Drying out PLA filament

[francfalco 37]

Sorry forum, i know this topic has been covered a ton of times but i just need a clarification if i may... Forum and Google search wasn't conclusive.

I think i have some moisture issues with a roll of pla - blobbing surface features and it 'pops' at the nozzle when extruding - never had that before!

My bad, it has been open stored in my bedroom, so i was asking for trouble. But now its absorbed moisture - what are the best options?

I'm hoping it will be possible to put it in a ziplock bag with a pouch of desiccant and let it dry out that way? I don't fancy the long low heat dry out in the oven option - but if that is the best way?

Desiccant or oven_ votes please.

Cheers

Franc

[jameshs 42]

Wow - in London - I store mine open all the time and never have any bad effects.

Personally I would do the long slow oven - or even in news paper in the fridge (fridges are really dry environments!) or just in dry cardboard for a while.

Skip the vacuum - does not work.

James

 

[francfalco 37]

Have to admit i was slightly surprised i seemed to be having moisture issues with my PLA.

My other printers filament is stored in a filling cabinet with a couple of bags of desiccant for good measure - never had any issues - but that is a work in an open plan office.

But as mentioned, my home printer is located in my bedroom and in the mornings the insides of the windows are usually slightly foggy with condensation. The filament in question had been hanging from the machine for a couple of weeks, i was getting blobby surface anomolies and the popping extrusion was very strange, so i surmised a moisture issue.

I did pop the filament in a ziplock with a couple of bags for a day - and just completed a 6 hour print and all seems fine now - i'll carry on with airtight bags and desiccant and see if that does the trick?

But may try the slow oven - what temp and how long would you suggest?

Cheers

Franc

[pm_dude 27]

I use 90C/100C for Nylon but dont go above 90C for PLA or it will start to soften.

Do a test with a few meters maybe at 80C for a few hours, print a test and then adjust if needed. If it print fine leave it out in the room again for a day or two and do another test print. I dont know if PLA will grab back the moisture like Nylon does but I know it wont like many subsequent drying.

Best of luck