Maintaining filament dryness... Is a dehumidifier or a dehydrator preferred?
So, I'm working on building a storage cabinet for filaments. I see that the recommendation is for drying filaments before use, especially the hygroscopic ones. Often, I see the mention that filaments shouldn't be in the dryer longer than X time and Y temperature or else they become brittle. So, the question becomes, can you dry the filaments just using a dehumidifier and circulating dry air? Can you dry the filament initially for the appropriate time and temperature and then store it and/or print out of a dehumidified dry box?
What are most Prusinions (Prusa Minions) using?
RE: Maintaining filament dryness... Is a dehumidifier or a dehydrator preferred?
A dehumidifier is not going to dry your filament but can help keep it dry. I currently use PrintDry Pro dryers to dry filament and keep them in a modified IKEA Billy cabinet, with a handful of small rechargeable dehumidifiers. It's working well for me. Filament that has been in the cabinet for a while I tend to run through the PrintDry over night before important prints.
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- until all hell broke loose with the forum software...
RE: Maintaining filament dryness... Is a dehumidifier or a dehydrator preferred?
Thank you! That's helpful!
RE: Maintaining filament dryness... Is a dehumidifier or a dehydrator preferred?
I print in a tropical jungle setting on the water. Wet filament is a given here. Print mostly PETG. Filament comes out of the factory bag to a dryer for a full cycle then into an eSun vacuum bag with a desiccant canister we print here. We don't have space for cabinets but have to say I'm happy with the bags so far. Long prints still go into a dryer to feed out of. CF filaments really need to be handled right as they positively inhale humidity.
RE: Maintaining filament dryness... Is a dehumidifier or a dehydrator preferred?
I moved to sealed storage bins and Activate Alumina for desiccant after a recommendation on a forum here. Bought a few kgs of it and stainless steel soup infusers to hold the desiccant. I can just put the whole container in the oven when I need to dry it. Even with 50% RH in my workshop during the rain, my filament is at 15% when I need it. Three storage bins with 6 or 8 rolls of filament per bin. No need to wait to dry filament. All I have read is less than 30% at 22 degrees is what is needed so I am below that number.