Dry Your Filament! A Look At How I Manage Filament

[@rileyneufeld7001]

There is such a big market for an engineering material (polycarbonate/nylon/etc) rated filament dryer that has proper convection/ventilation. 70°C just isn't enough for drying nylons/PC in a reasonable amount of time. 80-85°C of ACTUAL temp would be perfect! I feel a bit sketched out to leave my modified filament dryer on without checking on it every few hours. Fixdry PLEASE make a pro version that can handle 85°C and it will sell!

[@53Aries]

I totally agree. It's not like the technology isn't there, a food dehydrator is the perfect base they just need to have a top that actually works for filament.

[@rileyneufeld7001]

@@53Aries Even most high end food dehydrators don't get to 80°C actual temp. They have to be able to get to that temp and maintain it safely without burning someone's house down.

[@JohnDoe-fk6id]

Don't use heat. Use molecular sieves. I dry my nylon and PC with 3A zeolite, and it pulls the moisture in the box to less than 1%, COMPLETELY drying the filament, and leaving me with beautiful prints, even after sitting for months, untouched.

[@FrozenByFire3]

The temperature varies on the rooms temperature and relative humidity. My friends 3d printing only basement is constantly at like 35°C and 16% humidity and he's good at 70C drying for nylon. My room is like 60% humidity at room temp so I need much higher temps, between 95-100C to get below 0.2% humidity

[@FrozenByFire3]

​@@JohnDoe-fk6idyo what in the duck is that stuff. You're telling me I can get zeolite (looks like fancy silica packs) and not really need heat in a room that's ~60% humidity??? If so count me in

[@timothymanson2653]

Man, I've really taken a break from you. Your video quality is impeccable in comparison to the past. It seems like the operation is going well. I wish you the best of luck going forward

[@HoffmanTactical]

This one was kinda rushed :( I've not been putting enough time into vids.

[@roflchopter11]

@@HoffmanTactical nah, it was solid. Good information and minimal filler.

[@michaelbool90]

Brother I think your vids are great and you obviously spend a shit ton of time designing these things. Love the super safety btw@@HoffmanTactical

[@CanineDefenseTechnologies]

Thanks for sharing your findings in detail! I also have a magic mill dryer I got last winter. It worked great until the summer humidity in Georgia rolled in. I feel like ambient humidity plays quite a large role in what temperatures drys materials effectively. If the ambient humidity is high, unless you increase the heat a little more, you just can't fully dry out Nylons. I know some people who live in very dry states like Arizona (humidity of around 30~40% average) telling me their dryers at 50 to 60 degrees is enough. The average humidity in Georgia hovers around 80% in the summer. ACs do dry the air supplied indoor, so ambient humidity isn't an accurate metric, but I am assuming they're likely not going to dry the air down to 0% humidity in very humid climates. Drying at 60C for 24 hours, and even printing out a dryer box blasting at 60C doesn't seem to be enough where I am. Of course the correlation of ambient humidity to effective drying temps is all speculation, I didn't have testing done to back this, but something I'm definitely interested in looking into.

[@FrozenByFire3]

There's a formula that gives you your heated areas humidity level based on the rooms temperature and relative humidity. You can use this formula by replacing the humidity level of the heated area to 0.2% or lower and do the cross math Bs to find the exact temperature you need in your heated area to dry the nylon perfectly

[@ClintonCaraway-CNC]

I got the opportunity to travel to NW Arkansas recently and tour the Push Plastic filament manufacturing facility. I had a chat with Seth about everything Hoffman Tactical related and I can tell you 100% they support you!!

[@MiddletonMade3D]

First off, why are you so handsome? Second, your camera game is getting better and better. I absolutely love it.

[@HoffmanTactical]

LOL. I finally figured out how to get the lights set up just right in the shop.

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

I haven't really used 3rd printers but once or twice and had no idea moisture can cause issues you were covering in this video. You learn something new every day! Great tips!

