Why are we drying filament this way?

[@3DPI67]

V2 Update: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoLGoa1pZrlgmbs Thanks guys for the lovely comments, i guess ill have to make V2...

[@davifr]

Yeah.. you'll have to 😂

[@daliasprints9798]

I'm really looking forward to seeing if you can make this work. I print materials that need to be extremely dry and I've just been practicing vigilant drybox discipline, but a more forgiving solution would be excellent.

[@eduardreimche3708]

Yes give me more!

[@einb580]

Essentially, you're preheating the filament prior to feeding into the print head. Might consider options to increase the filament exposure to the heated air ... but take care not to overheat the filament.

[@tinkerman-q]

Please do. I hate filament boxes. Limits spool sizes I can use, and for some filamenta even causes clogs or breaks because some filaments don't like to be arched through the PTFE tube and whatnot. Really hate it. If you can achieve the same result without dry box, it would be awesome. Maybe play with silica inside the tin cans

[@Channel-the-vibe]

The “You are a genius”… “Thank you hunny” is so sweet ❤❤❤

[@neverendingstudent]

It was absolutely wholesome and adorable.

[@SupperGammer]

that's one clear green flag

[@Wireball]

Also, someone else thinking of it just means that they're also a genius :)

[@TheMitak]

I came here for this comment

[@TravisFabel]

For those that were wondering, hes using a 300w PTC heater. I had to dive into his printables text to find the wattage.

[@MoontailProduction]

Thanks. @3D Printting Ideas, pin this!

[@PedroLiberal]

that's the total amount of energy my ender 3 uses.....

[@Klokopf52]

@@PedroLiberal You can turn that amount of power way down if you built it smarter, meaning insulation and better temperature sensing. I Build one as a test using a 20mm id steal pipe, wrapped in heating wire and blowing warm dried air in through the bottom using a aquarium air pump. All nicely insulated. For PLA i get away with about 50 Watts of power consumption. Higher temp stuff like ASA or TPU takes about 100 Watts. Doesn't work for Nylon (PA) tho.

[@Septerrianin]

He didn't just describe the PTC parameters, he even left a link to the product in the video description

[@honda-s2k]

a food dehydrator works great and is cheaper

[@Prime_Gamer10]

I would 100% love to see a version 2 of this inline filament dryer system, especially one that can do 4+ filaments at a time. I've been needing to print TPU, and something like this will be super cool!

[@alexpanov8019]

Drywyse is the only working in-line dryer on the market. Yes, it's for industrial use mainly due to pricetag

[@Yash-c3v]

If you heat TPU as you print it it stretches too much and print fail

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

@@Yash-c3v Literally the first 30 seconds of this video showed TPU being inline dried and printing well.

[@Yash-c3v]

@@bosstowndynamics5488 not my experience printing a functional job

[@TheOfficialOriginalChad]

I’m with you, but only if he promises to never touch the shotgun mic again

[@montazvideo]

I love the way you make the video with your wife in the background correcting you. And your timid and modest reaction to it. So refreshing in this "professional" world of editing!!! And it shows your lovely relationship. 😊 Keep it up.

[@TapticDigital]

"Then I did what I needed to do in the first place, research" - me, every time I start a new project haha. Great video, insane drying set up, and really interesting results!

[@SaHaRaSquad]

As they say, a month in the laboratory can often save a full hour in the library.

[@templebrown7179]

@@SaHaRaSquad This hits hard! All the wasted hours!

[@JakobDam]

100% yes, I would love to see a version 2! This is a MUCH better solution than filament dryers!

[@REDxFROG]

That's an opinion.

[@penguinsushi8442]

@@REDxFROG and you're a frog

[@remthompson]

"I want to print now" Love this. Keep up the good work!

[@spacerabbit1619]

So relatable, the part about forgetting it as well 😆

[@Lostinpackaging]

​@@spacerabbit1619yessss this is the major reason I don't print something.. god damn drying

[@owengrossman1414]

This is related to a classic problem given in thermodynamics classes. The question is how hot does the oven need to be to cook the potato in ten minutes. The answer is that it can’t be done because you’d set the potato on fire at the needed temperature. With filament it’s probably the glass transition temperature that puts a limit on how fast you can dry it out.

[@greatnate29]

I guess you could make the can longer so it has more time to dry out? Like at some point the plastic will be too wet for it to be possible but it could probably still be good for certain moisture levels.

[@3DPI67]

Depended on how big is the potato

[@TomCrockett-bl1gp]

You can def cook a potato in a microwave oven in 10 minutes

[@MrNoipe]

@@TomCrockett-bl1gp yes, but you can't microwave filament (can you?)

[@qwerty123443wifi]

​@@MrNoipethat'd make a pretty good experiment tbh. I guess it would only work well with materials with a high glass transition point though (if at all)

[@johnhodgson4216]

The best way to remove surface moisture from the filament is to create a vacuum, use a vacuum pump in a container and remove the atmosphere, the moisture will sublimate off the filament. You don't have to unwind and rewind the filament. you can cycle the process once or twice. I am buying a vacuum pump for chemistry experiments to change the boiling points of whatever fluid I am working with.

[@voxelmaniam]

I think CNC Kitchen tested this with good results.

