Filament management ... (1 Viewer)

[Nigel Crompton]

It gets complicated, this.

So filaments absorb water and this can have a deleterious effect on the quality of the print.

As my current first choice is a Bambu Labs device I've been reading up around them.

They recommend drying filament prior to every use. 12hrs at a time! This seems OTT. It is something of a bar to spontaneity. Is this common practice in 'real life' ?

I'd thought an airtight box + dessicant would do for me till I started to read Bambu's wiki

 

[PaulandChrissy]

I always keep my filament in sealed bags with some desiccant and suck all the air out with a little vacuum pump. When the prints start to show signs of a poor finish or get stringy, I put them in the dryer for 12 hours. PETG is the main filament I use and it looks horrible when wet.
Nylon needs a good 12 hours and be printed directly from the dryer. 30minutes in the open and it’s unprintable. ASA just looses layer strength and cracks easily. PLA I find you can get away with murder. The bags I use are the vacuum food bags. Will put a link in.
PaulandChrissy

 

[PaulandChrissy]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C3JFQPGG?tag=mhf04-21

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CYZGT3VW?tag=mhf04-21

 

[Nigel Crompton]

I always keep my filament in sealed bags with some desiccant and suck all the air out with a little vacuum pump. When the prints start to show signs of a poor finish or get stringy, I put them in the dryer for 12 hours. PETG is the main filament I use and it looks horrible when wet.
Nylon needs a good 12 hours and be printed directly from the dryer. 30minutes in the open and it’s unprintable. ASA just looses layer strength and cracks easily. PLA I find you can get away with murder. The bags I use are the vacuum food bags. Will put a link in.
PaulandChrissy

Thanks.
Not quite as "plug 'n' play" as the manufacturers would have us believe, is it? (Not that I ever thought it would be that simple)

 

[Guigsy]

I've got a few cheap temperature and humidity sensors. I leave one inside my Bambu Labs AMS, and I can see the humidity through the hood. There's a few sachets of renewable desiccant in there. It generally keeps the humidity below 25%. I've also got some 4 litre transparent plastic cereal boxes that hold a spool each. Some of them have the sensors in too.

I've got a spool warming box that was an Amazon special. But I've not needed it yet.

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