[@heshreds4049]

To be fair if all you're doing is making little statues and figures the dryness of the filament probably isn't quite as important as when you are using the printers for the applications Hoffman Tactical is using them for.

[@paintballercali]

I think they limit the temperature because some brands use low quality spools that melt at drying temperatures.

[@HoffmanTactical]

I've seen spools soften at 200 F. But never melt. I think it might have to do with the plastic the drier is made from, but even that should be able to handle it.

[@paintballercali]

@@HoffmanTactical ok melt is a bit extreme. But Ralph for example destroyed a roll of nylon trying to dry it. I think that issue might have something to do with it.

[@ThomasS17]

The biggest issue from what I know is that the glue holding the spool together softenes, causing the spool to fall apart and let the filament lose.

[@clutchboi4038]

It's probably because the plastic that the dryer uses won't hold up to those temps. A metal enclosure would be best for something going 80 degrees Celsius to be safe especially running it while you're not there.

[@WaffleStaffel]

Very thorough, thanks. Dririte is calcium sulfate. Calcium chloride (dollar store closet driers) is a more aggressive drying agent. Molecular sieves are good for grabbing every last water molecule, but I don't think it works as well in air as it does in solvents. Sieves have the advantage of being reusable, you can microwave them and reuse them, but you can also regenerate calcium chloride, though it's a bit messier.

[@WaffleStaffel]

And silica gel is rubbish. It barely even works to keep new, sealed filament dry from the factory for any length of time.

[@Michigan4Conservative]

6:40 I had that thought about using a vacuum system. I just never got around to building one.😅

[@zeke7515]

The fix dry looks a lot like my Eibos Cyclopse. What we (owners) have noticed is that the heating element runs around 105c when set at 70c when viewed with a FLIR camera. This is of course to bump the temp in the entire box, but what many of us have noticed, specifically with more temp sensitive filaments is if the roll isn't being actively printed, it causes a sag in PLA(non +)/PETG/TPU. There's also concerns of this baking already brittle filaments beyond the point of usefulness. As a result there's been heat deflectors built & we've noticed a lot more consistent temperatures. What I'm getting at is if you're actively printing right over the heating element without any deflector, there's a good chance you're likely in the 80-100c range albeit for a short time per rotation.

[@zaitcev0]

I have the same Prusa, but in an enclosure. I used a plastic tub to cover the spool on top of the enclosure. That allows it to remain at about +38C as the printer works (basically forever -- because I also print all the time). This is not enough for Nylon, but it works for ABS with no additional measures.

[@davidjernigan7576]

Perhaps a heated vacuum chamber for drying filament. Since water boils off at a substantially lower temperature it may be possible to dry at a lower temperature and get a lower humidity

[@meanman6992]

Been telling you man, just use a toaster oven and a PTFE tube from the back of it to the extruder. Drill a hole for a rod to hold the spool on, and a little one for a digital external probe thermometer. Set your temp, let it dry, then print it from the heated oven.

[@JBGecko13yt]

The french door model from Costco has an actual dehydrator mode!

[@justmejohn44]

For drying I us a rubber made container with cheap Walmart $10 heater with the thermocouple disabled and a PID controller with extra fan in box to help air circulation. Then I have a cheap air tight satellite plastic container with desiccant to keep dry between uses.

[@nikwoac]

I have always been told that nylon and other hygroscopic polymers will naturally reach equilibrium with the humidity in their environment, albeit slowly. So it might not be an absolute temperature threshold thing so much as just requiring extended time in the lower temperature dryers- IOW, required dry time for a wet nylon in a 65C dryer might be measured in days, not hours. Personally, I use a converted food dehydrator that only hits 65C, but my nylon filament never sees open atmosphere for more than a few minutes at a time, and I store it in containers with hygrometers. When I see any of the hygrometers read over 10% RH, the filament and its storage desiccant go in the dehydrator for 12-24 hours and that has never failed to bring hygro reading back to 0% in the storage container.

