Filament Dryers for 3D Printing

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I thought it might be helpful to anyone new to FDM (filament) 3D printing to show the value of using a filament dryer. When I began 3D printing I would regularly become bemused, confused and maddened when I'd load a brand new spool of filament, print something beautifully, then go to reprint the next day only to get garbage. I spent hours and hours fiddling with the slicer settings, taking advice from anyone and everyone on the web to change this or that parameter, really just chasing my tail.

 

I then bought a filament dryer and my FDM printing experience changed overnight. On the very rare occasions when I have a sticking failure or get spaghetti, the first thing I do is re-dry that reel because it almost always immediately fixes the problem. I had previously tried drying my filaments in the oven, using the lowest possible setting, only to semi-fuse them, so I'd recommend skipping that learning exercise! I use the dryer all the time i.e. I keep it running while printing. As I have two FDM's and sometimes have both running simultaneously, I have two dryers; one is the basic Sunlu S1, the other is the more expensive Creality Space Pi. While the Sunlu is okay, the Creality is better as it tells you what the humidity is inside the box, so you get a good idea whether your filament is dry enough for printing. Anything below about 20 % humidity is good.

 

On to the illustration. This is a quick'n'dirty tool I needed and I figured on using up the leftovers of a roll of PLA than has been sitting around for months if not years. It's sliced for a quick print, I didn't need a fine finish. I didn't dry it out first, largely to see whether storing part-used reels in an airing cupboard does anything useful. It doesn't. So, on the right, un-dried filament, on the left, the same after about an hour of pre-drying.

 

[KennyH78]

Thanks for sharing this tip.  I know that FDM printing is not widely used in our hobby, but I have been trying to find ways to use them along with my resin printer.  I will definitely look into picking up a filament dryer for my FDM printers. 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I parked my Ender 3 Pro FDM printer for a long while when I first started using resin, but bit by bit I started using it again for parts where the priority was strength, including tool-making. The key was being able to get consistently good results and of all the upgrades I made, buying the dryer was the most important. I use a large Elegoo Neptune 4 Plus for arty stuff and this, coupled with the Creality dryer, is as straightforward as the resin process, very plug'n'play. The only settings I ever change now are filament type, nozzle size, supports on/off, brim on/off. (I mostly use OrcaSlicer). Otherwise, it just does what it's supposed to. While I made a deck for my Cutty Sark model using FDM, I wouldn't really see me using it for anything 'on show' as I don't enjoy sanding, but it would probably be very good for frames etc for a scratch build.