[@timw7406]

Built such a system myself, but found that you need to raise the temperature for it to be effective. Putting an old 3D-Printer Hotbed into the chamber is not difficult, but passing the power inside was challenging

[@vasiliynkudryavtsev]

@@timw7406 Vacuum is a good heat insulator. Maybe, It's better to repurpose old Dryer Machine to preheat and predry. And use vacuum as a finishing touch.

[@kitatit]

@@vasiliynkudryavtsevAgreed. VisionMiner has videos on this. Dry in repurposed bench top oven. Then a couple of minutes in vacuum chamber after. If you had the budget, a lab vacuum oven would be pretty slick.

[@nocare]

​@@vasiliynkudryavtsev Because the vacuum is such a good insulator you can use a small amount of radiant heat to achieve lots of heating. An entire spool might optimistically radiate 2-5 watts of its heat away when heated to 100c. A radiant heat source thus only needs about 2-5 watts of output to heat hitting the spool in order to get it to that temp. A common choice is incandescent lights shining thru the walls for cheap at home methods.

[@tomgburklin1112]

Retired now, I spent 2 years developing dehydration test system for our motor Stators, moisture in stators in AC not good. our measuring system used DC heat on the stator wires, and a vacuum and dry nitrogen purge. the real good part was the dry Nitrogen purge, i would apply about 15psi dry nitrogen to the stator holding cavity, pull vacuum, the nitrogen would absorb moisture and became the medium for me to capture it in a Liquid nitrogen bath. we would weigh test tube before and after to get the weight of the water pulled from stators. this was a 4 hr test cycle, not piratical for 3d printing. Just letting you know how a measuring system works... perhaps it might trigger a thought for you. Me i keep all my filament in dehydration containers all time. just because i know how hard it is to dehydrate. your idea super good - should help lots of us.

[@einsteinx2]

I also live in an area with around 65% humidity basically all the time and would love to see this continue development. Subscribed!

[@bluntmuffin1729]

No idea how well this translates but I’ll share anyway. I used to work with giant coils of steel wire. When prepping it to go into the machine it was wrapped onto a a second drum a few times to help with feeding and getting it all lined up. Something like that inside the cans would add a lot of surface area without needing to double back via pulls or something else as other have suggested. My thought is another tube inside you can corkscrew the filament on giving a much more even and long drying time.

[@JGnLAU8OAWF6]

That way only one side of filament would be exposed to air though

[@jonathonfrederick2062]

@@JGnLAU8OAWF6 spool made of mesh

[@dekutree64]

That sounds like a great solution. Instead of a long skinny soup can, use something large diameter and short length like a cookie tin. Put a short spool inside on bearings so it turns easily, and loop the filament around several times. I think the filament would try to migrate sideways along the spool as it turns, though. How did the industrial machines deal with that?

[@Jeff-ss6qt]

​@@dekutree64If it's anything like industrial commercial software: They probably didn't deal with that. They could've easily left it janky while resting on their laurels due to patents and other ways to prevent competition. Then, they just charge an outlandishly large price for their shit.

[@puffOfSmoke1]

Friction force will be huge problem with TPU

[@marshallwebber9682]

Nice to see someone thinking out of the dry box. You're absolutely right about air circulation. Great work! Keep going!

[@daliasprints9798]

The filament needs a lot more time in the drying zone. I was going to do this but set the project aside a year or two ago. Unless you want a super long tube, you need a system of pulleys so the filament can run back and forth across the hot dry air zone several times. You probably also need active drive for the pulleys to avoid overloading the extruder.

[@ericp.5533]

Yeah, and still it's possible to overload the extruder even with direct drive

[@mirag3304]

why not loop it like a beer line chiller? shape the drying zone like a toroid and loop the filament a couple times inside.

[@themadhater9003]

Maybe a copper coil?

[@daliasprints9798]

@@mirag3304 You can do that but you still need either a system of pulleys or coupled input and output filament hobs so the same length of filament remains in the zone rather than pull from the extruder trying to tighten it down to a point (open core) or to tension itself against the core (toroid) just like it'd do on a spool.

[@qazer10]

Why not implement the drying zone into a filament buffer? Could be an idea

[@DanBowkley]

Five meters of 5mm ID tubing (like what you'd use for a bowdon tube, only larger) with a tee fitting at one end blowing hot dry air into it. The filament goes into the other end of the tube, against the flow of hot dry air, and comes through a seal on the other side of the tee and into the printer. The only issue is you'd need somewhat higher static pressure, maybe 1bar or so. Moisture migrating through a material pretty much acts like heat and can be fairly well modeled with thermodynamic equations. To get maximum moisture out of the material you want the highest possible difference in moisture content, highest possible temperature without damaging the filament, and the longest possible contact time. It's a heat exchanger except you're exchanging water instead of heat. Turn it into a very long and narrow counterflow unit and you'll probably get excellent results.

[@crepuscule47]

This is a bit of a departure from your form factor suggestion, but I was wondering whether, in order to increase the moisture content differential, silica drying beads could somehow be added in line, or before injecting the hot air into the drying chamber, or even both. That should provide an overall dryer environment, and the optimal volume of beads could be perhaps calculated to optimize the whole thing. Am I making some sense here ? Thanks :)

[@RossReedstrom]

@@crepuscule47 Drying the hot air on the way in would be ideal for this, especially for those of us who live in swamps :) Higher pressure air, through a drying tube (silica, probably), then heat it, then through the counter flow tube seems like the order of operations to me.

