RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
Here are my notes from the test:
- PLA is quick and easy to dry but will get "damp" in as little as 7 Hours
- PETG takes longer to dry but will get "damp" in as little as a 1 Daye
- PA-CF is much harder to dry (takes days) and gets "damp" in as little as 2 hours
- Food Dehydrator at 50c will dry down to around 10%
- Food Dehydrator at 70c will dry down to 0% and is much quicker (but this temp is deemed too high for PLA and PETG as it is above their Glass Transition Temp)
- Vacuum will dry down to around 0.10%
- Freezer Bag will dry down to around 0.17%
- Dry Cab (0%RH) will dry down to 0%
Store and Print filaments in as low a RH environment as possible (eg Dry Box for storage and print from a Dehydrator)
Filament moisture content goes up and down with RH
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
From what I have read, these cabinets will NOT dry wet filament, or it will take VERY LONG. So use heat, then after it is dry, but it in the cabinet. You could try adding a fan to the cabinets to speed the process. They don't really have one.
The cabinets will dry "wet", it's just slower than baking (which varies by filament)
I'd don't think there is any point adding a fan. They use a molecular sieve and it's fan runs till the air inside the cabinet reaches it's RH set point. As the filament loses moisture to the air and the RH rises the fan kick back on.
If you want "quicker" results I'd say use the dehydrator first, then pop it into the cabinet.
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
@jmone thank you for sharing the test results! The dry cab has it's place, but it looks like the dehydrator kills it for the quickest results. Did your test use the modified food dehydrator you print from or some other dehydrator? Can you post the make / model?
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
Yes it does kill it for speed for that initial drying, but it also stores them dry and ready to print without further mucking around. This is the setup I use. The only mods I did was drill holes to pass a PTFE tube directly to the MMU2 (got rid of the stupid buffer) and added a tile from the hardware store as a base. I put the filament spools on those printable rollers. Works great and is cheap as.
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
sorry, I should have said the PTFE tubes from the don't go directly to the printer, they are seperate tubes that I thread the filament though, so when it retracts the two tubes separate.
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
@jmone thanks for posting the pic! Great idea! The description of the Sunbeam Lab Dehydrator says the unit s/ only stay on for 19.5 hrs straight, then cool it down for 2 hours before re-running it. Are you restarting it periodically or did you rig it up to stay on all the time?
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
Ahhh, I never read the instructions! Since I have dry filament, I just set the timer to be at least what the print time is (and 19.5 hours is more than enough for most prints). When I wanted it to go longer, I would just increase the timer back up periodically. I did not notice any issue, but for all I know at some point it may burst into flame and burn your house down. Mine is still just fine after many years.
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)
I will give an update on my Production Automation Corporation (eDry) dry cabinet. It works great. In my house, humidity is about 30-35%. Cabinet humidity 5.6% but I have seen it as low as 4.5%. The cabinet fits 4 spools easily, but will fit 5. The door opening is not large enough to load them in straight, so you usually have to tilt them, which means only 4 spools total. I've been very happy with it, and for $200, its a great deal. I DO dry filament first, then put it in the cabinet. Wet filament causes many more problems then you think.
RE:
As a former employee of Eureka Dry Tech I can assure you eDry and PAC/Eureka are not the same company. They are not even located in the same city.
The desiccants in the Eureka/PAC Dry Boxes will regenerate in time interval cycles.
The FD-3D25 uses a smaller dry unit so it will take longer to dry filaments.
The larger cabinets all uses the same dry unit and is quite capable of removing existing moisture in the filament.
In this video you can see within 24 hours of storing in the cabinet the stringing has begin to reduce. By 72 hours there's essentially no stringing
Here's another video of comparing effects of storing and not storing then returned to the dry cabinet again.
I'd recommend buying a box that would be big enough to hold enough filament that are being actively used for prints.
Vacuum seal any filaments not being used so the storage space can be utilized for other filaments.
From what I have read, these cabinets will NOT dry wet filament, or it will take VERY LONG. So use heat, then after it is dry, but it in the cabinet. You could try adding a fan to the cabinets to speed the process. They don't really have one.
The cabinets will dry "wet", it's just slower than baking (which varies by filament)
I'd don't think there is any point adding a fan. They use a molecular sieve and it's fan runs till the air inside the cabinet reaches it's RH set point. As the filament loses moisture to the air and the RH rises the fan kick back on.
If you want "quicker" results I'd say use the dehydrator first, then pop it into the cabinet.
Absolutely correct. The dry cabinets are generally set it and forget it. The molecular sieves will act as an magnet for any moisture in the chamber and be actively refreshed to maintain a dry enviroment. Adding a fan will not really do much to help dry faster. But increasing the amount of dry units and allow them to regenearte faster cycles in alternating intervals will help.
Give it a day or two before using a freshly opened packaged after being stored in the cabinet and it will print consistently after that as long as it's maintained in the dry cabinet.