Who has suggestions/tips/tricks to modify Eibos Cyclopes to solve the spotted hot air problem (causing melted spools and filament)!
So I ordered a Eibos Cyclopes filamentdryer. Directly from EIBOS. First I made an account on there website giving a present of € 5,-. Making the total price (including shipment) lower then € 100,- https://shop.eibos3d.com/products/filament-dryer
It should arrive in coming week.The reviews for the machine are good. It was the first machine with an "air-outlet" I could find. All (Most) other models seem to just circulate the air.
But.... there is a but (maybe the reason that the machine is priced like this, and not only because they have a new model. Several people have/had the problem that the hot air is pointed directly on the filament on the spool. When the spool is not turning (or just slowly) it can locally get too hot and the filament (PLA!) melts together. - On printables and other places I could find several types of mods to solve this:
1. making the machine higher to give the air free room below the spools
2. adding a motor to make the spools turn slowly all the time.
3. adding temperature shields (printed types, but also bended tin (can) plate). maybe there are even many more.
So questions:
- Anybody who uses a Cyclopes and has this problem?
- How did you solve this? With one of these mods, I mentioned, or other?
Looking at the mods, I wonder if there are more simple solutions, solutions that do not handle the effect (keeping the hot air away from the spools), but are pointed at the cause: (as written by EIBOS): "The temp is the temp at the sensor, not elsewhere in the machine.:
I think that best would be that the sensor is where the hot air is, so it get's shut off soon enough when it is too hot. The machine will probably switch more often, and it takes a bit longer until it has a stable temperature. (I don't have the machine yet in hands, have to check this myself later):
- Can we just move the sensor to the hot air exhaust. Lengthen a cable, maybe print a mount?
- Or can we bring the hot air to the sensor? I have a silicon tube laying around, cut it on an angle, mount one end to the hot air exhaust and the other end just below the sensor. Does not have to be much air, just enough to heaten the sensor more directly. Anybody tried this?
If both are not possible, I consider to add a W1209 module. mount the sensor on top of the air exhaust and find the wires to the (PTC)heater and redirect them to the relay on the W1209. Then I can set a max temperature, so the heat stops at that temp, and comes back on when cooled a bit down. Biggest disadvantage is, that I have to "set" this everytime I want to dry a "more hot" filament like TPU.
Best Answer by Walter Layher:
I have an Eibos Cyclopes Dryer in use since fall of 2021. I have had no melted spools with it, just a few times filament that stuck a bit because of the heat. I read about the problem with melted spools and printed the parts from these two mods from Printables to be on the safe side in the future:
https://www.printables.com/de/model/162353-eibos-cyclopes-extension-walls-and-bearing-risers
And the replacement parts from this one for the PTFE passthrough holes:
https://www.printables.com/de/model/528210-eibos-cyclopes-extension-walls-with-filament-passt
I printed the parts from Prusament PCCF, they have been in use since mid-January of this year and the dryer works for me.
We will do what we have always done. We will find hope in the impossible.
RE: Who has suggestions/tips/tricks to modify Eibos Cyclopes to solve the spotted hot air problem (causing melted spools and filament)!
I have an Eibos Cyclopes Dryer in use since fall of 2021. I have had no melted spools with it, just a few times filament that stuck a bit because of the heat. I read about the problem with melted spools and printed the parts from these two mods from Printables to be on the safe side in the future:
https://www.printables.com/de/model/162353-eibos-cyclopes-extension-walls-and-bearing-risers
And the replacement parts from this one for the PTFE passthrough holes:
https://www.printables.com/de/model/528210-eibos-cyclopes-extension-walls-with-filament-passt
I printed the parts from Prusament PCCF, they have been in use since mid-January of this year and the dryer works for me.
RE: Who has suggestions/tips/tricks to modify Eibos Cyclopes to solve the spotted hot air problem (causing melted spools and filament)!
Prusament PCCF
Looks very nice, but is that not a bit of an overkill? You could "cook" food in there 😉
We will do what we have always done. We will find hope in the impossible.
RE: Who has suggestions/tips/tricks to modify Eibos Cyclopes to solve the spotted hot air problem (causing melted spools and filament)!
I am happy with the fact that I can load the filament from the front now without juggling the hood, which is much less cumbersome than the process on the unmodified dryer where you somehow seem to need more than two hands.
RE: Who has suggestions/tips/tricks to modify Eibos Cyclopes to solve the spotted hot air problem (causing melted spools and filament)!
Issue solved! I followed your two conclusions:
- Do not use the holes in the hood!
- Do something to protect PLA against heat!
And that is just what I did
I used this model to raise the hood a small bit: https://www.thingiverse.com/make:1180690
And soldered a PCB-laying around + 2,5mm2 cupper wire togehter to this: https://www.printables.com/model/136198-eibos-heat-deflector/comments/1876510
Measured the topside of the PCB-plates. They stayed on max 71 degrees Celsius while Cyclopes wat set to 65 degrees. And also bent the thermistor toward the middle (held by curl in the cupper wire ;-)) to get a direct measurement.
When drying PLA I will check if there is a significant difference and will add it here. Regards, Eef
We will do what we have always done. We will find hope in the impossible.
RE:
When drying PLA I will check if there is a significant difference and will add it here
I'm super late to this conversation, so I'm curious to see what difference if any your mod made.
I hadn't seen the thingiverse riser, but I've gone a little overboard I guess. Initially I made a set of gears to turn the spare spool while the other was printing, while that worked mechanically it just meant I had two spools on the rotisserie!
It's driven me mad I have to say - so I bought a really cheap food dehydrator and it works really well, but it spurred me on!
The dehydrator has a finned diffuser that forces the hot air out horizontally and in a swirl. It wasn't too big a step to make one to sit over the existing vent, I had to make a 35mm riser to make it work but that fixes the filament feed problem too. The image is an early prototype, the thermistor will be raised 35mm and hopefully out of that initial blast of air.
I am waiting for some PC filament to arrive, but I am hopeful! I would normally not share until I've thouroughly tested, but if anyone is interested let me know.
y