[@billytalentrocks345]

If you could cool the air down first and condense the water you could then heat it up and the relative humidity drops.

[@tomy983]

​@@crepuscule47 That is how industrial dryers for plastic pellets work (just before the injection moulding process), but you have 2 containers with dessicant material, one in use in line with the air coming out of the main drying chamber and one not in use but regenerating with higher temp air. An exchange valve directs the air flow trough one or the other dessicant barrel. Heated air goes into main chamber, through desiccant and back to heater, recirculating. There are also heat recovery systems and other stuff going on but this is pretty much it.

[@mirag3304]

I would like to see a version 2 of this. One idea I had was to make your "in line" drier into the shape of a toroid so you could loop the same section of filament another time or more. Kind of like how a beer line chiller system works. just a quick idea. not fully thought out. Thanks for the great vid. subscribed!

[@macrumpton]

I had the same thought! Maybe the torus is filled with silica gel and the air circulates sucking the moisture from the filament and it gets pulled into the silica gel. When the system is idle it gets hotter inside to dry out the silica gel.

[@3DJapan]

The Sunlu S4 you showed has fans and vents. Airflow. It also has humidity sensors that will keep drying as the humidity rises. Also most dryers allow you to print directly from the machine, while it's drying.

[@xxguitar1]

It also has a storage mode keeping the filament dry and ready to go on standby

[@DmitrySholokhov]

You missed the part when he explained that even with fans the airflow hits only the outer layers of filament on a spool. Inside layers are still a wet noodle.

[@REDxFROG]

The S2 new version also has at least one fan

[@REDxFROG]

​@@DmitrySholokhovno they aren't. It only takes some time until the heat reaches the core of the spool. But you don't print from the core. You people are searching for a problem which doesn't exist. Use a filament dryer while printing and it's all good. Let it warm up 10-20 minutes beforehand. That's usually the time to slice, upload and warm up the printer anyways. Most comments of people don't even seem to have a dryer and start to think this guy invented something everybody needs.

[@jonmayer]

@@REDxFROG thank you for saying this. After watching the video, I was still scratching my head thinking this isn't needed. It worked when he took a drybox of filament and printed with it... of course it did. It probably would have printed the same without his tin can contraption. If you store filament this way too, you can print whenever you want without waiting for it to dry.

[@AaronTheGeek]

I would definitely like to see version 2, I live in a very humid part of the country and if some cans and a little extra electricity can fix the issue without waiting for the dry box to work I am all for it!!! as for multiple drying, I think you would still only need to really dry one at a time since you only print with one filament at a time..

[@repalmore]

I like your idea. I was going to make a big box dryer that would keep all my filament dry all the time using a 200 watt electric heater and a PID controler to control the temperature. The PID controler comes with a SSR and a K coupler and I also ordered a panel mount 5 amp circuit breaker to maker sure it was a good setup. Now, I think I'm going to use some EMT conduit and two rubber stoppers available from Home Depot to make a dryer like yours. Excellent idea.

[@lanzer22]

This is brilliant. I would try using copper pipes which can be bent into a spiral shape to have a much longer length for faster printing while taking up less space

[@robogoofers9131]

copper would pull out all the heat from the air.

[@lanzer22]

@@robogoofers9131 an 8 feet long insulation sleeve is about $2 at the hardware store. Depending on the design, you can have external heating instead of forced air through the long tubes and take advantage of the conductivity. Lots of options.

[@ramsin.]

I was just thinking the same thing...Except instead of copper, you can use rings/guides throughout the can, leaving most of the filament exposed. Think of when running cat 5 in a drop ceiling, you just put hangers every so often to just help keep the cable suspended.

[@patrickwilliamson5737]

Kudos! You hit the nail on the head. Just like you, I hate drying a whole roll of filament for umpteen hours only to forget what it was that I needed the filament for when the cycle is done. 🥴 Keep up the research and development and I’ll keep watching. Good luck! 👍

[@mrgunn2726]

I like your wife, she is keeping you humble. My lovely wife is the same, she makes me sufferable, God bless her.

[@3DPI67]

Amen 🙏

[@connerharte7084]

Although other people may have invented this, this is an ingenious idea and I think that the cost of what you invented compared to the $2000 dollar price tag is ridiculous. I will be making something similar, or taking some inspiration to make something amazing just like this!

[@ProtonOne11]

What would be cool is a drybox with dedicated "in-line" dryer section. Basically use one heater and fan to pre-dry the complete spool, but have the end of the filament moved over some rollers inside the box before it leaves for the printer/extruder to improve drying of the filament from all sides. What i see a bit of a challenge with all the longer in-line dryer options is, that it should still be easy and fast to change the filament spools. So you would have to design it in a way that gives you good access to the full filament path. I'd love you to explore this topic more for sure!

[@Litl_Skitl]

I just got the stupidest idea. Reverse bowden (or halfway bowden or smth) where you just blow hot air through the PTFE tube the filament goes through. That could also work as the exhaust for the drybox, at least partially. But you could also do this from the printer going out.

