Just purchased an x1c, excited to get started. Question about drying filament, what are some of your drying habits?
Do you dry every roll, even when new, before printing?
do you wait to see if there is a problem?
when you dry a role, what are you using to dry with??
Does the AMS system keep dry filament dry while printing? I’ve wondered about long prints on my Prusa mk3s and if the filament is getting wetter by the hour? I just finished a 37-hour print, could the filament change enough to damage a print even when starting with dry filament?
Currently I have a food dehydrator that I cut apart and use that to dry filament, one role at a time. I’m thinking with 4 roles in the basket on the x1 should I dry all 4 in the dehydrator then load (hours)? Should I get 4 dehydrators lol, hope not! Does the AMS dry the roles, I don’t believe so because I saw a feature where the enclosed area could get warm enough to dry filament. Personally, I would not want to use the printer for that, I would rather buy a single purpose machine for drying.
For filaments that tend to accumulate moisture (e.g., PETG, Nylon), yes. For PLA or ASA? Not generally.
I put dry rolls in the AMS and can leave them. If I take them out, they get vacuum sealed. When I need them again, they go back in the AMS. I’ve had rolls that have stayed in the AMS for weeks and have stayed plenty dry.
I dry every roll when I open them. Alot. Like 12 hours at 50c for pla and 24 hours at 60c for things like asa and tpu. I use the printer itself to dry nylons. After that, they go into a cabinet with a ton of desiccant or into an ams with a ton of desiccant. Both areas sit close to 0% humidity. My meters only go down to 10% but they never go above that.
If you keep it closed, filled with dry desiccant and all spools dry, yes.
I tend to change many times the filaments, so it will not last long periods.
During vacations I had the AMS closed by 14 days, and didn’t notice any difference in the sensors values, desiccant status and filament print quality.
With the additional desiccant/desiccant mods (see link above) for the AMS, I’ve found you can store your filament in the AMS for about a month before it requires the desiccant to be changed (or recharged). Depending on material being stored, you could store for longer though. Personally, I prefer to keep the humidity levels below 5%.
My guess is that if you are in an environment with higher humidity levels, you’d need to change the desiccant more often. I’m in Arizona (US), and the average humidity levels tend to be rather low (32% on average). In comparison, Alaska (77.1%), Florida (74.5%), Louisiana (74.0%), Mississippi (73.6%), Hawaii (73.3%), Iowa (72.4%), Michigan (72.1%), Indiana (72.0%), Vermont (71.7%), and Maine (71.7%).
Yes AMS keeps it dry , but no usually does not dry
Yes drying every roll now
Using eSun driers (there are better ones) , X1C drying function tested and works but not using it as too much print jobs
Do not wait to see a problem usually , but happens
Yes AMS keeps it dry , but you need extra desiccant , there are models you can print and you need to check the reading i have Humidity sensor in the printed part inside
Yes using Prusa Mk3S and yes it gest wet. Now directly feeding from the eSUN drier with some desiccant and on constantly at lowest setting while printing. Before the direct infeed for a single print have not noticed issues with 12h-20h jobs , but ambient humidity 45-50% ( dehumidifier and heater on all the time)
with Prusa Yes i have seen issues for prints over 6h with PLA/PETG when i forget to turn on the dehumidifier and /or heater, normal humidity here is 85-95% . and with TPU issues on the 3hour the same situation.
AMS does not dry , but my AMS sits on top of the printer and I have extra desiccant and running print high temp jobs(ASA/ABS) all the time which warms it. Noticed that a wet filament after two weeks gets into condition which does not affect the print any more, generally do not count on it.
Workflow
New Filament - open and straight into drier overnight 18H
move it to dry box with 500g desiccant - just a well sealed box fits 5 to 8 rolls and color changing desiccant - Have 2 boxes
some times move it directly into AMS
If used on the Prusa leave it in the eSUN drier just reducing the temp - unfortunately if i do not use it for over 24H gets a bit moisture usually not enough to affect the print, but left TPU in the drier turned off for 2-3 days and and it affected next print.
After the above change do no use dehumidifier any more but keep a heater on while printing try to keep the temp above 19C - preferably 21-22. Bellow 15C some of my prints failed ( still winter here)
I’m going to need to upgrade my dryer and get some sort of container to fit a bunch of roles. Also, as you said, i’ll also need to pick up some desiccant. Any recommendations or just pick whatever online? I use Damprid containers on my boat, doesn’t seem to be popular with filament drying…
I just ordered a sunlu dryer, holds a single spool. I also have a food dehydrator that I’ve been using, so two dryers. I also ordered some dry packs from amazon, says rechargeable etc. How do you use the jug, just pour the beads into the container with the filament? Put the beads in their own small container, open?