[@JBGecko13yt]

As far as keeping filament dry during Printing, MY AMS is full of reusable desiccant. for Storage I use an IP67 Tote with two Eva-Dry Towers in each. Also the Govee Hygrometer sensor has data logging and has alarms you can set. Its bluetooth and wifi and has a huge Battery. :)

[@jarrettporst4799]

Make your own. Vacuum oven set to 10% below glass transition of the polymer, then constant circulation of pumped Nitrogen form a N-Generator, off gas the moisture in a regenerative decant bed, feed the filament through a sealed teflon tubing to the printer. Dew point for best dryness is -40. Processing changes will be a must, the material will be thicker due to the reduced moisture acting as a foaming/lubrication agent.

[@HoffmanTactical]

At some point cost does become a concern ;)

[@jarrettporst4799]

@@HoffmanTactical The payoff comes from the integrity of the products you're making. Understand the cost comment. Good stuff Hoffman.

[@carlunderguarde8268]

I worked in injection molding for a few years (we made some gun parts). In my experience all the dry packets and vacuums are a waste. You simply need to heat the plastic up to its point that its bond with the water breaks and then remove the moist air there us no economical way to prevent the plastic from absorbing water if its hygroscopic like nylon. Another thing to consider with nylon is allowing water back into the mater post mold or in our case after printing. With injection molding you store nylon with something like a damp sponge; products that get too dry can warp and crack or become brittle. (Flying with nylon gun parts should think about this.)

[@kirahund6711]

When compounding plastics, meaning mixing raw plastics like nylon with fillers like talc, glass or carbon fibers the resulting filament is cooled in water baths. These filaments are then chopped up to produce plastic granulate for injection moulding. You can store them in aluminized plastic bags or dry them with heat, but they will still readily absorb moisture in a very short time. And even when you manage to produce parts that are completely dry, they will absorb moisture from the ambient air. It's an uphill battle that you can't win. I wouldn't say that drying your raw materials is a waste, because without drying they will absorb so much moisture in a short time that the part cannot be produced witout creating voids.

[@carlunderguarde8268]

@@kirahund6711 I Never said drying material is a waste.

[@carlunderguarde8268]

@@kirahund6711 trying to keep it dry in storage is a waste and vacuum pumping them is a waste is what I said.

[@kirahund6711]

@@carlunderguarde8268 I wasn't trying to invalidate your comment. ;)

[@P.Trim69]

I got some old dehydrators fixing to work on a dry it out box. Put few rolls in at a time.

[@ARandomTroll]

If you're still looking for a better desiccant, calcium oxide (CaO) is extremely powerful and easy to diy. It reacts exothermically with water to make calcium hydroxide. It is easy to make- just heat up limestone/ marble/ eggshells past 850°C with a blowtorch or electric heater. To regenerate it, heat it up a little past 500°C (that's how strongly it bonds to water). Also note, that a sufficiently strong desiccant will dry cold filament in a sealed container as long as it's not leaking. It's just really slow.

[@leadbullet1]

great video as allways high standard of knowleadge

[@matt1988ish]

When drying filaments it's important to remember that drying of the filament happens when the relative humidity of the dry box is lower than the relative humidity of the material. When this happens, moisture is removed from the filament in an attempt to equalize. This can happen in a dry box if you're able to keep your relative humidity low enough but it can take weeks. Heat speeds this process up significantly.

[@bobbinferbears]

I have been production printing polymaker pa6cf and using the fixdry dryer with a 2kg roll. It's been a good setup. If I set it to 48hrs on the timer it will run continuously and i print right from the dryer. The only issues I have is the filament in the ptfe tubing gets wet if it sits for a few hours without printing. I'll extrude a few centimeters, then it will print with no issues.

[@JohnNemesis7]

It would be good if you make a tutorial step by step how do you print your AR (one rib) receiver and super safety, like what printer do you recommend or use personally, filament, nozzle and how you set up prusa slicer.