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

A v2 that worked with the AMS would solve filament changes handily since it would be in between the AMS (and therefore the spools and also the automated filament feeder) and the printer.

[@ProtonOne11]

@@Litl_Skitl The only problem with a long bowden tube is probably the drag you create. Even if you use a tube for 3mm filament with 1.75mm filament, you will need to curve that tube around and you create friction. Maybe a very stron extruder does not care much, but i'm pretty sure you would see a difference in print results just because of that. And with flex filaments, it would get even worse as you have long stretch path, thinning out the filament at the extruder gears making it hard to grab and prone to slipping.

[@Litl_Skitl]

@@ProtonOne11 Reverse bowden at least shouldn't have that problem. Neither should a bit out of the drybox have that.

[@anchopanchorancho]

Yeah, Bowden works for some things not really great for stretchy, flexible, compressible stuff. Thats part of the issue with some inline dryers.

[@LambdaDriven]

I bet the drywise uses a mostly closed loop where the warm air is recycled through the molecular drying sieves instead of continuously heating cool air. Great video, excellent first POC, and love your humor. Looking forward to part 2!

[@christophstrasser4190]

Thanks for the video. I almost patented an inline dryer for filaments 12 years ago, did the calculations about needed drying lengths, designed simple setups etc. As to the why we dont see this more often: In the 3D printing industry, somehow the knowledge about how to properly prepare material for extrusion seems to not have transferred from regular extrusion processes like injection molding. Every TDS for granules used in conventional extrusion has at least a drying recommendation, most even have a specified maximum residual moisture content for processing. Stratasys went around this in providing (well) sealed containers, which mostly were used quick enough so the users did not often encounter this issue. Then after the patents expired and reprap started using welding wires for printing, nobody really thought about this. Since more and more people are into 3D printing now with materials more prone to issues with moisture (PLA and ABS are not as problematic as TPU or PA), the topic gets more attention. I still see posts almost daily about users boasting they never dried any filament and that it's plain useless. As a material scientist myself, statements like this make my head hurt. That's like saying you don't ever need to clean a surface before using glue on it. Of course you always can be lucky, but it's just good practice to stick to proven and meaningful recommendations.

[@3DPI67]

Lots of comments on this video as well about not needing to dry filament, i guess they leave in a dry area and or store filament properly. Maybe you want to share some advice for v2 from your experience?

[@madnesscreations]

After he raised the question "why don't we see more of those filament driers on the market?" My first thought was: does Stratasys have a patent on this and just block everyone else like they have been doing for the last 40 years with anything related to 3D printing?

[@3dPrintCreator]

For sure I would love to see more. Also, did you hear about, for example, the Chitu Heater for Resin printers. This is a temperature controlled heater, that moves the air due to it's fan. I think that a combination of that with some cans, would make the perfect combination.

[@artemyevtushenko8722]

Would love to see v2! Could so get behind a printable system. Maybe using standard PVC piping instead of the cans for more safety and less jank.

[@sanctusletum8522]

Aluminum air duct. Like dryer ducting. Flexible, easily ventable, and heat resistant.

[@stasi0238]

Hahaha pvc, more safety and heating don't go in pair

[@XenonG]

@@sanctusletum8522 Then wrap the outside and/or inside with heat insulating material, ceramic paint? Your usual house wall heat insulation material? The usual heat materials used for a forge? So many ideas.

[@3DPI67]

PVC not going to cut it, the temp go's to 110C

[@artemyevtushenko8722]

@@3DPI67Absolutely - no idea what the thermal limitations are of PVC. Just sharing idea ✨vibes✨😂

[@eclecticllama22]

This is a great idea! This is my first video I've found of yours. Excited to see more!

[@kesor6]

This looks very interesting. I wouldn't necessarily go with tin cans, but rather a tube with relative big diameter (>6mm) and blow hot (60c-70c) air into this tube, either from the printer side, or from the dry box side. Allowing the tube to be open at the other end so the hot air and the humidity are free to egress the tube after drying the filament. There are plenty of PTFE tubes that can do this which are easy to buy from China, or you can use a PVC pipe, it might even work with your local garden hose as well - depending on the material it is made of.

[@Layerbylayermaker]

I was thinking the exact same thing, and given PTFE has a high temp resistance, you could wrap some sort of heating coil around the tube to keep the flow of air warm

[@superslimanoniem4712]

Might want to go from printer side so that the end always has the driest air....

[@REDxFROG]

It must be cool to live at places with free energy

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

PTFE is overkill, simple nylon or even most silicone tubes would be cheaper and have more than enough temperature resistance for anything short of PEEK

[@Vabloath]

Why a big diameter tube?

