Printing direct from USS Drybox on Core One+
Running the Prusa USS Drybox on my Core One+ and wanted to share early experience plus two open questions.
The box has an opening that fits either the bare filament or a PTFE tube. I tried printing with the filament sticking out directly (no tube) on a 5h print — worked perfectly, and the internal humidity sensor read 10% both before and after. I'm wondering if I actually need to use a PTFE tube for this connection or can I just use it as it is. The filament touches the drybox and bends a bit in its route to the printer. I thought it would be a problem but it seems to work fine (with PLA):
My big problem is unloading. The Core One has a long filament buffer from the filament entrance to the extruder, so there's a lot of buffer to pull out when unloading filament. Since the spool sits inside the sealed box, I can't rewind the slack back onto the roll, so I'm left with a long length of filament hanging out with nowhere to go (photo below). What's the best way to deal with this?
I haven't printed the official PTFE tube solution yet — but as far as I can tell it only protects the filament from being exposed to humidity during feeding and doesn't help the unloading problem. Am I missing something, or is there a trick to this?
RE: Printing direct from USS Drybox on Core One+
I think the "official solution" is to open one of the side flaps, put your finger in there, and wind the filament back onto the spool.
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- https://foxrun3d.com/
RE: Printing direct from USS Drybox on Core One+
I think the "official solution" is to open one of the side flaps, put your finger in there, and wind the filament back onto the spool.
You mean through the desiccant openings? Seems very awkward and quite a hassle.
RE: Printing direct from USS Drybox on Core One+
Having to open the sealed, dry-air environment is a bit disappointing. Maybe glue a large iron washer to the side of each spool and rewind it from the outside with a magnet? (One can make it slightly fancier and stick thin felt pads or such the washer and the magnet, to avoid scratching the USS box.)
RE: Printing direct from USS Drybox on Core One+
Or perhaps Prusa could come up with an AMS2 Pro style alternative with active rewind and a built in filament dryer. But then Prusa seems to have an aversion to copying innovators.
RE: Printing direct from USS Drybox on Core One+
Adding all those active components is not so easy if you can't throw cheap injection-molded parts and PCBs at everything. (Since you don't have the scale and the cheap-stuff ecosystem around you.) So I understand and kind of like Prusa's "let's keep it simple" approach.
I suspect I might understand and like it even more once the first components in my Bambu H2D start to fail...