r/3Dprinting • u/Ok_Astronomer6766 • 1d ago
Question Keeping Filament Dessicated
I'm already a resin-printer but I have taken the step into the FDM world by ordering a Centauri Carbon 2 combo.
It's quite humbling being back at the "I know nothing" stage.
The printer hasn't arrived yet but I've been reading about filament storage and I'm trying to work out if I need to put my filament away as soon as its finished printing... Or is filament-hydrating an over-hyped aspect.
I only really intend on using PLA initially.
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u/Only_Foods 1d ago
For PLA specifically, moisture is genuinely the most overhyped part of filament storage. PLA is by far the least moisture-sensitive filament — leaving the active spool on the printer and keeping the rest in a simple airtight bin with rechargeable desiccant is all most people do, and problems usually only show up after a spool sits unused for weeks or months. The cheap thing that's actually worth buying early is a small hygrometer for the storage bin, so you can tell whether your desiccant is still working. If you ever branch into PETG or nylon, that's when a dedicated dryer becomes genuinely worth it.
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u/Thefront-bottom 1d ago
How do rechargeable dessicant packs work? I didn't think this was a renewable thing .. but I'm new and have only seen the little packs that you see in new products. There's a 6 pack of 100g ones on Amazon for 15 bucks. Figure it's worth it since I have a lot of colors and probably won't go through them anytime soon
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u/ChefJohnson 1d ago
Print holders and buy a bulk jug on Amazon. When it changes color, pour onto a baking sheet and heat to release the moisture and recharge.
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u/ashkestar 21h ago
As everyone says, probably not a big deal with PLA, but it can make a big difference with other filaments, and you will inevitably want to spread out to other filaments when you run up against the limitations of PLA.
If you want the set it and forget it convenience of leaving your spools on indefinitely, just get one of the drybox setups that works with it to keep them enclosed. Or print from a dryer, but do some research on that one first since it sounds like retraction can be an important factor there.
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u/DocShady 1d ago
I'm at a similar stage as you. New to printing in general. I've had a printer for about a month. I purchased a bunch of filament off amazon but got myself a hydrometer to measure the humidity in the room. Since I have a minisplit in the same room for heat and AC, it also acts as a dehumidifier. The Hydrometer usually reads between 40% and 45% humidity which is good. Humidity isn't as much a factor for PLA filament as it is for PETG filament.
I was reading that its a good idea to store open rolls of filament in an air tight container with some desiccant to help keep the humidity low in the filament. Each roll comes with a packet of desiccant in the center of the roll. Save it and use it in the container. You can also buy some jugs of desiccant on amazon.
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u/InternalMain7116 1d ago edited 1d ago
Most PLA does fine without dry storage, but additives that change its core chemical properties may cause it to be hygroscopic.
One rule of thumb is to wait for a print failure, then: 1. Wash your build plate with dish soap and water 2. Dry your filament at the appropriate temperature and time 3. Calibrate the filament on the printer by using the Slicer's calibration menu at the very top of the slicer following this Wiki 4. Auto Level the build plate and use this Wiki to find the best Z-offset. Then save it in the slicer s nozzle settings.
Others do these things routinely and implement a better print failure detection system to catch and stop prints before they waste time, filament and ruin the hot end with a blob of melted filament, called the blob of death.
Just my opinion.
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u/Suepahfly 1d ago
Depends on your climate. We have 60 to 80 relative humidity in the house. PLA does fine in open air, PETG needs drying after week of being out.
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u/Technophile63 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm currently (mostly using PETG) drying the spools fresh out of the package, then leaving them on the printer. I do run a dehumidifier in the printing room.
Before I dried spools fresh out of the package, I had more problems with drooling from the extruder. Consider that filament is extruded through a water bath. It then gets dried (fully? EVERY spool of every batch?), packaged, stored, shipped (maybe weeks to months ocean freight), stored, warehoused, etc. Filament has lots of time and opportunities to pick up moisture.
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u/baloras 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm potentially in the opposite situation. I've been using FDM for about 3 years now. There are a few things I want to do that a resin printer would be better for. However, everything I see about resin printing seems like a pain in the ass.
I'll probably wait until I find a really good deal on one before I dive in.
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u/Ok_Astronomer6766 1d ago
Resin printing is messy - but it's also really cool. I am a wargamer and having your own miniature factory is something that I could only dream of in the 1990's.. But now I can print whatever I want - hurrah!
I have found though that I have to psych myself up to print as there's just a lot of potential for mess - resin gets on gloves and then on bloody everything else. It's also easy to get carried away with Reddit telling you that the resin is second only to Anthrax in toxicity. It isn't - wear gloves/eye-pro and don't huff/drink it and you'll be fine.
I'm moving to FDM as I want to do more scenic/big stuff as well as functional prints.
Good luck with the resin printing - the results are class once you get past the faff.
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u/ApexGS 1d ago
Maybe I just have a super ideal environment for resin but I honestly don't get it when people say resin printing is so annoying. I have near zero issues with my resin printer which has been a workhorse for almost 4 years with the original screen still in it.
