The Perfect 3D Desiccant Solution: Convenience and Longevity Combined

[@BigBenAdv]

I contemplated making the containers like you did for silica gel previously. Until I discovered that buying metal tea dust/ leaf strainers are basically easier and potentially cheaper than doing so. Not to mention, they can be opened if you ever need to remove or replace the desiccant.

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Yeah, now that people have been pointing it out to me it looks like there are some ready made solutions that may work pretty well. I ordered this tea strainer amzn.to/3MbV9tC and am going to see how it works in comparison to what I made. Thanks for the tip.

[@BigBenAdv]

@@BuildItMakeIt Another method I had contemplated was to use the wire mesh to make a pouch and just use wires to 'sew' them up - this allows for customized sizes or shapes when commercial alternatives won't fit the needs. It will still be able to withstand the temperatures of baking in an oven. Ultimately, the tea strainers was what I went with as I just needed it for absorbing moisture in food containers and the fit wasn't too big of an issue (just got to be careful which desiccant is used as some of them contain toxic dyes).

[@TimDavis77]

@@BuildItMakeIt How have those tea strainers worked so far?

[@BuildItMakeIt]

@@TimDavis77 They have worked fine. They are a bit smaller, and rattle around some more, but they didn't pop open since the top screws on. I wish the holes were bigger, but it seems like it is sufficient air flow for longer storage.

[@mattmarzula]

I put it in an old cotton ankle sock with a pipe cleaner as a twist tie. Weigh it before, after use, and after recharge at 400°. Works just fine. I get it though. You're a crafter making content.

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Ummmm…..that’s a really good idea. Yeah that’s way easier than this idea 😂

[@josephpk4878]

I use colour indicating silica beads in small, round, perforated tin screw cap containers. Throw two of the tins in with the filament, drop in a small humidistat, suck out the extra air, and I'm good to go. As soon as the humidistat reads anything above 15%, the tins and the filament go into my dehydrator. Been running like that for a while and it works well.

[@lpanic]

When I was checking an online marketplace, I accidentally stumbled upon empty textile teabags. One pack with 100 bags with a string to close the opening. And I got a bottle with moisture sensitive colored silica gel. Works wonders. It's easy to move it from the bottle to a bag, the bag can be closed, air moves easily and it's still very visible if silica gel is dry or wet. And as a bonus, it fits perfectly in the same vacuum bags as you show on the video. Very nice video though.

[@davidahn4130]

I really enjoyed this video and contemplated both your DIY tubes and the tea strainers, but in the end decided on an even more convoluted scheme of buying Eva-Dry E-500's and upgrading them to alumina so I wouldn't need to recharge it in an oven, then cutting the vents open and using your steel mesh and JB Weld technique to keep the alumina from falling out. Thank you for the inspiration!

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Great idea! Let me know how that works out.

[@patrickchase5614]

I appreciate your book selection at 2:45: bomb, more bomb, h-bomb, home canning. I've read all three of the bomb books and they're excellent, especially "Dark Sun". I'm not sure what bit of profound social commentary you're making there, but I know that there must be one. Maybe that once the bombs are through with us we'll all (or at least those of us who escape the prompt effects and fallout) wish we'd done more home canning?

[@brettcombs774]

It definitely still breaks down, but it's over a much longer time span. We use activated alumina for industrial air drying at work. We change it out every 3 years in the order of a thousand lbs or so. We have it tested annually.

[@BuildItMakeIt]

That is good to know. How many cycles are you using roughly in those 3 years. I have some desiccant going on 8+ years but it is only like 5-6 cycles in and still works really well.

[@brettcombs774]

@@BuildItMakeIt theyre continuous service, 24/7 drying cycles takes around 2 hours at 335f. then 2 hours of cooling. then the cycle repeats so 6 cycles a day. far more than youll ever see in your garage just a fun fact...

