I have read all the dry your dessicant to recharge it in the oven or in the microwave, not what I am questioning. (For the record I am team microwave purely for time savings)
Does anyone have any recommendations on 3 things
methods to dry the dessicant that doesnt end up with dessicant beads everywhere thus leading to my wife finding them for weeks. (and the subsequet dirty looks, etc) It doesnt matter how careful I am the little bastards get everywhere. ie ways to keep them from bouncing or is it more of a yeah its absolutely going to happen and/or just be more careful dumb dumb kind of thing?
a storage method to keep them in my dry box. I have both 3d printed boxes and mesh bags, I tend to like the meshbags better because I can shove them where ever there is room when I inevitably jam far too many spools in the box. However, im looking for better mesh bags, the zippers on mine arent great so there are little gaps that again allow beads to escape and end up everywhere.
As I type this…i have absolutely no idea what the 3rd thing was…so suggest other things I should get/do and or interesting things to print.
I use two large cups in the microwave, after pre-heating them with boiling water.
Tip from one into the other after every heating round and if not indicating use a scale to see when they no longer loose weight.
To avoid the mess I have the box from a frozen pizza.
Push the opening wide and kink it a bit and you can do all the filling above the opening with lost beads ending in the box.
I print little round containers to fit in the centre of the spools, don’t like bags.
Long term storage happens in a soda- or juice bottle…
When I have to work with loose desiccant an old baking sheet helps keep the beads corralled, and I can spread out desiccant on it for quicker drying.
I use curved boxes that hold about 25g of desiccant.
Printed from white nylon for heat resistance, they can be dried in the oven, reducing the need to handle loose desiccant. The shape works well in both storage containers and vacuum bags. Very small bits of desiccant can escape, but they don’t get far, caught by the container, bag, or sheet. I mark the dry weight on the box so I can tell when drying is complete.
If you don’t want loose get something like this for drying flowers pre-packed.
They microwave recharge as well when they turn green full, and I just toss them everywhere (like 7 in the tent on the floor) as it’s a giant bag. Basically a one time life purchase for drying for me. I can leave the roll in the tent forever it will be bone dry hehe.
I put one in the vac bags as well when sealing, note the size, these are not the small but medium ones.
