I am reading that I can us my heat bed to dry filament on the A1! Just wondering how I can just turn that on?
I am a new user and am trying to learn as much as I can!
On the device tab, just click on the heatbed icon (upper window, under Control). A green box will appear. then right click and the 0 will highlight. type in the temp you want and press enter.
That is it. easy peasy 
and put something over the filament, like a box.
I am assume you’re talking about the app on my phone! Is that correct?
Ok, I just realized I can either use the phone app or the control panel! Thanks!
https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/filament-acc/filament/dry-filament
You should give this a read before you start.
Personally, I prefer a dedicated filament dryer as they contain the heat, saving time and energy costs.
The build plate is not designed for this task and the A series printers are not enclosed, you will be heating a lot of air in addition to the filament.
I would consider using something better than a box to cover the spool. Something to reflect and keep the heat in.
Thanks Malc: I actually bought a Food Dehydrator and put my filament in there.
There a several posts on how long and at what temp to dry it out. I already bought some plastic cereal boxes to put the spools in after they are dried, then made some containers for the desiccant to keep it dry.
I don’t know how accurate the hydrometers are, but they all show 10 to 11% inside.
What I don’t understand is with the AMS Lite, you have to take the spools out, so with a very long project, can I just put the spools back inside the cereal boxes or do I have to dry them again before putting them back in the boxes?
I have the printer in my basement and I do run a dehumidifier all the time. The hydrometers show 55% humidity. Considering I live in Southeast Wisconsin and the temps have been in the mid to upper eighties with high humidity I think that’s pretty good!
The humidity in my house shows around 60%.
The humidity in my P1S AMS units shows between 11% and 45% depending on how full it is and how long between drying out the silica.
I also have an AMS lite with my A1 mini so the filaments are in the open air a lot of the time.
I rarely dry my filaments out.
I place them in 1-gallon ziplock bags, squish them to reduce the amount of air and having already placed the silica pack in the centre hole. I then put them back in their original box.
I currently have 60+ opened filaments of all different colours and types including PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS & ASA. All in the ziplock bags.
I grab a box, take out the filament add it to the AMS lite, AMS or external spool and print.
I have a dedicated heater and have used it maybe 3 times since I purchased it four years ago.
I find if you handle, package and store them correctly, the need to dry them out is minimal.
I don’t know how many people ‘dry out’ their filaments because they think they have to rather than actually needing to, judging by the forum, I think a lot.
I often see photos of open filaments on big shelves with no bags, boxes of silica and those people complain they have to keep drying them out. I don’t know why they don’t see the link between leaving something out for weeks and it absorbing moisture!
I have some as yet unopened new style PETG HF, I will need to experiment with that as BL has made a lot of the actual requirement to dry the filament before ever printing with it.
I have bought them because I am curious, but, the idea they print twice as fast only after drying them for 8 hours defeats the benefits of speed!
The important thing to do is whatever works for you.
I would try printing with the filament before you dry it to see if there actually is a problem that requires a fix. Unless of course your time isn’t important and your energy costs are free.
If you do require drying for 8 hours for every spool for every print before you get the quality expected, that is your answer.
I suspect you are far closer to my experience than the other.
I had a Wanhao 3D printer. 6 or 7 years ago I bought a roll of Hatchbox PLA that I never got to print right with the Wanhao, which was super finicky. Stuck the PLA reel in a ziploc bag with some desiccant and forgot about it for 6+ years. Never squeezed the air out or anything. Got my A1 last week, figured I’d give the roll a try. No drying out, nothing. Just took it out of the bag. Works great. Been printing with it all week without any issues. I live in LA, so fairly dry climate 75% of the year.
PLA is fine. I read multiple reports saying their PLA prints well after many years sitting in the room, as long as you are not in a super humid region.
There are also reports that, if your room is humid, the PLA printed object cracks in 5 years, you can break them into pieces with your finger.
Just dug out my 5+ year old PETG spool. Also prints fine. No drying or special storage other than a ziploc bag and a pack of desiccant.
Kinda new to 3d printing and was wondering, I have a tent enclosure for my a1 which I brought from 3d party, can I use this in the combination with a 3d printed box or support to dry my filament? I heard the filament shouldn’t touch the bed and I also feel my enclosure is quite large so idk whether a smaller 3d printed box to be put on the bed could keep it heated better? Thoughts?
unless the 3rd party tent included a vent then you could harm your a1 as well as do nothing about the moisture because you need the moisture to leave which it cannot if it remains sealed in your tent.