Filament Dry Box – Single Reel
Description
The most flexible dry box approach is to have an individual dry box for each filament. Thus, you can customise for filament spool size and filament type. This project builds an individual dry box for a standard 200 x 65mm reel with room to vary the amount of drying desiccant for different filament materials. I had a need to control the moisture level in my 3D print filament. At first, I was using ziplock bags and a central dry box that held three active filament reels. I moved away from the central dry box approach, instead to use individual filament boxes. The individual box approach means not having to regularly open up the dry box to swap reels, letting in fresh moist air in the process. The individual dry box approach allows me to customise the degree to which I can maintain the individual reel moisture levels. My Nylon filament is kept at a level of less than 10% humidity whilst PETG is maintained at less than 20% humidity. To control moisture at different levels means having different amounts of included desiccant in each filament dry box. So, to that end I use different size desiccant boxes to meet my varying desiccant amount needs. Loose Silica Gel in a bag was potentially messy. So, I designed custom boxes to enclose the desiccant with lots of small holes for air circulation. Over time, the Silica Gel will need refreshing and drying out. Follow manufacturer guidelines on the desiccant drying process. The dry box approach to keeping filament dry is effective for filament that is already dry. Desiccant alone will not remove moisture that has already been absorbed by the filament. A filament drying process not covered here is required. There are alternatives to Silica Gel to remove moisture from the air that can be effective, too. These alternatives are more or less effective, relative to Silica Gel, hence the quantity placed in the dry box will need adjusting, accordingly. See assembly guided, included in this project file set. The Govee meter allows me to visually see the inside moisture level of each dry box. In addition, the Govee meter can be seen remotely on my smartphone via Bluetooth. All my dry box reels can be seen together in one summary screen, sweet! My print is made in PETG 1.75mm Aurarum black filament, with 0.2mm layer height and 15% infill on a PRUSA I3 MK3S printer. I hope you can find this print useful, too.
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