Let’s say I have a 4-hour print job. During the first hour, I get no webbing at all. But as more filament is used and I go deeper into the spool, I start to see slight webbing. To me, this suggests that the heat from the dryer isn't reaching deep enough into the spool.

One possible solution might be to put holes in the sides of your spools to help air or heat penetrate better—but I don’t want to do that, since I’m using modified cardboard spools in a AMS, and cutting into them could create dust or weaken them. I’ve also tried running a 24-hour drying cycle, but the issue still shows up as I get deeper into the filament.

If you're only doing short prints, I’d suspect it’ll be fine. Personally, as long as it’s not affecting the quality of the print itself, the webbing is easy enough to remove with your fingers or a heat gun.

PrintDry is based in Canada so maybe that’s a good thing for you @crab ? Btw, good on you for coming back to this thread to report your experience with the other dryer you had. I struggled with the $$$ for the PrintDry as well but all the terrible reviews of the units similar to what you tried kept me from experimenting with one. I guess the old saying, ‘buy once, cry once’ is appropriate.

I recently received an email from them saying they were having a Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale, so maybe you can still catch a sale between now and Christmas? Worth checking out. 

Good luck!

Cheers

 PrintDry system. I’d prefer it to have some form of fan.

The PrintDry has a fan. It's humming along right behind me…

The oozing you mention does actually occur when the extruder is heating up.

This too can be a symptom of wet filament - some being pushed out by steam.

I use a food dehydrator:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HOMCOM-Dehydrator-Adjustable-Temperature-Control/dp/B01N8OWBLQ/ref=sr_1_5?crid=YLPBZLC5NVD8&keywords=dehydrator&qid=1636119085&sprefix=dehy%2Caps%2C73&sr=8-5

I didn't do much research - just picked one that used up the remaining credit on a gift-card.

You can either snip out the bottom of a couple of trays to make room for a filament roll or do what I did and print a tall spacer.  A translucent PETG spacer has worked OK for me so far...

Attached are files for the spacer. dryerinsert should fit a Mini, print three and glue together to make a spacer.  dryerinsert1 fits an i3, print two and glue together.  

dryerinsert

dryerinsert1

Cheerio,

Food dehydrators also work quite well on damp 3d print filament.

We have one of those Ninja Cookers which has a dehydrate mode.  If I have a suspected damp filament spool I'll just put it in the Ninja, set it to dehydrate at about 120F/49C and let it run overnight.

People have reported having good luck in a regular full-size ELECTRIC oven, set to a low keep-warm temperature, but there have been reports of ruined filament when trying to dry it in a gas oven.

Please allow me to provide my professional opinion as to what makes a good dryer. This would be a dryer that is capable of drying PA (Nylons & the like),PC's,ABS, PETG and the like probably in that order as PETG and PLA are in the lower spectrum of the list, however still very much need drying.

Now just to be clear In the past a legitimate modified food dehydrator, was more then adequate to handle the needs of these filament types. Frankly they are to this day easy enough to modify for filament use, However there are a couple of commercially available alternatives if your don't have the time or desire to build/modify one yourself. If your already willing to spend  $80 US dollars or more on a Sunlu that frankly is lacking, and it is, spend the $189 USD on a print dry, or equivalent because it just gets the  job done, no matter what, it does, it doesn't matter where you live or what your humility is it works. As would a  self built food dehydrator, you can contest this to your hearts desire you will find my information to be true. I have spent the time and the money already. If you chose to experiment and play around with your money, then by all means do so, but you are wasting your money, as someone that has learned better through time and experience is letting you know 

The SUNLU system and it's like were not worth a crap, you can spend your money on them if you like, however  once you own a real, and effective drying system you won't suggest them again in good conscience.

I say Whatever, I don't care to continue this conversation.

Say what you like.

Swiss_Cheese