[@kirahund6711]

I work in quality control in the plastics industry. While most of my employers' products don't require drying, I also often do contract work for other businesses that work with e.g. polyesters and nylons and even PLAs and a bunch of other weird unusual materials, and these do require drying. At least when you want to record reliable, reproducible results when determining physical properties like tensile strengh, impact resistance, melt flow index etc. About two weeks ago I was measuring nylons for a client, and they "only" contained 0.35% water "as received from their supplier, and being stored for short time". In other words, one metric ton of that material contained roughly 3.6 kgs or 3.6 liters (about 1 gallon, assuming easy to calculate numbers) of water. What happens if you heat that material to 250°C? That water will turn into 22.4x (3600/18)= 4480 liters or 1180 gallons of water vapour/steam at AMBIENT (room temperature) conditions, much more at 250°C. Even if 90% of that water would evaporate during the 5 minutes of temperature equilisation time required by ASTM and DIN norms for equilibrization (which probably doesn't happen according to my exerience), the resulting molten material would be exiting the extruder as a foam containg at least 50% of voids, which is exactly what I saw when taking measurements. I didn't receive a coherent filament when it exited the extruder, that shit foamed like crazy, or alternatively it was exiting the extruder nozzle at a way too high speed since water acts as a plasticizer (even at above 200°C). Another factor to consider (especially with polyesters like PLA and PETG, and maybe also nylons) is hydrolytic degradation. These plastics consist of long macromolecules, meaning long chains of spaghetti-like molecules. Water and heat will potentially shorten the chain lenght, producing much shorter spaghettis. These will produce products with inferior physical properties. This kind of degradation is one of fthe reasons why plastic recycling usually means "downsizing", producing inferior products.

[@kirahund6711]

So what do I recommend? I really don't know for sure, because once you have produced/printed a part even when using pristine, dry material, it will absorb moisture anyway afterwards and degrade over time. Don't expect your printed article to retain its initial properties for the next decade or two. Dry your raw products and store them properly, and if you want to go the extra step dry them using methods that go way beyond of what's usually recommended (my tip would be phosphorous pentoxide as a drying agent,), but eventually the material will suffer. PLA for example is supposedly biodegradable. Which of course is mostly marketing bullshit. I have samples of wood filled PLA, which should readily decompose, stuck in a large flower pot with regular moist compost and garden soil, and the material is still there after 3 years. Does it still have its original properties? Of course not, it has seriously degraded, but it's still there and hasn't disappeared like it supposedly should if you believe the bullshit that the industry is telling you. Never believe them, do your own research and experimentation.

[@HoffmanTactical]

I find that water does not degrade the plastics after printing, but simply changes the properties. Nylon is the only material I have found to change significantly when exposed to water, it's young's modules goes down. But the process is completely reversible by drying, and I've found no signs of long term degradation.

[@Festivejelly]

So many people use these dryers incorrectly. Put desiccant inside, and change the desiccant after its saturated. You use the driers to drive the moisture out of the filament, but then you still need to deal with the moisture rich air, and desiccant is the way to do that. Just be sure to change it regularly. Make note of the dyers with all the holes in them, cover them up when not in use as thats just another entry point for damp air. * Add desiccant * block holes * regularly change desiccant

[@HoffmanTactical]

Heat alone works quite well, and is much more reliable. The vents are required to allow the moist air to escape.

[@BaioWithMayo]

Awesome to see as moisture becomes a real problem in the summer where I live, and cant stop printing for 6 months because of that! Interested if you are getting a Prusa XL? Interested to see the multi material and if it can be used to reinforce areas internally with Nylons then use PLA+ as filler in less critical areas, might save on cost and complexity?

[@HoffmanTactical]

Temperature is the big limit to PLA+, not strength. So I don't think mixing it would CF Nylon would be good. But Nylon / PC could make an interesting mix.

[@BaioWithMayo]

@@HoffmanTactical oh interesting, I had thought it was strength based on the "takedown pin" brackets on your lowers. Either way though, that Nylon / PC would be very interesting! Thanks for taking the time to teach us man its great to see

[@UltimateTurbo214]

110 deg vacuum chamber with curing with cycled IR light 710 nanometer. 💪😎🇺🇲

[@HoffmanTactical]

Bet that would do it.