[@brettcombs774]

@@BuildItMakeIt i will say im not sure how high humidity levels effect the lifespan. our dryness is measured around -163f dewpoint. where as say 70f 65RH is +58f. We go from dry to dryer. id speculate our use case (home), is a more severe service from a humidity standpoint.

[@tinfore]

That eSun kit is absolutely great. I have the same one.

[@ResistanceLion]

I personally would solder mesh with soldering iron and a few tin drops. Nevertheless, thank you for informing about activated alumina. Subscribed + new to 3d printing

[@ResistanceLion]

by the way, it is cheaper in Ukraine to buy alumina tube instead of vacuum cleaner tip/adapter/air intake

[@BuildItMakeIt]

That is a great tip. I couldn't find a local place for just a small peice of tube.

[@aeonjoey3d]

I saw on amazon the most bought with the activated alumina is a pack of aluminum salt shakers lol, I think I might go that route :P

[@aerosoul12345]

somehow i'm unable to buy this stuff where i'm from. could only find a single seller on Amazon, selling it for 200 bucks per 3kg 🙄

[@autofctrl]

This is actually pretty cool....

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Thanks! I am really liking them.

[@AlbaderBohamad]

4:41 when vacuum packed. The desiccant pod, in its location , is sealed off from absorbing moisture from the filament.

[@BlondieHappyGuy]

Yeah, I saw that too and see that with all of the spools that I have. That's why, I put the desiccant in a position where it's not blocked off. As spools empty, I'll probably drill small holes into the inner hub and move filament to those as time goes on.

[@aeonjoey3d]

I’m doing it, I bought 75lbs of activated alumina - info is scarce about it, so I’m rewatching this and other vids talking about it. I’m using 3D printed canisters as cores for every spool to go from storage cabinet or food saver bags to dry box or ams - and I’m going to keep an eye on the RH in the cabinet, bags, dryboxes and ams’ with mini hygrometers and see when it starts to wear out and then dump and recharge it all en masse, still gotta figure out the time in the oven and how long the AA will last.

[@aeonjoey3d]

Following up, just about 2 months before the RH started creeping up for me. It’s not bad yet, but the hygrometer in my ams shows 18% RH and the ui shows a 2 - going to try and dump it all out into a glass baking dish and bake it

[@SliceEngineering]

Great video! We've actually been selling Activated Alumina in canisters like this since 2021 on our site and on Amazon for all the benefits you outlined! We source our alumina here in the USA-it's a phenomenal desiccant for 3D printing and many other applications. We can't drop links to our desiccant in KZbin comments, but we'd love to connect and collaborate since we've been doing this for 3 years!

[@BuildItMakeIt]

That is awesome! I love your hot ends. I didn't know you were in the desiccant game too! That would be great to connect.

[@alexcortelyou8124]

Does anyone know where to source similar cans in bulk? I could use a few dozen...

[@Enjoymentboy]

I stopped using silica a while ago. It's ok for long term storage but it really doesn't have the oomph needed to pull enough moisture. I prefer calcium chloride. I get a 2 pack of desiccants from the dollar store for $3 and each one lasts about 6 months. I have put a new spool inside an airtight container with the calcium chloride, put the lid on and just left it at room temp for a few days. NOTICEABLY drier with zero electricity needed. Granted if you employ a little heat things dry up even better. I'm happy to wait for filament to dry and I do not need it available immediately. The best part is that once the calcium chloride fully dissolves and stops working I can drain the desiccant packs into a pyrex dish and pop it into the oven when I cook. It'll dry out to a crust which I can then put back into the pack and reuse.

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

The way moisture is absorbed into the polymer is not unlike how cooked long-grain rice "crystallizes" as it cools. Long story short, it is always a good idea to heat up the polymer to "eject" the absorbed and incorporated water.

[@voxpop9]

Is it safe to recharge the alumina in the same oven you would use for food? Obviously it would always be better to not but not all houses have a second oven laying around.

[@BuildItMakeIt]

I think so since it is the water that it is absorbing and we are releasing, but that is just my opinion. I do, but maybe someone else can chime in if they know of contamination risks.

