I’m surprised I haven’t found any mention of nitrogen purging filament storage. $100 will buy you a 40cuft tank, with a fill included, refills $25-$30. Nitrogen is dead dry (I’ve used it for other purposes).
If you blast the bag with nitrogen before sealing, there’s NO moisture in the bag. It seams it’d be much easier to to toss in some dessicant, purge, seal, and not worry about having to vacuum down the bags……
Thoughts?
I think it’s too much of a hassle for most people to get a giant nitrogen tank, I have 30 spools of PLA and would much rather just let them sit open and dry them when needed than have to have a giant tank of nitrogen. I could understand doing this for materials like PVA though
Even easier, I don’t vacuum the bag at all, just throw some desiccant in.
Are there any airtight containers that can hold four spools at a time? The nitrogen purge might be useful when switching out all four spools from an AMS, like when you want to switch from PLA to PETG with four different colors.
“Waiting” to dry stuff requires the luxury of time, which is in short supply. I focus on never letting the filament get wet. I am currently using Amazon airtight cereal containers and a 3D-printed desiccant holder that fits in the spool.
Granted, but a 40cf tank is a bit smaller than a scuba tank - only about 18” tall……
Yeah not sure thst the average joe is going to have a nitrogen tank when a filament drier costs like 40 bucks
There’s arguably no such thing as “emergency 3D printing”. Mostly, you (or at least, I) know you’re (I’m) going to be printing at least a day or so in advance of when you (I) will print. Easier by far to just toss the filament you (I) plan to use in to the dryer so it’s ready when you’re (I’m) ready to print.
Going through the hassle of trying to keep filament dry is IMO a total waste of time. Unless you’re storing the filament in a container with a hermetic seal, moisture will eventually work its way in, Nitrogen or not. So for longer storage times, you’re going to want/need to dry the filament again anyway.
Save that Nitrogen for the tires on your car. 
The water quantity in the air of a bag is insignificant, about 0.25% of the total mass of the air trapped.
So vacuum or nitrogen don’t do really any good (or worst).
Ezy Storage FBA34060 18L Waterproof IP67 Storage Box. Slightly less volume than Sterilite (18L vs 19L), but different proportions let it hold five spools. Typically about $10.