[@patrickboyd8368]

YES! Well Done!!! This entire past year, I have been shouting from the hilltops that filament drying is THE most important next place to put our collective energies! Sorting out this challenge for pro users and major hurdle for those new to the hobby before the constant epic print failures frustrate them away is vital for the future of 3d printing!!! Try Activated Alumina granules next .... they can absorb Wayyyyyy more water and have a healthier lifespan than silica gel beads and the color changing dye used in them. You do need a higher temp to drive off the moisture and "recharge" the granules but this ensures even better performance over a longer span of time .... depending on your humidity level. I also recommend getting a dehumidifier for any closed room that you have your printers in.... so other off-the shelf technologies can easily be added right now for home users. I know dehumidifiers aren't cheap... but compared to destroying and wasting 2 rolls of filament in cost they are worth it..... get the biggest one you can so you don't have to empty it as often.... set a phone reminder as often as it takes to go empty it. ....and if you don't have dry boxes, or a dry room, enclose everything you can (entire printer and at the very least your filament, and add a cheap house fan for PLA cooling inside the enclosure ( so get/build the biggest one you can or get the smallest fan you can fit).....this will avoid the Creality X1 problems seen with excessive heat requiring the top be taken off to vent. 👍👍

[@calinnilie]

YES, we're all interested in it, please do a follow up!

[@RzekiLupus]

Yes please! I'm so totally going to make a can dryer now and have some fun on my own, though I doubt I'll have anywhere near as much expertise as you do. I'll be watching anxiously!

[@Rampamrampapapapam]

In Poland we make filament dryers from cheap vegetable/fruit/mushroom dryers, since first printers became popular, as drying the forest mushrooms is very popular here. They have airflow, 250W heater driven by thermostat and only need replacement of drying sieves with spool holder.

[@GeneCash]

That's what I use here in Florida, where we have weeks of 90% humidity in the summer.

[@MiGujack3]

How much?

[@trollobite1629]

Yep I use a fruit dryer in the UK, got it on Amazon, works great

[@sligit]

Yep these have been staple filament dryer for years. I think the commercial ones are inspired by them. Do the commercial ones not have airflow? That's a pretty fundamental oversight.

[@Rampamrampapapapam]

@@sligit Commercial ones resemble commercial heaters for heat-shaped shoe medical insoles. They are safe, look nice and you are sure that using them you will not be sued for damaging patient's shoe. The fact they don't work at all (insole remains thermally untreated) is the very least concern there.

[@malloott]

I been thinking about this for ages, just never have time! Glad someone picked this up.

[@sogstillsleep]

4:30 i think they might be using molecular sieves just based on appearance, but i’ve got no idea what else they’re using in the machine in order for them to justify that $2000 price tag

[@ProtonOne11]

Science! I guess they just want to be payed for the efforts of R&D they put into making the device. And i could see the machines being assembled by hand and not really optimized well for fast and easy assembly. It's a niche market with low volume, especially for a "professional" solution. Going for a cheap low profit margin solution was not theyr goal, as the big brands already cover that market with the cheaper filament dry boxes.

[@StephenCoda]

Looks like an MS to me too. Does seem like a pretty hardcore solution.

[@barebaric]

They also installed a patent pending marketing system.

[@pen25]

most likely. the air is being pumped through them to super dry the air. id be interested to see someone buy a vacuum drier and see how that works

[@Dragoninja833]

I think this is REALLY interesting, and it seems you have proven it really hasn't been done in a feasible manner. I think there is a product here, just waiting to be invented and marketed. You got this, man! DO IT!

[@redpillcommando]

Your video confirms that behind every great man there is a great woman.

[@Mystical_Zeus]

I really like this project. I think you have the starts of a really good idea and I think you are more than capable of making something that performs at least 80% of what the $2000 dryer would at a fraction of the cost.

[@aware2action]

You can't remove the moisture from filament, that has absorbed moisture over time of weeks and months. One easier way is to loadup the filament in a vacuum drier(used for degassing epoxy resins). You also need to keep some dessicant inside, and keep the container warm(85C if you put the reel on pedestals). You could dry any filament this way, in a matter of an hour or two at the most. You can also refresh those brittle pla, by putting it in 70C water for 15 mins, and doing the above.

[@ILoveTinfoilHats]

Boiling? You're gonna destroy your tolerances like that. 50° C max

[@aware2action]

​@@ILoveTinfoilHats If you know how 3d filaments are made, extruded filament are drawn in water, before wound into a spool. There needs to be a min. moisture needed to keep filament from turning brittle.

[@ILoveTinfoilHats]

@@aware2action the water is not the problem. Did you read my comment?

[@aware2action]

@@ILoveTinfoilHats A brief dunk in hot water, will not affect tolerances, as long as the filament is dried later. Also, the filament is not stretched during the water dip. Have done this to my verbatim brand filaments with no issues.

[@ILoveTinfoilHats]

@@aware2action nice editing of your original comment

[@stratiienkoroman2959]

I had a similar idea two months ago. I planned to put it inside my enclosed Bambu P1S so that the heated air from the build plate vaporizes the moisture from the filament. Also, I was planning to print a rod with a hole for the fillament and blow the air through it. I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in thinking about it, and the out-of-the-box solution might be close.

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

I'm a former analytical instrumentation specialist... I've read few comments below. My best bet would be the 1 feet diameter drum surrounded by few coil of filament. The drum is laying on the side with a bottom flange and a bearing (no motorization required). The drum is in a slightly larger drum box. You need proper fan + heater + thermocouple on Arduino or even simple mechanical thermal switch. Filament goes into the drum, spinn few turn and get out. The more resident time you need, the more turn you need. I've subscribed to see the next step!

[@ChaosEldritchPrince007]

Your English is phenomenal and your wife is amazing/cute for correcting you when she does hahaha. No worries I have to do the same for my partner as they're from Colombia.