I’ll have to grab a storage bin and keep my dry filament in that. I currently leave them open, the humidity is around 50% next to where I store them. My prints have looked pretty good though, but its still a good idea to get a better drying strategy than the one I have.
I juts use a disposable aluminum tray in the storage bin , gets squashed a bit when i put more than 4 rolls but it is cheap and have it in the kitchen. Seen some people just pure it on the bottom , but when it is time to regenerate is bit more difficult to get it out
for the AMS i used the following:
Also have a few of these in roll desiccant containers which i put in the middle of the roll in the driers mainly to for the eSun drier which is direct feed to the prusa , keeps it dry for a bit longer if not on
And Second reason i keep one or two outside and when drying filament put it together with the roll and by the color change relative know when the filament is getting dry and a few extra hours to be sure . The humidity reader in the drier is not a very good indication when hot. Only time or/and desiccant indicator
I have added additional desiccant to the AMS, there are containers you can place in the front and some you can place inside the spools. That way I have now about 10x the amount of desiccant inside the AMS and there is no problem at all with the filaments I have been using.
The relative humidity is constantly below 5%, so the filament is even drying constantly.
But I do not open it a lot. I only do it to replace an empty spool. Every new refill or spool is first dried using my filament dryer, including the desiccant that was in the spool that got replaced. That way I do not have to regenerate the other desiccant containers too often.
Btw, if you print these containers, do yourself the favor of printing them in a high temp material - I used PC -, thus you can just put them in the oven without needing to empty it. Printed them first in PLA, bad idea.
Good on you PLA and high temp learn the hard way , Yes agree I used ABS for some and for others ASA
EDIT: but PETG should work most driers will not get above 70C-80C actually most driers are around 50C which is annoying as it takes for ever , food dehydrator is probably better than most
I’ve been printing on a Prusa MK3s since 2019, that was my first experience. I still consider myself to be a noob, always learning.
I’ve always dried my filament before using it on the prusa, but I never stored the open filament in a container of any sort. I just grab the open filament off the shelf and print, only drying the filament the one time. I’ve never had an issue that I have noticed.
I am going to a new approach and seeing if it makes a difference. Not really a good test as the machine is different, but we’ll see.
The process that seems to be agreed upon is
Open new filament
dry filament according to filament type
immediately store in a humidity controlled container
While printing it is best to have the filament stored in the container with only a small opening for exit
Printing off of a spool holder for LONGER prints could result in problems., best to use a container.
My printing room is around 50% humidity, I run a dehumidifier all the time set around 50. I think even that’s a bit to humid for filament.
I use an airfryer. Works perfect for me and much faster than the food dehydrator due to the much higher power transfer between the air and the filament.
Set it to 80°C, which I have checked to be correct, and just run it. For PLA and PETG I have a SUNLU dryer, that setup works for me fine, especially for engineering grade material.
I find that with using additional desiccant mods, my AMSs will stay at a rock steady 10% humidity as reported by the cheap hygrometers available on Amazon. When I see that number start to rise it is time to refresh the desiccant. I have gotten up to 3 months between refreshes.
It’s a great idea; I never thought about it, but it seems a feasible and efficient solution. what is
This has more potential than my dehydrator, but it may be costly !? What is the minimum temperature? Can you share some relevant details about your system?
I only open new vacuum sealed bags of filament when I’m going to use them. For filament like PLA, ABS, and ASA, with all the desiccant in the AMS (see below), I’ve been able to keep those filaments inside the AMS for a month or more with no problems whatsoever. When it’s time to swap out the filament for a different type or color, I put the spool, with its center spool desiccant holder, into a vacuum bag and pump out the air. For TPU, I put it in a dryer box overnight and have the printer pull the TPU filament directly out of the heated box. I printed a small collar for the hygrometer so that it can sit in the spool’s center and I can monitor the humidity on both the dry box’s front panel and the hygrometer inside the box. When done with the hot, dry TPU, I put it directly into a vacuum bag and pump out the air.
Every roll I put into the AMS has one of these desiccant holder spools locked into the center of the filament spool: Printables
I printed these desiccant holders and put one each into the AMS’ desiccant bays (and corresponding lids): Printables
I reduced the printing size to 98% so that they fit better in the AMS.
I also printed and use this Hydra AMS - Silica Dry Boxes, (just the center one in the picture) which fit inside an unmodified AMS just fine: Printables
Thanks for the detailed info, I think this is the sort of thing folks should know on day one! I ordered the beads and I am going to print similar containers. I was also looking at humidity sensors on amazon, do you find them to be accurate? Not that it’s a big deal if they are a few percent off…
The two-pack of hygrometers that I bought on Amazon read the same when placed in the same conditions, so they are consistent with each other. They may read 1-2 percent different to the hygrometer built into my dryer box (Sunlu 2), but that’s within all of their error specification. All in all, I think they’re working fine and I’ve not had any issues with wet filament.
