Filament dryer

[Kevan]

Today I got me a food dehydrator at a third the cost of a filament dryer.
It runs at 85°C and should improve my prints no end.

[HO RacePro]

I have been running mine at 45C. So far, no humidity issues.

Ed Bianchi

[Kevan]

This one is a fixed setting, I would probably have set it on max anyway but rather than cut out the middles of the trays to make room for only one filament roll I've made a circular wall for the lid to sit on with expanded plastic and it's tall enough for two rolls at once.

...pics to follow

[Kevan]

A roll of Nylon and a roll of PETG plus a load of silica bags

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[MrFlippant]

Mine doesn't even have an on/off switch, let alone temperature control or even a thermometer. It's a straight up AC heater coil and relies entirely on the convection of the heated air. But, I can't complain for a few bucks from Goodwill. ;-)

I do plan to get something with a little more control at some point, with forced air to boot. Hopefully from a thrift store again.

[Kevan]

I'm not sure how long the rolls will need dehydrating but they've had a couple of hours so far.

[MrFlippant]

depends on how bad they were. I usually leave a roll in at least overnight, and sometimes for multiple days if it's being problematic.
That's one nice thing about the color changing dessicant. when you take a roll out and the color has changed completely, you know that the bag has holes, or the filament is really wet (usually wet because of the holes) and it should be left in the dryer a while.

With the dehydrators with fans and variable settings, it can usually be done faster, though still counted in hours as opposed to minutes.

[Kevan]

Yes I need to get some colour changing silica.

[Kevan]

...colour changing silica bought

[Kevan]

PETG had 6 hours in the dryer yesterday and stored in a sealed tin with silica. Printed a pod tonight and I have to say the definition is definitely better.