[@WarkWarbly]

I've noticed that no matter the dryer you use there's still a requirement for desiccant- at least if you're looking to hit that 1% humidity. Also I have to ask if taking a container of everclear (ethanol) and letting it sit in the same enclosure might help with humidity as well. I understand there's safety considerations with this, but it's more volatile than water and in theory it should increase the rate at which the water evaporates out of the enclosure. Though I'm too chicken to try it.

[@aaa8509]

I just live in a place where even when it's raining... The humidity never gets above 30%. Most days, the humidity is about 5% or less. The first time I had to steal with wet filament being wet, it was with carbon fiber nylon that was not stored great for almost a year, at the 6 months mark is actually worked just fine... I stored it in a Tupperware box with a few desiccant packets is all...

[@HoffmanTactical]

That must be nice ;) At least from a printing standpoint.

[@zaitcev0]

What about asking FixDry for an 2-layer shell? I'm sure it loses a lot of heat not by expelling moist air, but to convection. I'm thinking about hooking driers on WatsUp and see how much they pull.

[@RunesLegacy]

I just bought the fix dry for nylon and it doesn’t work at all, same as your findings. I went back to drying it in my food dehydrator for 3 days. It never got below 25% humidity, even inside my 45% humid home. In my garage where I print it’s 75% so it would just work to make the filament wet. My sealed containers go down below 10% humidity which is what I print from. I just bought an air fryer with dehydrate option which should work much better, we will see soon.

[@djdrack4681]

I have a lab background, but also IT, and strong DIY ethic...Have you considered desiccant pods like that but running a partial vacuum? Only issue would be the seal around the port filament feeds through. Alternatively you could run a 2stage system around entire 3D printer: 1) you pull a partial vacuum, taking most air out 2) you pump a fairly inert or hydrophilic gas in; the 1st would be helium (fairly $), or Nitrogen (cheap), I'd have to look at the idea hydrophilic gas that also doesn't interact with CFN or PLA+. The issue isn't creating such a system or even the seals around stuff like power cord. The issue is the vacuum pumps: low-mid range ones are very similar and hard to choose one that isn't chinese POS: they'll leak (not keep a vacuum well), have oil issues, etc.

[@djdrack4681]

I'd be interest about the effectiveness of running a very hydroscopic compound in a variant of it: Like if you could run a system but on 'overhead platform', and underneath is a pool of sulfuric acid (extremely hydroscopic, will absorb almost all ambient O2 in a closed system). The issue would be ensuring ambient micro-aerosolization of the acid, cuz that would degrade the whole printer. Solve that and its a very solid system, cheap, and 'easy' to manage.

[@MrWoowootila]

Amazon has a Septree 800w food dehydrator that has a max temperature up to 190F or 87C. I just bought one for that higher temperature. Will find out soon if it is true.

[@3darms]

Have you looked at the Thordsen inline dryer? I've heard good things.

[@HoffmanTactical]

Yes. It appears to not function well due to a lack of filament time at temperature.

[@azisandwich]

Nice

[@mikeeller91]

I use a food saver vacuum sealer and store my filament in bags

[@roflchopter11]

How's the energy consumption? It doesn't look well insulated at all. I'd like to see one with with insulation, heat recovery, and maybe a pelier element to cool and dry the air. Or rig up a proper vapor compression or dessicant dehumidifier to a chamber.

[@HoffmanTactical]

Just replied to another comment about this. Once you get a few of these, power consumption becomes significant. And I'm off grid, so makes a big impact. Would like to see one with a preheater.

[@gorillamotors]

How did you modify your magic mill dehydrator for temps greater than 75 degrees?

[@HoffmanTactical]

Hard wired the heating element.

[@printingwithpeek4897]

Tim, if youre looking for the best way to get rid of moisture, invest in a small freeze drier.

[@kirahund6711]

Freeze dryers won't work for filament.

