filament drying and printing directly from the dryer

[Jeff Ratner]

I had been battling PETG stringing and blobbing issues (Elegoo PETG). I dried the filament but then removed it from the dryer, put it on the printer spool holder and started printing. The first print or two (about 6 hours of printing) came out good but then the strings and blobs would start appearing again. 

I then tried running the filament directly from the dryer to the printer. I now dry the filament at 65 deg C for 6 hours then turn the dryer to 45 deg C, start the print and leave the dryer running at 45 for the duration of the prints. I use a piece of teflon tubing to guide the filament out of the box to the extruder. 

Stopped my stringing and blobbing this way.

I was surprised that leaving the filament exposed to ambient for such a short time would cause issues until I saw it for myself.  I'm in a humid place (Florida) but its less humid here in the winter and the printer is in an air conditioned room. 

[Kurt]

Jeff - keep this in mind - as it's a Known issue!

When drying filament - and this has been discussed in Andy's podcast - you really are ONLY Properly drying the outer layers of a spool. So, once you print for a while, and it uses up enough of the filament - you will then end up printing with wet filament. And, yeah - using a dryer and feeding into your printer directly from the Dryer - will indeed resolve the problem. Similar to what we had been doing at Essentium as well. And, this was a known issue even with PCTG - which I used a lot at Essentium. 

-K

[Dan Flemming]

I found out quickly the outer layers dried but inner layers didn't, I always keep my dryer on while printing, makes consistently good prints.

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[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Actually… the idea of having the spool within a dehydrating containment as it’s feeding the filament I think  is a really good approach. Doing it in this way is probably the best way to get the inner coils drying and the outer much dryer while printing. If moisture was a problem for me (and it’s not at all because of where I live) I would go this way.

[Dan Flemming]

I live in North Florida, although the outside moisture won't dry on grass all day, even in 90+ degrees, my inside moisture is generally around 60% (average).

I think filament stored after drying will still absorb moisture (enough to cause problems over time) through the plastic vacuum bags, enough so I automatically put them in the drying box while getting the model sliced and started printing.

  This seems to work consistently. 

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[Bryan Eckert]

I wish Bambu would have made the AMS HT freestanding, i.e. work with any printer as a dryer unit. It vents out (via fan) moist air when dehumidifying, and seals itself afterwards. I had mine sit at 4-5% RH for over a week as I printed from it. Only after I opened it to put a different roll in did the humidity go up. It has a separate port you can stick TPU through, so it would work as a unit where the extruder could just pull the filament out. It's a great little box.

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[Kurt A 3d]

Winter in New Jersey: "what's wet fillament?"    

 Summer in New Jersey: "run that PETG out of the poly dryer"

Kurt-A

[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

Dan - if you dry filament - and then want to keep it dry in a Zip Locked bag - ONLY the Silver Mylar units are any good! A Standard plastic clear Zip Loc bag is No Bueno! Moisture gets thru! 

That being said - if you have Good and Activated Silicone like gel pacs (I think that's what they are) - and they are DRY - then toss in a BUNCH into the clear Zip Loc bag with your filament - and that should work fine! 

Keep in mind - if your environment is Moist - you are kinda Screwed if you take a Dry spool - and use it while printing - and it's not contained - it WILL Absorb moisture FAST! I dealt with that a LOT at Essentium - and we had processes in place to try and Optimize things so filament is good! IT was TRICKY!!!

-K