[@voxpop9]

@@BuildItMakeIt In that case, I do hope it is safe as I am currently waiting on my order of tea strainers to put the activated alumina inside. Gonna replace all the silica dessicants I am currently using

[@Callsign_Virgil]

According to Google's AI: "Yes, you can dry activated alumina in an oven at a temperature of at least 200°C (392°F) for two hours. This process is called thermal regeneration, and it removes adsorbed contaminants from activated alumina. Thermal regeneration can be used in air and gas drying, catalyst support, and water treatment. Here are some tips for thermal regeneration: Avoid overheating: Overheating can damage the activated alumina's structure and reduce its performance. Use a controlled environment: Thermal regeneration can be done in a furnace or oven. Activated alumina is a chemical-free, non-toxic, long-lasting, and recyclable option that absorbs moisture well. It can be used in air dryers, and can also be used for catalyst support and water treatment."

[@BowWowPewPewCQ]

Every consider printing in PC-CF? I print spool centers, AMS trays, and AMS inserts. This way I dry it in a convection oven at 115-120 ºC for about 4 hours container and all. Fill with your choice of desiccant.

[@BuildItMakeIt]

That is a really cool idea. Thanks.

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

You could probably whip up that retaining clip in PrusaSlicer and all derivatives with geometric primitives. Activated alumina... I'll have to remember that. I know MarkForged ships packets of non-silica desiccant with their filaments, and I don't remember which one they used.

[@gmvader]

Nice selection of books. What do I do if I don’t have those same books? How important is it to keep the filament dry in a desert climate like, say, New Mexico?

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Well if you don’t have the exact books I used then you can’t make this project. The whole project was designed around the weight of the books in mind and their relative size between the desiccant tube’s diameter and the surface area of the books. Now in order to mitigate local variations in the strength of gravity I didn’t perfectly stack the books but angled them in relation to the desiccant and local field variations. This may have been overkill but seems like good practice that I think is pretty standard when working in this field. Now you may be asking why was the same technique not used on both the top and the bottom glueing as the weight, size, and configuration changed quite drastically. I’ll have to cover that in a future video so make sure to like, subscribe, and hit that bell notification so you don’t miss out.

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Keeping filament dry in New Mexico I don’t think is super important for abs and pla, but is a necessity for nylon.

[@AdricM]

mark the dry weight on it. ad you can then check them via scale to see if it needs recharging.

[@aeonjoey3d]

I have 12 silica gel bead containers in my filament cabinet and they kept it around 19% RH but once spring and summer rolled around I can’t keep it below 45% - it’s driving me crazy, I keep refilling and recharging the desiccant in the microwave every week because they turn color so fast, need something better asap

[@shashanktg08]

Can it be used directly into the container you made inside the drying box

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Yep I am using this desiccant inside my filament dry boxes now.

[@shashanktg08]

@@BuildItMakeIt how long does a normally silicon desiccants holds for

[@bruhitsme2601]

why do you say silica beads has a limited number of uses? I thought you can put it in the oven and it'll release the moisture, then you can reuse it.

[@BuildItMakeIt]

They do release the moisture but they break down over time and crumble away.

[@corylewis8413]

Do a video for zeolite instead of carbon filtering since it regenerates far longer

[@EM83D]

I'm still hesitating between the two materials, glad for this video and your basic idea with that tube but there is a thing I must disagree with it. As I read the activated alumina has huge surface. This is a main advantage what you just loose when you vacuum seal the tube ends and leave only pinholes next to the glued mesh if there is any. I want to recommend you an imprioved design with 3D printed caps for the tube that have holes all over. When you want to regenerate, you just remove them. A well curved cap won't stress the vacuum bag like the tube edge probably does.

[@BlondieHappyGuy]

Perhaps an idea might be to use metal screening and create a cylinder with that. Then just leave enough at each end to staple it closed. Just a thought.

