So I started with my AMS regular over the winter, pretty dry in here being in upstate NY.
I noticed this summer my moisture indicator went up from its normal (A) to a (C) and my desiccant was totally dark. Not only the factory bags you get that go in the back slots, but also all the AMS desiccant holders I put in the front.
So I decided to just get some little bags and use those for convenience instead of filling the boxes.
Well… those last a few weeks and the beads were DARK! I thought wow maybe I didn’t close the lid well enough.
Again here we are 2 or 3 weeks out and all my beads are dark green… its 50% humidity in here just about all the time, and my AMS rarely opens. IS my seal bad or is this normal in the wet season? I need to replace all the desiccant again!
You can regenerate Silica Gel Beads by drying them out in a microwave oven. Use a MW-safe bowl and hit it for 60 seconds at a time. Check the color of the indicator beads, repeat as necessary. Water molecules are boiled away by MW radiation. Be careful, the bowl and beads will be extremely hot. Allow to cool then store or use.
How are you storing your filament and are you drying your filament?
You might be dragging water into your AMS with the filament you load into it.
If that’s inside your AMS, 50% RH is way too high. You don’t mention your print quality but I can’t see getting good prints with those humidities. I don’t let my AMS units get much above 10%.
Oh RH inside the AMS, got it I thought you meant in the room. Not sure, it stays at an A until the desiccant turns dark. I had a hygrometer in there but the print has it sitting on the desiccant… which it will always show dry there so I stopped using it.
I work in an industrial plant so we have tons of desiccant here for machines, the clay stuff in the big bags its always at the bottom of the hygrometer in the box, I’m not having wet filament issues in that sense just my AMS doesn’t seem to be holding the moisture out suddenly.
I wanted to know if this was within range (every few weeks replacing desiccant) or if I need a new seal.
-Drying out desiccant… I was doing that for a while but got tired of it, the little bags are so cheap I went that route for now. I have a big of orange stuff just got tired of handling it in general.
It’s hard to judge excess leakage from a distance but my AMS units do leak up.
Do you dry your filament? The seal should be easy to inspect. As the door closes there should be a slight cushioning feel from the air trapped by the lid.
If the seal has developed an issue have you checked on a spare?