How to Store your Filament?

[printedman 1]

Electric dry cabinet, like those for camera eqm. Good place for keeping our filament PLA and ABS dry n good?

 

[burki 1]

Frankly, my filament lies around somewhere in the vicinity of my printer. So far i have never had any problems.

 

[tommyph1208 55]

Electric dry cabinet will definately work, but sounds a bit like overkill... I ordered 50 small silica pads (the small moisture absorbing bags you find in eg. shoe boxes) on ebay... Throw the filament in an tight container or bag with a few of those, and you should be good

[printedman 1]

Frankly, my filament lies around somewhere in the vicinity of my printer. So far i have never had any problems.

 

My is hanging around too. :mrgreen:

 

[gr5 2,167]

I know someone who dried his filament a little too tight after wrapping on a somewhat smaller spool and a few days later the filament broke up into hundreds of pieces.

I keep my filament wrapped tightly in plastic bags but do nothing else. I have air conditioning in the summer and humidifier in the winter.

Nylon should be kept extra dry but PLA and ABS should be fine in typical home environment.

 

[printedman 1]

Can we tell if ABS or PLA is bad without actually printing it? I have a roll of ABS which break easily when i bend it. Is it bad?

 

[eldrick 65]

ABS is Not OK in a typical home environment. Do realize that "typical" homes can be up to 75% humidity or even higher if you open a window.

ABS quickly absorbs moisture to the point where you can hear tiny crackling sounds when some of the moisture turns to steam in the extruder. This produces a blivet on the print where the expansion of steam in the nozzle forces out extra plastic. Note that ABS can absorb .3% or mositrure by weight in 24 hours, and up to .7% at saturation: http://www.machinist-materials.com/comparison_table_for_plastics.htm

So keep your ABS in sealed containers with a dessicant. I use large airtight plastic storage bins with an Eva-Dry dryer in each bin.

Also, drying filament does not make it more brittle. If some shattered after desiccation, it would be coincidental, not causative.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

ABS is Not OK in a typical home environment. Do realize that "typical" homes can be up to 75% humidity or even higher if you open a window.

 

Which you actually should do if you're printing ABS...

 

[eldrick 65]

Which you actually should do if you're printing ABS...

 

Or just use a room air cleaner with a good charcoal (for chemicals) and HEPA filter(for particulates), which I do.

 

[printedman 1]

Does condition in different country make a different? Is there a way to test if the ABS or PLA is bad ?

 

[skint 61]

Stick the filament in a plastic container with a lid.. and inside place an open bag of rice Cheap option

 

[printedman 1]

Stick the filament in a plastic container with a lid.. and inside place an open bag of rice Cheap option

Can I cook the rice after use? :mrgreen:

 

[Nicolinux 288]

Yes, but only serve it to your friends you like least

 

[tommyph1208 55]

Stick the filament in a plastic container with a lid.. and inside place an open bag of rice Cheap option

 

I even think my 50 silica pads from china were cheaper than a bag of rice

[jumpmobile 0]

I used to dry my filament, but haven't seen any improvement compared to humid filament. Plus i had problems with cracking filament (as gr5 already mentioned) and especially dried PLA is very brittle after being stored in the dehumidifier for a few days.

Posted here:

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/3327-exsiccator-for-dry-filament/

I had to throw away about two pounds of Filament, because the first half of it cracked to pieces and the other half was useless for printing, because it was rolled up so tight that it rubbed inside my PTFE-tube, causing friction => extruder slipping => underextrusion... :sad:

Lesson: drying your filament could make sense in theory but there are many other things to consider.

 

[printedman 1]

jumpmobile

dehumidifier = Electric dry cabinet?

[jumpmobile 0]

Jep...

But without the electric part. I used calcium chloride for drying...

 

[printedman 1]

Thanks for the info. I thinking of using electric dry cabinet. Hoping to get some info and setting for it. :mrgreen:

 

[chris_uk 0]

Im still on my first spool at the moment so not had to worry about this until my next delivery.

I saw a video of someone using the same resealable bag by putting the spool back in. He then sealed it up almost to the end where he had a straw inserted and sucked the air out. Resealed and put away.

Would this be a low cost effective solution? :???:

 

[printedman 1]

The idea of using a dry box with silica pads or electric cabinet is to absorb the moisture absorbed by the ABS or PLA while the are out in humidity atmosphere when we using it for printing. Using the resealable bag by putting the spool back in and suck out the air, will that remove the moisture retain in the ABS or PLA?

[pm_dude 27]

I was looking for freezer bags lately and found big ones at the supermarket. They are so big actually I can fit 2 spools in them. putting them all together in those bags makes me realize I have quite a few already (I got my printer a month ago) and I'll add some more this week...haha I love that printer...

I remove most of the air just with a straw and leave one of the provided bags with it. Reading your comments I might remore that bag in the PLA ones.

 

Size is 33cm by 39cm

 

[printedman 1]

Due to frequent swapping of filament, sometime up to 4 or 5 time per day. So I got myself a dry cabinet. Till now still working well. :mrgreen:

 

[drayson 75]

I just ordered a few lock&lock containers at amazon, organized some big silica bags from a packing dept. and placed my roles and samples in.

But I guss in my home office it would be dry enough to store it just in a corner...