[@theTeknoViking]

Tidy stuff! 👍

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Thanks!!!

[@theTeknoViking]

@@BuildItMakeIt Hey, thank YOU for sharing your cool project with the world! Slick video production too!

[@tritonsws9609]

How long do you bake the desiccant at 450 F and how do you tell when you need to bake the activated alumina?

[@BuildItMakeIt]

I bake the activated alumina when the humidity start to climb on a sensor. For those without a sensor, I generally reactivate it once a quarter.

[@aeonjoey3d]

holly molly no wonder you went with aluminum, you need to bake these at 220-250 C to recharge them, yowza, can't use a filament dryer for that :P

[@jacobscoville2044]

What is the maximum weight difference you have noticed before/after recharging? I only noticed a 10% difference at 200c for 2 hours and a third hour didn’t result in any lower weight (I don’t have a normal oven available at the moment) one retailer suggested 200c at 2 hours and I was skeptical if drying would really recharge it since in normal use there is a chemical process for recharging activated alumina.

[@BuildItMakeIt]

I get out of a container probably a 20% weight reduction but I think it depends on the humidity level that they have been exposed to.

[@odyss160]

aluminum pipe you mean?

[@federicopappalardo231]

Im actually new to 3d printing, but what do you mean with silica breaks over time? How much time does it take to break? Also i have some silica gel packets laying around since more than 7 years now... Never dried them as they were not meant for 3dprint, don't know if they've crumbled inside the package, but it doesn't seem to have any visible or perceptible integrity problems. Also silica's way cheaper and easier to find

[@BlondieHappyGuy]

I don't think that he means breaks as in physically disintegrating. I think he means that the desiccant loses its ability to remove moisture. The color changing type is interesting. When dry it's orange and as it gets moister it starts to turn towards green. However, I can't seem to get a straight answer on how many times you can recharge this stuff. On Amazon, it usually doesn't say, except in one offer, it says something like 5 to 7 times. So, hard to say with that stuff. But the little packets you refer to, I don't know if those are rechargeable. or not. I just bought a filament dryer, so I'll bet trying to dry out all the little packets I have. This dryer might not be hot enough, however, so I may end up having to use an electric mini oven.

[@federicopappalardo231]

@@BlondieHappyGuy it's been some time and I actually bought some, it does indeed crumble, but I do not think it's based on the "mileage" of the single pearl, rather caused by manufacturing defects. As per how many times you can reuse them, on my package there's indicated two to three times. I'll obviously try more than that untill it doesn't work anymore.

[@BlondieHappyGuy]

@@federicopappalardo231 Oh that's interesting! In all my years I have never seen desiccant crumble like that. I wonder if the manufacturers have gone on the cheap, now using substandard materials. Something to watch out for. Thanks for confirming that.

[@federicopappalardo231]

@@BlondieHappyGuy it's not every single piece oc, but some tend to shatter, I've found quite a few. Still work as intended tho!

[@Latrocinium086]

😂@book collection going on top. Nice range 😂😅

[@BuildItMakeIt]

Thanks! Glad someone got the joke 😂

[@SirFlickka]

Thought it would be cool in the freezer no?

[@antoniomromo]

This is great, but I assume one cannot use the microwave to recharge them. Thus tiny beads win there.

[@BlondieHappyGuy]

You can do that with the silica type, but obviously, not with aluminum. I can see it now... SPARK SPARK!!!! PING PING... ZOOOM BOOOP !

[@damaylaphoenix1155]

is this more toxic than silica gel beads?

[@Barak50cal]

Less toxic than silica, especially the color dye indicating silica

[@massgrave_]

@@Barak50cal The only color-indicating silica that is toxic is the type that is blue and turns pink when indicated - this contains Cobalt Chloride, a known toxin/carcinogen. The type that is orange and turns green when indicated does not contain Cobalt Chloride and is not toxic. Further, "normal" (non-indicating) silica gel is also not toxic.