[@rholt2]

It may have been suggested, but when you come close to a working version, try to test how much air-flow is needed for optimal results. you may find that you need less than you needed and therefore smaller fans, less energy. GREAT work. You have my subscription! Russ from Ocala, Florida, USA

[@3DPI67]

Ill need to come up with a testing rig for all this things first

[@Garga0]

You have made a good video with a good humor sense and nice charming looks. I have a two spool dryer from creality which is able to dry up to 35% and not beyond. This one uses heated air. I have a less price dryer from polybox which uses desiccant and dries up to 20%. You have given me a new idea. I will modify the creality dryer so that it exchanges air from outside. Now I will see what results are there.

[@jim5148]

You two crack me up. Thanks for the good video and the laughs.

[@johnclements3441]

Looking forward to a version 2. I have been using a dryer for PETG and seems half way down the roll I start to string again and back in the dryer it goes. You explained why I need to re-dry😀. Either I need a bigger fan for more circulation or maybe just keep the filament inside the dryer and run it while printing to keep the outer layer dry.

[@JimRimS4S]

Love your ideas. I'm already building one in my head and thinking about all the different ways I might approach the building of such a device.Thanks buddy you gave me a bad case of "makers itch". I don't know if I'll make it through the video.

[@AltairZare]

I'd love and I know that not only I want to see a V2, I NEED to see it and get to know how too! Excellent work, great effort! I'm excited to see where this goes

[@rgtroitino]

I usually don't comment on videos, but this one deserves! Great video! Cheers from Brasil!

[@fuzzytech3846]

That Creality dryer at 1:02 has a blower that blows the hot air directly over the spool opening and the air flows continuously around spool in the direction that the filament is wrapped (why it's shaped the way it is with the rounded lid). I have one and I have notice it does dry quicker then most options and once you use it as you print the deeper layers get dried as they get closer to the surface. I have been very happy with it so far.

[@markrobinson7831]

Yes, would like to see more. I find this very interesting since in Chicago last decade the weather is hot and a lot more humid and I have to dry everything, put in bags with desiccate and then vacuum seal. Its a pain . And dropping the desiccant on floor and watching it bounce everywhere is just so so much fun. LOL

[@MucaroBoricua]

That's very promising, dude. This is very insightful. An out-of-the-box idea on how to dry desiccant and filaments more efficiently and conveniently. Yes, fine tune it and post another video(s).

[@viewatyourownrisk]

This is amazing. I would greatly appreciate seeing this turned into a finished project. Maintaining correct filament moisture levels is critical to good quality 3d printing. An inline filament dryer that has a reasonable cost and is effective would be a significant improvement.

[@crazyhank99]

She's right, you are a genius. This is awesome and I'd love to see more. Thanks for sharing.

[@ferrograph]

This is really good progress. I'll tell you my story with filament drying. I use a flexible filament that is ridiculously hydroscopic. I tried all sorts of things. In the end I started using Creatily new dryer which creates a vortex around the filament. I also found cracking the door open a bit really helped dry this filament. I still would like to see if it could be dried sufficiently inline so I look forward to V2 😊

[@one.crafty_boi]

Love the vibes of the editing, its chill/fun and informative, subbed!!!

[@Fredjikrang]

I did something like this years ago using a hot air soldering station and a simple "Y" that I printed from PETG to inline dry nylon. Due to the short drying path I had to have the temperature pretty high (as high as I could without softening the PET too much) and really high airflow, but it worked really well. There were three main reasons I didn't keep pursuing it. 1. I live in a desert, so I almost never have to dry filament. 2. It dumped a ton of heat into my office, which was pretty uncomfortable. 3. It was really loud. I think that an inline dryers can make a ton of sense though. Looking forward to seeing your progress! You could try using the guts of a hair dryer, or at least the heating element.

[@3DPI67]

My room got so hot! had to run the ac and heater at the same time.

[@MrDocctor]

Two points: 1. Stationary blades are arranged inside said jars to swirl hot air flow. Thus, the path of the hot stream will become much longer. 2. Place the filament not in the center of the jar, but as close as possible to its edge, but at the maximum distance from the heater. Thus, the plastic will be washed with a stream of hot air repeatedly (see the first paragraph).

[@knightslaw1229]

I would love to see updates on this!. Also wondering if you could up the speed by making the "dryer" longer

[@italosoares69]

This is very interesting! i've been using silica for years, but kept them in a sealed box with the filaments in it. Never thought about "in-line" drying, i'll definitely try it

[@lorenzoancilli1340]

Excellent work! A great pragmatic approach that deserves much credit. I'm very interested

[@OneDollarWilliam]

I'm very excited to see you explore this idea further. I understand that your goal is speed, but I have concerns about adding a possible point of failure to the printing loop. What i might propose as an in-between step is a reel to reel system: two dry boxes connected by the wind tunnel, a motor turns one spool and pulls the filament along, even if it only matched the current 40mm/sec speed you could dry a full spool in about two and a half hours, and by separating the drying from the printing I'd bet the speed could be dramatically increased.

[@Gixxerfool1]

So interested in where this is going. Especially if it’s open source and somehwhat modular. I currently print from a dryer, which works, but has its drawbacks. Subscribed.

