Dryer destroyed my spool!

Thanks for the link :wink:

I’ve had my s4 for a few months and it’s a good workhorse, it will melt pla spools :sweat_smile:.

I use it with abs and pa mainly and find it works well getting the heat through the coils. The noise isn’t dramatic as it’s made out, especially if you print in the same vicinity there really is no issue. I’ve come from an old Solvol 2-slot and an Amazon food dehydrator, it blows them both away and I feel the price is justified.

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I’m home, chores done, sitting comfortably so I’ll be needed soon. I should get uncomfortable so I have more time…

Anyway, the S4. The biggest issue most have is that it only goes to 70. Doesn’t really bother me as it dries ABS and ASA just fine, just takes a bit longer on the PA6. The thermometer used is off, but I don’t know how much yet. I’ve been lazy and happy that it works well enough to keep PETG-HF flowing as well as my ABS dry.

It’s not loud, I asked my wife. I like it because I can store TPU or and CF filled filament and run it directly to the printer without much effort. I can also dry all the dessicant from the AMS in it with a tray at one time, evenly.

It’s big though. Make sure you have room for it. There are a few prints that allow it raised so there’s some storage under it.

Overall I’d recommend it if percision isn’t your goal. It will dry 4 spools and keep them dry as long as you want. You can set it to maintain, or to just dry and turn off. Setting a timer isn’t a big deal, goes up to 99 hours for drying, not that you’ll need that.

Oh, and it WILL warp a PLA spool.

I don’t have the space and use the printer at the moment. But when that changes, I will definitely get a food dehydrator, more specific, the Graef DA 2042. I think at a similar price point, it outperforms most dedicated dryers in most respects. It goes to 80°C, has very even temperature distribution, heats up quickly thanks to 300W, is isolated, releases moisture and fits two spools. The only drawback I can find is that it is not possible to directly print from it.
I really don’t see why I should accept drawbacks in almost every respect at the same price by going with a dehydrator
I got the hint in another 3d printing forum and think it is a great alternative.

There has been no evidence that a food dehydrator performs better than a purpose-built filament drier. However, two things are certain, yu can’t spool live from a food dehydrator and they are very space inefficient. But hey, in between filament drying session, one can always make some beef jerky. :joy:

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True, I don’t have evidence. But I think that they are the much more mature products. And actually the requirements for drying food are not that far from drying filament: you want equal temperature, good airflow and moisture must be able to escape. energy efficiency and fast heatup are bonus features. Of course you want fine temperature control and 24h timer.
Regarding better drying: I think 80°C makes quite a difference for those engineering filaments that really need it. And homogeneous temperature is one of the key problems of many filament dryers.

The dedicated dryers remind me of those vacuum bags: they have been around for ages for the kitchen. some guys discovered them for filament and now every printer manufacturer resells them. But they all picked the cheapest crappiest version they could get for rebranding. If you look at vacuum bags for food, there are so much better ones but noone knows them here because it doesn’t say “filament” or “3d printer” in the name.

The filament dryers seem to reinvent the wheel and make all the mistakes that food dehydrators have probably solved 20 or 30 years ago. At least that’s my impression.

If I look at Amazon for the Graef, every second review is for drying filament and people are happy without exception. Which filament dryer can compare to that?

And I wouldn’t underestimate the benefit of food chips :wink:

I’ve 3 spools I’ve printed. I use them once in a while, PLA only. The printed spools are ■■■■ overall. They tend to break and you MUST print in PETG or better material. Better results had with buying a few Bambu rolls of material on spools and reusing them

I stumbled upon this YouTube video that compares the Creality Pi and the Sunlu S2 and a much older model of a dual Eibos dryer. His testing methodology has some serious flaws. As an example, he speaks to the unevenness of heating but he doesn’t do any hard testing other than the cool IR camera which doesn’t address the faulty hygrometers. He also went through the trouble of weighing the desiccant before drying but failed to weigh it after. However, he still came to similar conclusions that I found to be true when I did my bake-off between Sunlu and Creality that I linked above.

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