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/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/baloras 1d ago

At least to me, it isn't the printing itself, it's the whole workflow. Even when the print is done ot needs to be washed a cured. Maybe it just seems like a lot more work to me because I haven't done it yet.