[@designgears]

With something like the Bambu Lab X1C I thought of doing something similar, but instead of an external heater, I planned to build a riser for the glass, similar to the ones used for LED strips, and run the filament all the way across the top. With your testing and needing air moving around I think it might work better across the bottom and use the heater as a dual-purpose chamber heater / inline filament dryer.

[@JAY-fq7sb]

Not sure if you have made any progress. I would like to give just a little advice. What I saw in the video at the end is you need to adjust the filament feed. Check the filament retraction distance. All of this has factors in those stringing artifacts in between the upright columns. Once retraction distance and speed are adjusted. You should eliminate the stringing. I have a dehydrator that is for drying fruit or herbs. I know what I am printing I just need to set the filament in there the night before I start a print. It works great for me and unlike filament dryers. The dehydrator has convection fans. I set it for 100 F or 37.8 C and 8 to 10 hours. My filament storage is in my room on a shelf close to the ceiling. The fact of moist air is heavy and air at the ceiling is dryer. We also are usually very humid in summer. This year has been quite dry. I have printed TPU, and I am more of a PLA or PETG. The TPU I did print was great and did quite well. The dehydrator I got was under $90 US. So, it could be purchased quite easy. Though if there was a product that was built in, and I didn't have to have the dehydrator. I would buy your dryer. Keep up the work. I would buy it. PS. Just check those Retraction settings. That will help the stringing.😊👍

[@centurybug]

This is a really interesting idea! And it seems like it has a lot of potential. I wonder if you could increase the effectiveness by having the filament go through a couple loops inside the dryer, increasing the time it spends drying.

[@ThreenaddiesRexMegistus]

I have a $39 stack dehydrator with a cardboard outer sleeve. I do a few spools at a time then store them in sealed containers with moisture capture sachets. Works perfectly. I do like your novel approach. 👍🏻

[@PulsionProFPV]

Its apparant how much fun you are having making these. instant subsection... if its windy outside, which it is

[@KubedPixel]

Definitely interested. I don't use TPU because I can't be bothered with the hassle it brings but for your project, I'd suggest something like: 1. Drying more filament at once - Make an Archimedes screw or some coil support structure which sits in the middle of the tins which supports a filament coil. The coil shouldn't be tightly packed but enough to cope with the higher print speed. By doing this, there will be more filament inside the dryer which means a higher volume of filament is getting dried quicker if you're going to print at a higher speed. 2. Keep your moisture-sensitive filaments in airtight containers. 3. The more energy efficient way to dry TPU or any other filament is store a desiccant in the airtight containers you keep the filament in and add a fan inside to circulate the dryer air for more efficient drying with minimal addition of heat.

[@carglez70]

Really great job!, Smart, creative and full of good humor! Keep up doing this jobs!!

[@notregansadventures1930]

LMAO, guy, this is the best thing i have seen in a long time, good humor, intelligent and to the point. love it.

[@MaxNippard]

Very interested in a fast inline dryer. Great work on the video, loved it.

[@MichaelJHathaway]

I have been doing this for years. But I use a very large sealed chamber I place the whole spool inside. I use a fan that heat the chamber and produces violent air flow. The filament is dried as it comes off the spool and the moisture is deposited into aluminum oxide cans that I recharge each time I place a new spool in the chamber.

[@stratos2]

Awesome idea. I would love to see this developed into a reliable open source solution. I can see this becoming the standard in filament drying. Perhaps it could be made physically smaller by coiling some filament inside the dryer, perhaps around a small wheel/which like thing.

FI-LA-MENT, You're a GENIUS! Always thanks for your time and tests realized, making 3D way better! From Uruguay, regards. PD: I'll be waiting for part 2.

[@radicalphil1871]

Hey mate. Great video! And great wife you have! So you got the point, that most people don't leave their filament outside. Or else... Anyway your idea is really good. The new dry boxes got most of the things right: they dry and let you print from them. So go on! Make your own filament dryer that dries the filament on the right spot! I'm curious with what you come up. Great ideas I guess.

[@josielinnea]

This video made me subscribe to your channel. Not just because this subject is interesting but for the way you explain, try things out and leave little cute bloopers in. Thank you, and I'll be watching a lot more videos =) Keep up the good work!

[@ondrejharvan8116]

Does preheating the filament change its Printing properties ? like maybe it stretches more resulting in under extrusion or there aren’t any significant problems ?

[@ondrejharvan8116]

also what about having a set up that will take 1 filament roll and push it threw some heater or something that will dehumidify the filament and then roll it on another roll so you can have almost all the way perfectly dry filament for storing

[@antonhuber1654]

Would a Microwave work as a dryer? It heats just water and we used it to dry corn for silage to check the dry matter. Worked great.

[@surfboardtrough7742]

Just adding my vote. I too would like to see where this goes! Please keep working on this!

[@mohrtechgaming1004]

That is amazing. It would be awesome to see version 2. Please keep your great ideas coming.

[@johanneslode2006]

Great job, Sir, - and yes, I'm keen for more of your research and probably also some results from version 2. Thanks.

[@lowelljeff]

Very interested please keep it up! Looking forward to all your work regarding filament drying.

