Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator  

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Posted by: @tim-m30

I just jumped into the dehydrate cart. But found in my foirst test of the dehydrator that 60c is bad for some of my filament... lol.  

The PrintDry temp and time recommendations work well for me.

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Edit: The older PrintDry table is the one I use. The updated "official" table is cut off.

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Well my new dehydrator finally arrived, I've wiped the insides down, washed the grates and am now testing temperature with something in it.

The most important supply for 3D printing..... JERKY 😀 

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Word of advice to all men.

Don't buy a decent looking dehydrator which fits in the kitchen nicely because you will not own it for long let alone be able to dry filament in it!.

Looks like I'm stuck with the Oypla after all, at least I can mod it now!.

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Posted by: @chocki

Word of advice to all men.

Don't buy a decent looking dehydrator which fits in the kitchen nicely because you will not own it for long let alone be able to dry filament in it!.

 

Looks like I'm stuck with the Oypla after all, at least I can mod it now!.

My wife bought both of mine for me.  

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Don't buy a decent looking dehydrator which fits in the kitchen nicely because you will not own it for long let alone be able to dry filament in it!.

This just means you need to go shopping with SWMBO again. 

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Posted by: @guy-k2

Don't buy a decent looking dehydrator which fits in the kitchen nicely because you will not own it for long let alone be able to dry filament in it!.

This just means you need to go shopping with SWMBO again. 

I looked that up (SWMBO) and almost shot my morning coffee out my nose.  My wife had a good laugh at my expense.  Dude, you gotta warn a brother.  

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

@jmone

+1 for me.  My eSun ePA-CF came wet from the factory - it printed terribly until I dried it.  I now print it direct from the dehydrator with a reverse Bowden setup.  It is my favourite engineering material -strong, light and with a good finish.

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Posted by: @aureumlocus

@jmone

+1 for me.  My eSun ePA-CF came wet from the factory - it printed terribly until I dried it.  I now print it direct from the dehydrator with a reverse Bowden setup.  It is my favourite engineering material -strong, light and with a good finish.

And I just got a eSun ePA-GF and same thing.  Wet from the factory - more here https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2-how-do-i-print-this-printing-help/esun-epa-gf-weird-hue-changes-on-layers/

I've been also playing with using a Vacuum Chamber (mine is strong enough to boil water) and the results on the ePA-GF look good and seem to be quicker.  I heat the filament up for an hour or so to 70c then put it into the Vacuum Chamber and give it a couple of hits over 20mins or so.  Print a Benchy to see the results, rinse and repeat till totally dry.

Looks like the ePA-GF is going to be another great engineering material like the ePA-CF (once I get it dry and dialled in that is).

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

@aureumlocus

Same for me both were wet on delivery.  

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

70c will deform some PLA. Recommend testing for temperature sensitivity first.

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

@tim-m30

Hi Tim.

We’re talking about Nylon (PA - Polyamide) filament here so 70 degrees C should be fine. 
cheers

 Rick

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Thanks - who'd have guessed ePA is nylon... lol. 

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

@tim-m30

I made the same mistake first time I saw it. Polyamide (PA) is the more generic term for this type of plastic, which includes Nylon.  eSun list the heat distortion temp of ePA as 120 degrees C. 

The glass fibre reinforced PA (ePA-GF) is listed as having a tensile strength of 100 MPa, even stronger than the carbon fibre reinforced PA at 75MPa and nearly as strong as some aluminium alloys - remembering that 3D printed items are nowhere near as strong as the raw filament.  
Carbon fibres are generally much stronger than glass but I’m guessing  that these glass fibres are longer than the chopped carbon fibres usually used in these types of composite filament giving them more strength in the composite form. eSun doesn’t say so this is only speculation on my part and the proof will be in the testing. 

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

Posted by: @aureumlocus

@tim-m30

I made the same mistake first time I saw it. Polyamide (PA) is the more generic term for this type of plastic, which includes Nylon.  eSun list the heat distortion temp of ePA as 120 degrees C. 

The glass fibre reinforced PA (ePA-GF) is listed as having a tensile strength of 100 MPa, even stronger than the carbon fibre reinforced PA at 75MPa and nearly as strong as some aluminium alloys - remembering that 3D printed items are nowhere near as strong as the raw filament.  
Carbon fibres are generally much stronger than glass but I’m guessing  that these glass fibres are longer than the chopped carbon fibres usually used in these types of composite filament giving them more strength in the composite form. eSun doesn’t say so this is only speculation on my part and the proof will be in the testing. 

True bu CF is lighter.  

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

@charles-h13

Good point. Density of ePA-CF is 1.24 and GF is 1.35, so a significant difference when weight is important.

A carbon fibre reinforced ASA would be nice for these applications (drone parts etc.)

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

ePA (either CF or GF) is a great choice for hot end parts.  Have a look at the difference in Heat Distortion and Brittleness for these filaments VS PETG and ABS+.  The only thing I'd rather print Hot End Parts with (and I've tried & failed) is PEEK.

For me ePA-CF is the go for Prusa hot end parts, as not only the above but also it is:

- Black

- Parts Looks great

- Light

- Dimensionally Accurate when printed

- Does not warp

- Easy to print (when DRY!).

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

I am more and more convinced that many of the "poor prints" type threads we see is from Wet Filament.  I've had issues with ePC so I also run a spool of that through my drying process at the same time as my new (and wet) role of ePA-GF.  The prints from the ePC look spectacular and glossy, but it is far more brittle than ePA (as I could snap the while Cabin off the benchy with my hands, where as with the ePA I can only snap off the Funnel).

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

@jmone

Thanks for that. I printed the Prusa R5 hot end covers for both of my printers in ePA-CF and they are working out great. I’m tempted to try the Bear extruder in the same material. 

The eSun ePA is my go-to material when strength and heat resistance are required. It’s a bit hard to see the use  case for polycarbonate now. 

RE: Drying Times and Temps in Dehydrator

@jmone

I agree. A bit of drying seems to fix stringiness on PETG and brittleness of my PLA filament too. It’s all a bit anecdotal as I’ve not done any rigorous comparisons.