[@printingwithpeek4897]

@@kirahund6711 What are you talking about? They absolutely work. I have a harvest right xl drying PEEK as I type this.

[@kirahund6711]

@@printingwithpeek4897 The bottleneck is sucking the water vapor through your vacuum pump. It's much faster and energy efficient to absorb the water vapor through chemical drying agents right next to your plastic sample in the vacuum chamber.

[@printingwithpeek4897]

@@kirahund6711 wtf? How is this a bottle neck? You have no fucking clue what you're talking about. Lyophilization lowers the boiling temperature of water and the chamber is then heated via a metal tray or in the case of filament, a spool. You evaporate water at a lower boiling point and there is 0% relative humidity. Also chemical cleaning agents can't be used on all filaments. This can, also doesn't take 24 hours like food does. I'm sorry but you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about.

[@DanielRut]

Thoughts on the bambulab paht-cf... I see you were doing some printing with that.

[@HoffmanTactical]

Not used it enough to be sure.

[@iampuga1530]

I’m gonna try making an air fryer filament dryer

[@yeeto1]

Do you still recommend the Fixdry or have you moved on to another standby dryer?

[@HoffmanTactical]

Fixdry has been good.

[@yeahright3348]

use a cable tie around the ptfe tube.

[@3ountyhunter]

I was thinking of changing from nylon to PC. Are there considerations you make in your designs that would make this a bad move? I have gotten a lot better results from PC.

[@HoffmanTactical]

Yes. PC has lots of fracture issues. I once used a ton of PC, not anymore. Given enough time, parts under constant stress will crack. I'd look into the PET-CF from Bambu, not sure how it will do long term yet, but has been promising.

[@lee8652]

Might help to insulate the Fixdry cover...

[@HoffmanTactical]

I was thinking about that, depends on how much loss is due to conduction through the shell, or simply convective losses in the exhaust. Insulation + a air preheater would really help with efficiency.

[@RunItBackGunz]

Does all those printers run your light bill up high or they don’t use that much electricity running them so much?

[@HoffmanTactical]

I'm off grid.

[@RunItBackGunz]

@@HoffmanTactical word word bet

[@BeEzLeBoSs2010]

is his p1p upgraded to a p1s with an actual upgrade kit? the enclosure looks aftermarker/3d printed, but i believe i spy an aux fan? someone please let me know. i have a p1p and am wanting to print with PA6-CF but was wondering what i need to do. was hoping to not have to spend the money on an upgrade kit

[@HoffmanTactical]

I bought a hard set of gears and nozzle, then printed the enclosure. Fan was a free bonus thing they did back for a while.

[@thegougler]

Do you put a dessicant in the vacuum chamber with the filament after drying or will the vacuum chamber pull all the water vapor out?

[@HoffmanTactical]

After drying. CNC Kitchen did a good video on this a few years back.

[@kirahund6711]

@@HoffmanTactical CNC kitchen got it all wrong, unfortunately, as any chem undergrad could tell you (or maybe not, gen z...). You need to put the drying agent in the vacuum chamber, you can't expect the water vapor to escape from the filament through a thin long vacuum line and pump. This takes WAY too long.

[@blockchainbaboon7617]

Your content is super important for the second amendment 🇺🇸

[@printman76]

Looks like the same dryer as the Eibos Cyclops with some minor asthetic changes... The Eibos holds the temperature setting after power down

[@HoffmanTactical]

That's what I'm thinking.

[@jopanel]

my avast antivirus alerted me that the url in your video bio is black listed for threats and wont let me load it

[@NuggetsAndLaundry]

Interesting. I’ve soaked monofilament fishing line and whatever my weed wacker uses in a bucket overnight so that it spools better.

[@afitz676]

Large-scale I've had incredible success with a vacuum oven for a pre-baked and into the active dry box. They are pricey I got one use for 400 very fast highly efficient

[@HoffmanTactical]

400 is not a bad price for one TBH.