[@ray-charc3131]

I did a dyer in my diy injection molding machine for drying plasiic pellets a long time ago, i used a small rectangular tank, around 1.5 litre; car lubricant oil tank, cardboard sheet laid inside for insulation purposes, a hair dryer was used and installed inside, it blew hot air to circulate inside. On top of it, a circular spray paint can was used, inside it, a cloth bag held moisture absorption pellets, there was a small clear plastic small window, so the color change of them can be observed. To maintain hair dryer motor could last longer time, it run at low speed, temperature sensor located inside, a temperature and timer control module was located outside. There was a hole on top of the tank to let hot air flew to the topmost circular can to the moisture absorption pellets, some would then go outside through an opened small lid on top. Rectangular tank originally had a metal cap, with it opened, plastic pellets were poured through a funnel to load to inside. Another opening was made on tank bottom, a hose connected it to. After a night, dried pellets let coiming out to injection molding machine for use.

[@Programmer329]

Just coming across this now, but I would say if you can somehow make a guide/feed tube inside of the tin cans to spiral slightly inside, you'd get more surface area for the filament to travel across and thus spend more time inside the drying chamber. Insulating the outside of the cans too may help retain heat but then you may have to watch that when it gets close to softening the filament before entering the printer. While I don't have the statistics to back it up either, making it so the chamber has a negative air pressure (more air out than in) may allow for faster drying as well as once the moisture leaves the filament, its immediately vacuumed out but you may also risk vacuuming out the heat as well.

[@Benjamin_Reese]

I too am impatient and forget why I was drying a certain filament! 😆 More testing and iterations please!

[@jairo.cabello]

In my mind, I envision a single piece copper tube with a diameter close 2-3mm in which the filament goes through. A 3d printed adaptar is printed at the end that makes a Y, one side of the Y allows the filament to go outside to the printer, the other end goes to a much bigger opening that connects to a 120mm fan that creates a vacuum. . On the other side of the tube, you have the same Y: Just that instead of a connection to a fan, you're breathing dry air from a box full of silica gel (Similar to the first commercial product that you showed. . Then, you can wrap heating elements around the copper tube (Like the ones used in motorcycle handle grips) and finally and insulation around all of that that would keep the copper tube heated at a reasonable 60-70 degrees without too much use of energy. This feels like such a cool project!

[@DrPersonman]

Oh damn! This is awesome! I had wondered about doing this but didn't think it could work so well! I swear, it always rains and gets really humid when I want to print things the most... I wonder if you could handle high speeds by just having more length? Maybe even have it go back and forth through the drying can thing on pulleys or something? That way you wouldn't need to make it too big... maybe.

[@jamieprocter6653]

This is awesome! I wonder if you loop filament through a PTFE tubing and then back through the cans again if you get better results / can print faster / make the whole thing smaller. you could even loop it multiple time over like a "reverse radiator"

[@3DJapan]

If filament is on a spool yes, the outside layers will get more dry. But, are the outside layers also the only part that needs drying?

[@3DPI67]

Just learned about molecular sieves from your comment, i think its what drywise uses, thanks!

[@ghostl337]

Have you tried different fan orientations? Like going perpendicular through the cans? How about fins on the inside of the cans to guide the air into a vortex around the filament?

[@anchopanchorancho]

I've used the Thordsen. It works well enough after a sunlu dry box but lacks performance on fully saturated nylons. It would benefit from having actual airflow to improve the release of water. If you can make something a little better than the Thordsen then you would be doing good things for the community. The heater control element for their unit can be used with virtually anything else. When purchased from Aliexpress it ends up costing about 40 USD for just the control unit. So potentially you could take the Thordsen and reassemble it into something better.

[@coolcat312]

This is a great idea! Can’t wait to see how you continue to develop it. Great job on the video.

[@AM-jw1lo]

Good work, of course we would like to see you develop this idea, sounds like you are going to do it anyway.. Are you blowing dry air into the system, can you recycle the air so you don't have to dry undry air on a continous basis, would would it work with a blower if you were just pumping in "warm dry air" this would allow for a underdesk unit without all the cans. Good luck.

[@stansfie1]

I love this idea! I wonder if you get a similar, but less effective continuous drying process on filament in printers with heated chambers and no reverse bowden tube? I imagine the bowden tube means that the filament doesn't dry.

[@jimviau327]

I have an idea to further your research. How about making a heated container box for several filament spools. That box would allow output for whatever filament is chosen. It would feature a little fan and a heater. Both heater and fan would run 24/7. The chosen filament would slowly exit the box toward the printer, guaranteeing an always present dry material. The fan would only supply a very little flow, just enough to slowly renew the air via some small opening, but not enough to bring an undesired extra humidity. The temperature could reach well over 70C, making sure that the relative humidity becomes very low. The box could easily contain many spools, like 5 or 6. It could be made out of plywood, an easily available material that exhibits decent heat insulation characteristics. The inside could be lined up with an insulation lining. Just a thought.

[@Forcelord50]

I'd be interested to see if it works in a setup between respooling stations.

[@WVRetreat]

I just added a fan to my old filament dryer and my new filament dryer has a built-in fan. Running this removes the moisture fast. It doesn't matter that only outer spool layers are dried because the moisture is removed so quickly using the fan and heat together. I wish the BambuLab AMS also had a dryer built in, besides the desiccant.