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!
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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 
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and put something over the filament, like a box.
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I am assume you’re talking about the app on my phone! Is that correct?
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Ok, I just realized I can either use the phone app or the control panel! Thanks!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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