[@ivanadiego6067]

Nylon 12 should absorb half the humidity compared to Nylon 6, but might be more expensive or not available with CF reinforcement. Have you tried Polypropylene?, it is not that strong but is incredibly tough and the layer adhesion is superior to any filament I've tried.

[@HoffmanTactical]

CF filled PP is an interesting filament I have not tried yet, would like to. Unfilled PP is too flexible. I have printed with a good amount of PA12, still needs drying prior to printing, but definitely absorbs less water, allowing it to be stiffer. Unfortunately creep is a huge issue.

[@ivanadiego6067]

​@@HoffmanTactical In one of the first Orca videos I suggested this: "One design suggestion that can be useful for future designs: a simple way of making the parts way stronger on the z direction is to use long and thin prestressed threaded rods pre compressing the part in that direction. this way the inter layer cracking is greatly reduced making the whole build much tougher, plus it is really cheap since threaded rods are redly available on any hardware store. this way you could reduce the sections required or use lower strength polymers."

[@kirahund6711]

@@HoffmanTactical Without going into too much details, I have produced and worked with CF filled PP composite samples for several European premium car manufacturers. While the combination of the cheapest available commodity plastic (PP) and one of the most expensive fillers (CF) is rather questionable from an economic standpoint, the resulting material is pretty fucking sweet if I may say so regarding its physical properties. At 30% CF loading this material is hard, tough, stiff, doesn't absorb moisture, doesn't degrade noticably over time, but is expensive as fuck. Injection moulding works fine with the right kind of machinery and mould ($$$/€€€), but I doubt you could squeeze this stuff through a 3D printer nozzle. Maybe 10 or 15% through a 0.6mm or larger would work? I wish I could convince my employer to do do this again, but without a prospective client promising to buy truckloads of the material this experimentation is just too expensive to justify a few experimental production runs. I would totally make a few kilograms of that material "disappear" if I could... But then again, GF filled PP isn't all that bad either, and is readily available. Unfortunatey only as a granulated mixture, haven't seen any filament yet.

[@brandonsmoot4056]

​@ivanadiego6067 the tolerance for fit on the threaded rods would introduce slop, defeating most the purpose. Additionally axial compression is more likely to introduce a bending moment and shearing the layer lines by itself.

[@HoffmanTactical]

@@ivanadiego6067 It would, but integrating threaded rod into the design is hard to do well. Avoiding the use of threaded rod / bolts was actually one of my main design goals.

[@playmaka2007]

Any experience with the new PAHTCF from Bambulab? Supposedly less hygroscopic than pa6.

[@HoffmanTactical]

I'm working on testing it. Less hygroscopic after printing is important for stiffness, but prior to printing moisture is still an issue, even though it's less than PA6.

[@playmaka2007]

Just got mine in from the kickstarter backer rewards, but according to 3DPG printing from inside the AMS with desiccant is not enough even after drying. So I guess I need a filament drier now. @@HoffmanTactical

[@applepiesapricots3109]

And to think I was just looking for a filament drier today. A shame none of them actually seem to be worth it considering they only reach 65c.

[@HoffmanTactical]

It's a good start. But I do wish they would just bump it up to 180 F.

[@TonerLow]

Is filament drying necessary living in a desert climate?

[@HoffmanTactical]

Leave your filament out for a bit and then try it, you will know if drying is needed.

[@kirahund6711]

Probably not? If you ever encounter more than 40% rel hum., consider drying your filament.

[@MrThewetsheep]

What is the design at 6:53 looks like a kf5 but slightly different

[@HoffmanTactical]

It's a KF-5 with the classic handguard. Much better than the original IMO. Love that gun.

[@MrThewetsheep]

@@HoffmanTactical ah I see yeah I need to make one it looks sick

[@zotyhd8052]

I'm more interested in the style of your shirt. You trying to sell it?

[@zotyhd8052]

please share you your shirt plug

[@HoffmanTactical]

Custom made.

[@akm5611]

A desiccant chamber, vacuum and cacl2 works amazing.

