My Autospooling Filament Safe Invention

[analog_banana]

Just sharing this for your benefit:
I wondered if filament humidity might be contributing to my bad prints, so I made this:

It is made from:

1 x Large circular airtight food container - placed upside down on top of the printer.
1 x Plastic Lazy suzan cut down to a 5 inch diameter glued to the lid of the food container
1 x Hole drilled in side of the container with airtight gromet made from latex with a pinhole to feed filament through
1 x Hygrometer to monitor Humidity.

The total cost was under 5 UK Pounds ($8.50)

With a fresh roll of filament installed it maintains 40% humidity while the humidity rate outside flctuates up and down.
(I don't know if 40% is good or bad - but it seems to be the rate that the filament I buy ships at)

The hard bit is fionding the right size food container, I have found that the lazy suzan and the gromet add no apreciable friction
and the filament is delivered fine. I blu-tak the reel to the lazy suzan, but this is not really necessary as gravity works fine to keep it in place.

[1ggy]

Damn, that's awesome! Definitely going to make myself one. If you want the humidity to go down more, you're probably going to have to change the dessicant you're using inside it.

[LASERMAN]

Very clean looking!

[analog_banana]

1ggy

To share my observations about Silica gel:

I do put a small indicating silica gel pouch in and as I seal the unit and each time the packet has gone blue in about a day!
I am using ultra high quality dutch filament delivered vacuum-sealed.
I can only guess that the filament ships at around 40% humidity and Indicating silica gel ships at 0% humidity - hence the indication.

So I probably need some bigger gel packs.
I do not know what the optimum humidity level is.

[Generic Default]

Ayyyyy! That reminds me that I keep forgetting to get a cake container when I go to the store. I've been using this setup since last summer;

This type of food container works great for 3lb trimmer line nylon spools since they are taller and thinner than most ABS and PLA spools meant for 3d printing. Your setup looks a lot better than mine, and mine is sometimes a pain since I drilled the holes in the tub wrong and never perfected the spool idler. Mine is just 2 608 skate bearings in a printed turntable.


I don't think ABS is as humidity sensitive as nylon or polycarbonate. I just took an ABS spool out of a zip lock bag after about 2 months after dehumidifying it in my oven (along with two other spools of nylon) and I've printed 2 good parts with it. No bubbles when it comes out of the nozzle. Nylon sucks up humidity and it makes a noticeable difference in the prints.

I've been working on a closed system where the filament is airtight sealed from the time it is oven baked to the time it exits the hotend nozzle. Lots of tubes and a specialized extruder.

[BONE]

Man, what a good idea. I was thinking there has to be a good way to do that.

[Eaglezsoar]

Ayyyyy! That reminds me that I keep forgetting to get a cake container when I go to the store. I've been using this setup since last summer;

spool spinner dessicant.jpg

spool in a tub.jpg

This type of food container works great for 3lb trimmer line nylon spools since they are taller and thinner than most ABS and PLA spools meant for 3d printing. Your setup looks a lot better than mine, and mine is sometimes a pain since I drilled the holes in the tub wrong and never perfected the spool idler. Mine is just 2 608 skate bearings in a printed turntable.


I don't think ABS is as humidity sensitive as nylon or polycarbonate. I just took an ABS spool out of a zip lock bag after about 2 months after dehumidifying it in my oven (along with two other spools of nylon) and I've printed 2 good parts with it. No bubbles when it comes out of the nozzle. Nylon sucks up humidity and it makes a noticeable difference in the prints.

I've been working on a closed system where the filament is airtight sealed from the time it is oven baked to the time it exits the hotend nozzle. Lots of tubes and a specialized extruder.

Is there a name on the container that you used for the trimmer line nylon spools? I am having a hard time locating a source for the container.

[Generic Default]

I bought them at walmart in 2013, they might not have the same brand now. The label says Mainstays, and they come on sets of 4 that stack like Russian dolls. They're in the food container section.

If you're using regular spools for ABS and PLA, a cake container will be better. They will be in the same section.

[analog_banana]

Haha, the search for the perfect tub! I spent a ages looking for a container big enough for a fat and reel and small enough to fit on top of the printer.

In the end the best one I found was at my local 99p store (That's a $1.65 store at today's exchange rate)

http://familyplastics.com/house-hold/Ai ... uct_id=125" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks for the answers, I will check my local Walmart.

[teoman]

Awesome. Just what I need.

Could you share the info on the grommet? I was thinking of gluing a tube/hose and stretching a latex glove / balloon with a pinhole through which I push through the filament.