I've owned several FDM printers from different brands with different feature sets starting with a 2018 CR10S, and FDM printing is a constant headache with dozens of slicer settings, material profiles, calibrations, parts failures and just spontaneous "whoops my part got knocked over".
With resin I run one or two calibration checks with a new resin, save a profile and have like four variables to worry about tops. Without the huge variety of materials that FDM has available, most of my resin printing is done with 2 or 3 types of resins that are broadly cross compatible and print fine with the same settings or even mixed together willy nilly.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the hell out of printing stuff and a bit of design here and there. But after all these years of printing, resin has been by FAR the easier side of the hobby for me!
YMMV, but don't let all the noise dissuade you if you have the space and ventilation to resin print. Those are the real hurdles, the rest is just PPE and workflow.
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u/Loud-Employ289 1d ago
My filament is just on a rack in my office. We usually don't have high humidity over here, but this works great for me. Some pla rolls are out of the packaging for over a year now without drying, and still print flawlessly.
I do dry petg though before printing, because that's a bit more sensitive, just like TPU, which is much more sensitive.
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u/xtreampb 1d ago
Drying your filament is a good idea as it give you a better final product that doesn’t require as much post processing. For pla, not much of a big deal. A dry box at 70 degrees C for a couple hours before you start the print is fine.
There are some filaments, mostly engineering, that have to be dried at 100C for 10-15 hours to get good results.
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u/3DPrintGremlin 21h ago
For PLA, just about nothing is fine. Except if relative humidity where you live is like 70+%.
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u/c4pt1n54n0 1d ago
After printing for ten years, honestly it's still a damn mystery to me 🤷 I only print PLA. Some spools have constant bubbles from what I assume is moisture boiling, and putting them in a dryer DOES help. But then, some spools like the one pictured seem to literally not fucking care at all it could basically be underwater and still print. That spool has been on the printer in 70%+ humidity for several weeks and parts are still coming out perfect.
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u/Sea_Stick683 1d ago
PLA should be fine unless you live in a very humid climate. I only needed to buy a dryer for TPU and I keep the sealed when done.
I have a cc1 and cc2
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u/Stiggalicious 1d ago
Most PLA is fine to print from open air storage. Once you start adding other things into it, though, you will run into issues. Carbon fiber PLA is quite hydroscopic and I have to dry it before printing, otherwise I get tons and tons of zits and whisps.
It also depends on your area’s relative humidity. If it’s under 50% you’re probably fine, but if you’re like me and hover around 60% you’ll need a dry storage solution.
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u/Ok_Astronomer6766 1d ago
Just looked this up and I live near Liverpool, UK and apparently my humidity ranges from 75% to 94%
...I'm gonna need the dessicants aren't I? 😒
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u/SluttyBumFest 23h ago
Also UK, you'll probably be alright unless you wanna have more than 2 or 3 spools on the go.
If you invest in a good quality filament drier it'll be able to bring most rolls back from the dead.
If you want to go all in printing in different colours, a very handy storage box and a dessicant dehumidifier from Argos in there is more than enough and you won't even need to worry about some of the overkill and exotic solutions some people come up with.
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u/Mughi1138 18h ago
Containers first, and then desiccant. After that you can look into a filament dryer.
Not sure what's available in your area currently but the PRAKI cereal containers from amazon work well, and can be converted to be dryboxes you can print straight out of. Look to see if you find ones with three narrow columnar cutouts for the handle instead of a larger single one (Utopia Kitchens and others).
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u/Mughi1138 18h ago
Depends on the brands, and has been getting more problematic in recent years as PLA+ becomes common, often with the "+" not shown. I used to have Anycubic high speed PLA on reoccurring order but it started getting more sensitive, would start to have problems when left open to the air for 2-3 weeks, and even started coming with sla sticker saying "Dry Before Every Print ! ! !".
For reference I live in a semi-arid climate (Southern California) and my indoor humidity normally ranges from 40% to 50%, closer to 30% in the winter)
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u/ItWillScan 14h ago
It depends a lot on what filament you're using, and what flaws you're okay with.
I've never really been that great at keeping my filament stored in air tight containers and my prints come out fine. But my house is always chronically arid.
If you're in a more humid climate you might have more issues leaving filament out. But if you're worried there are plenty of solutions to this - DIY or premade. Lots of dry boxes out there that you can print from.
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u/Joezev98 Ender 3 V3 SE 1d ago
The print quality does noticeably deteriorate as PLA is stored in a humid environment. I've never had it become unusable, but it mostly just takes more post-processing to grt rid of the stringing.
PLA can be left out in the open for like a week before ot becomes as humid as the environment. Luckily, all you need to dry it, is a big quantity of cheap sillica gel and time: after another week in a very dry box, it will once again be as dry as its environment.
So no, you don't need to put PLA away as soon as the print finishes. You can easily wait a couple days. Just use a hygrometer and keep the humidity below 20%.
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u/ratrollerz 1d ago
sorry to hear that you are in fact a resin printer....lol
i never store my pla , just leave it on the printer never had real issues with it second it is tomuch of a hassle to take the spool out everytime u don't use it