[@kirahund6711]

CaCl2 is too weak to properly dry polyesters and nylon. Use it as a pre-drying cycle, then get the last traces out with vacuum and really aggresive drying agents. They might take some time to dry filaments, but cost isn't all that bad if you only use them to get the last 0.1% of the moisture out, it only takes time unfortunately....

[@otterconnor942]

I guess there's one benefit of living in a desert

[@Leviathan3DPrinting]

I think you have the terms paid promotion and review confused.

[@HoffmanTactical]

I thought I was pretty straight forward with the issues. Also, I don't even do affiliates , let alone paid promotion.

[@Leviathan3DPrinting]

@@HoffmanTactical You absolutely were it's just that. As a creator, if your content promotes any products or services and you were paid to include them, or even if you received the product for free, that means you're being paid to share branded content.

[@HoffmanTactical]

@@Leviathan3DPrinting Is this a problem?

[@Leviathan3DPrinting]

@@HoffmanTactical It's you're channel and you have the freedom to do what you want with it. Don't let me and whomever liked my comments(2 viewers opinions decide for thousands of subscribers). I just think you make some beautiful works of art. Companies SHOULD be paying you and sending you products for FREE(DOM) because you're amazing at what you do and work extremely hard to perfect your craft. Any one of your subscribers can recognize that it's why we are all here. To see what craziness you're up to next. I just don't think you need to sell yourself or your audience out to achieve that. Just hearing you say "review" like it's your money that's on the line is sad to see because I believe you're a much better artist and designer than that. Think about it this way. You see Michael Jordan's name on basketball shoes. You don't see him "reviewing" the shoes. Really it's up to you.

[@HoffmanTactical]

@@Leviathan3DPrinting I just thought your comments where interesting, because I specifically do not take money or affiliates for anything, ever. In other words, I thought my integrity was perfect. I guess we must disagree what the word review means. Either way, I appreciate that your here ;)

[@bigchimptactical]

I worked in plastics with nylon for about 15 yrs, your dryer setup seems a little sketchy fire safety wise but that's a cool idea. In the industry we would use a dehumidifying desiccant dryer, has recharging desiccant, at 180 to 220 F for 8-12 hrs They may make smaller ones, and if there isn't a one specifically for spools I'd be surprised

[@HoffmanTactical]

Interesting to see your temp range is in the 180+ area. I don't know of any unit like that for filament outside of maybe an industrial printing system. As to safety, the moded dryer is running at steady state, and as such is completely stable and safe.

[@1SmokedTurkey1]

@@HoffmanTactical why not just use a regular food convection oven for drying? I dry mine this way with a thermometer inside to confirm accurate temps Btw you still recommend printing nylon with a 0.6mm nozzle? Trying to keep my settings consistent and would rather print with a 0.4mm if there isn't a huge difference

[@HoffmanTactical]

@@1SmokedTurkey1 Only if you're having clogging issues. 0.5 is good too. ).4 is best if it runs good. As to the oven, any electric oven that can run around 180 F without getting too hot would work.

[@1SmokedTurkey1]

@@HoffmanTacticalexcellent will start working with 0.4 then. Thanks! I also recommend you look into food convection ovens. They hold temps VERY well. Holding 180f is no issue for mine at all and it’s a normal home type nothing too fancy. I have 4 1kg rolls in there now drying at 180f

[@bigchimptactical]

@HoffmanTactical yeah I was in injection molding, sorry I didn't specify the industry 😅 we used pellets, I'm not sure if that makes the drying process different 🤔 This was 33% glass filled zytel nylon 6/6 I believe

[@K_Shea]

It seems like driers ought to have the ability to keep an eye on weight when they start ans as it dries so you know when it has done all it can and further drying it not beneficial.

[@HoffmanTactical]

Yes, but would definitely add a lot of cost.

[@chi2251]

Easy box of rice

[@goawaybaizuo]

I wasted 70 bucks on a sovol! It's garbage! Doesn't go above 50c and horrible drying. Don't always listen to "reviewers"

[@sauropodmailman]

Why do you look so angry?

[@HoffmanTactical]

Focused.