it out👍
Great idea… when I finally get around to setting up my printer I’ll need to make one of these too…
Do you need to do anything to plug the hole from Bowden tube when not in use? Or find that it’s small enough not to worry?
I just leave the filament in the hole and it's then small enough not to worry about as there is very little air gap.
@@RickyImpey thanks for the reply 👍🏼 really need to pull my finger out and set up the printer… only been sitting there 6months or so… kids & work are just such a time sink.
Saw someone below mentioned the Australian sistema containers were slightly different. Any luck with modified brackets?
@@nodowt I did, drop me an email and I'll send you the files for the different sized box that worked for them. rickyimpeyyt@gmail.com
@@RickyImpey hi, dropped you an email back on the 31st. not sure if you got it?
@@nodowt just sent you a reply, it was in my spam folder 🙄
Great video, might be worthwhile updating some of the parts links.
Do you have a link for the hygrometers please? I had a search through the comments to see if it was discussed. I know some would prefer not to have them but I'm just starting out so I'd really like one that works just as a guide, but it seems a lot of those on sale are garbage and don't work 😆
I live in Arizona is it absolutely necessary to have one of these it’s never really humid here it’s a dry heat
You probably won't see any benefit other than keeping your filament clean. We live in very different climates🙂
Am I crazy? I can't seem to find the video on your channel for that awesome enclosure.
Coming very soon Garrett, just finishing off some details, sorry.
@@RickyImpey All good! I didn't realize it wasn't out yet!
Enclosure video now up!
Could this be made with brackets to sit on top of the rail of a printer? Or would it be too heavy causing problems....TY
if i put a cotton or sponge frim inside of the outside of the fillament is good idea ? just for extra security for air get insides
If you have a desiccant like silica beads or the dehumidifier packs then you don't need anything else in with your filament.
@@RickyImpey so if i put in a box with silica beads it will repaired ?
Sistema make a 9.6L version of this box which is listed as 160mm in height and my spools are 65mm deep. 2x spools is 130mm, maybe the bigger box could house 2 spools? Would work out more economical if it could as the bigger box is around 50% more expensive while holding 100% more filament. I haven't made a dry box yet so don't know what other measurements would need to be taken into account.
Sure, might be worth a look. The main reason I didn't make the box big enough for more than one roll of filament is that I wanted to minimise the number of times the box is opened.
if the filament is already soak , this box still working or else filament need to gill dry first before put in the box?
I haven't tested a completely soaked filament reel but given enough time, I imagine it would probably dry it out. It would probably be faster to get most of the moisture out by sitting on your heat bed for a few hours then put it in the box.
This is a bit of a dumb question but will this dry already wet filament? Or is a heated dryer necessary?
In my experience, it won't really dry filament. A heated and vented dryer is best.
Brilliant, gotta be worth a few coffees :)
LOVING the design. nice and simple, however my stupid printer feeds from the bottom at the side which is a pain for me as my extruder is having a hard time feeding the filament from the box. considering a shelf mod and swapping the humidifier to above the reel. hoping this works for me. might just buy a new printer instead lol!
On different printers, I use a length of PTFE tube from the box to guide the filament to any awkward position I need to. It works well as long as the tube is not too long.
I want to build this box with the rewind upgrade, and so would like to use all similar (metric) bolts. But the US Metric bolts linked aren't available and I'm having trouble finding 5mm long bolts. The Imperial bolts seem longer. Will longer bolts work? Any suggestions? Thanks
Hi, sorry, I should update the links. You need either m5 x 16 bolts or 3/16 x 5/8. These can also be called 10-32. You can use longer bolts for the base, I believe the only place you can't really use a longer bolt is in the part that goes through the lid of the box. A little longer is fine but no more than about 5mm, 3/16". Hope this helps.
hello ricky i have a quistion to you i did a box relly seme to yours but it wose then with out it and i have a qustion is there a way to know if my filement is wet or not
and thanks
Hi, unfortunately there is no real way that I know of to see the moisture content of your filament. What I do is weigh it, dry it and then weigh it again. The difference is obviously the amount of moisture that was in it. If there is a lot of moisture in your filament the. If will make a sort of fizzing or popping noise when it passes through the nozzle where the moisture is boiled. Have you tried the simple filament dryer option to dry it? th-cam.com/video/WC3jvuq-uq8/w-d-xo.html
@@RickyImpey yes before trying this there were some piping sound but after i can't hear anything thanks a lot Ricky 😀
My apartment has normally only 34% humidity during winter. Obviously when it rains it goes up.
grow up.. i chuckled... and my age is 42 :) hahahah making this one! thank you !!!
Hi Ricky I printed all the parts but I do find the filament reel holder is far too long, what's the best way to make it slightly shorter so it's not hitting the lid when you put it all together thanks....
What box did you buy Mark? Is it the Systema one linked in the description? It should fit unless you have the wrong box.
@@RickyImpey hi Ricky I bought the one in the description but I got it sorted out as I reprinted it and scaled the z axis down to 105mm and it's ok now but when I do another one I think will scale it down to 103mm as that will be perfect fit thanks again and keep the videos coming 👍
@@markcox1437 You have me concerned that for some reason the link sent you to the wrong item. It should fit. Would you mind seeing if there is anything showing the capacity of the box you have. It should be something like 7 or 7.5l. Thanks. Glad you got it sorted though.
@@RickyImpey it was the 7L ones I bought Ricky but for some reason when I printed the parts then fixed it together the lid wouldn't go on at all as the reel holder was far too long but as said it's ok now 👍
Hi ricky im having trouble printing the base plate for your filament dry box as it not flat and prints in layers and 1 section at a time can you help me out thanks
Hi, I'm not 100% sure what you mean but you should orientate the file so that the large flat part is flat on your bed.
@RickyImpey hi Ricky, for some reason, in cura 5.5, the base plate isn't printed flat
So I switched to prusaslicer 2.6.1, and it's all good and prints just fine. It might be a bug with cura 5.5
I would send you a picture of how it is in cura, but I don't know how to add pictures on youtube
Like the idea you don't have to have your filament bathe in desiccant beads.
Has anyone tried to use this with a more hygroscopic and/or finnicky to print filament like nylon or CF-nylon? How does it hold up?
I know it's a bit old video but what size box? The USA link has 4 options.
Ah sorry, I try and keep it updated but sometimes they change the listing. It's the 7l Systema box.
What is the total height after adding the legs?