It's nice seeing that your business has grown as fast as it has. Great job!!! I noticed that if you move your dehydrater all the way to the left side of the shelf, then you wouldn't have to deal with the door being in the way to load and unload the filament.
It looks like the dryer door opens to the wrong side. Maybe it would be better for loading and unloading if you place the dryer on the left and the filament on the right.
Nice setup and workflow! One thing to note is that a good filament manufacturer will dry their filament after production and then seal in a metalized plastic pouch. Regular clear plastic will leech moisture over time. As you’re looking for another source ask about post production drying and those metalized pouches. 💪🏼
I’ve been 3D printing for 10 years, for work and for home. I’m in central Florida, and have never needed a dryer for PLA. Other filaments are sensitive to moisture, but never PLA in my experience. The lowest humidity I’ve seen in the past couple of months has been 40%. This week, it’s been 66% pretty consistently. I have two A1 combos running non stop, using Bambu basic PLA. Fantastic print quality. I do store my opened rolls not in use in 1 gallon Ziplock bags. These fit a 1kg spool perfectly. I can also store these bagged spools on a RepRack wall mount system. I’ve only ordered about 40 rolls of filament from Bambu. The first two orders arrived in good condition about 5 days after being ordered. My latest order was a couple of weeks ago, still hasn’t shipped. My other go to filament is Sunlu. Prints as nice as Bambu, but requires an adapter (Maker World) for use on the AMS Lite. The spools reportedly don’t roll well in the regular AMS. Amazon had a bundle of 10 spools for $129 on sale last week. Sunlu often has sales on their website, and you’d probably get additional savings on the quantity you order. I typically order 4-20 rolls at a time.
I agree. Honestly, I store PLA in the open in the Midwest (KC) and while we do have humid weather, I've never had issues with PLA. Now, PETG, ABS and TPU, I also store in gallon Ziplocs and dry at times. Especially TPU and ABS. I have a Sunlu S4 and two rolls of TPU and one roll of ABS are in there all the time due to the volume of what I'm printing.
I've never had an issue with PLA either. I do dry PETG and TPU, not because I've had issues with them but because I use them so rarely that it's no hassle to do, so why not just do it just in case. With how often I use PLA and the amount of different spools of it I use, it would be a royal pain to always keep dry so I just figured I'd see if it became an issue, and it never did. I've had spools sitting for years and I just blow some dust off and they print fine.
I would highly recommend looking at either a) having a backup humidifier on hand or b) getting a more commercial level dehumidifier and keeping your original as a backup. Those single room units are designed to run 8-12 hours a day maximum to make a room comfortable in the 40-50% range, running it for the extended periods down in the 20s you likely will significantly decrease it's lifespan from 3-4 years to 1-2 or less (Tosot only have a 1 year warranty). Even if its a cheap Vevor or Costway commercial model it'll be longer lived and significantly more powerful (125-200 PPD) than the single room roll around one (and probably wont cost that much more).
Are the filament spools themselves damaged in any way? The primary function of shipping boxes, after all, is to protect the product in them. If the spools are undamaged, then there isn't a huge problem here.
They’re not. Never had a damaged spool. I find that statement a weird considering it’s only the boxes and bambu can’t even control the shipment company just throwing around boxes.
@@LCSL90 The problem is that Bambu is not adding any packing materials to the shipping box. They are trying to save money and time and with that is could lead to damaged product even if it has not happened yet. I agree that Bambu cannot control the shipper and how they handle the packages but they can add more protection inside the shipping box.
@@collimic This is EXACTLY the problem, zero packing to keep things from moving around. And while it looks like Sam's just getting refill rolls, shipping can absolutely damage filament spools.. I've got about a 25% breakage rate on spools I order from Amazon when I need some weird filament (silks, coextrusions, etc) with one brand I've been using (Chitu coextrusion silks) at a 100% broken spool rate on shipments.. I've been able to salvage them using a V-spooler setup (awesome respooler that works great) that I printed, but shouldn't have to do that on a new spool. Same issue as Bambu's shipment, no extra packing materials, and the spool boxes are bouncing around in a much larger box..
Do you do anything by way of keeping track of how much moisture your filaments are losing after heat treating them or drying them? I weigh my filaments before they go into the dryer and weigh them after to make sure that the process is working. It also helps to rule out the idea of wet filament when I encounter Less than ideal prints. I’m curious to know how well your dehydrator works. Love the videos!
I have personally received refill spools that I couldn't use because the inner cardboard roll was mangled and misshapen. They were replaced, but it took a while. I use a lot of IIIDMax filament now because if you order 10 spools, you pay about $12 per for misc. Colors. Some of their colors aren't very color fast though, meaning you may get some streaks in the print, which can look cool, but if you're after consistency, that may not be good for you.
I haven't seen your channel in quite some time, THANKS RUclips, and I am pleasantly surprised to see that you have shifted your channel from woodworking, to 3D printing. I really enjoy both hobbies, so getting used to your new (at least to me( format, is going to be pretty easy. Where are you selling your 3D printed items?? Your print farm really looks impressive to say the very least, but there seems to be something missing from your workshop, fire suppression. Is it very well integrated into your ceiling, or is it just MIA?? AWESOME VIDEO, AND CONGRATS ON YOUR NEW BUSINESS!!!!!!
Nice stuff. I really like optimization on multiple levels. If this dryer was mine I would move it to the left side of the table or swap doors around to open to the other side if possible. This way you would have more direct path to put and take out filament.
Hi Sam, it is about 42% humidity where my filament is kept. I dry petg/ pla-cf but not PLA as I find it does not make much difference. I use Bambu and Overture Professional!
For my small farm (300ish printers) I almost exclusively use Bambu filament and Ive only had a dented box once. I think maybe some mail hubs are rougher on packages than others. If i buy Polymaker the packages ALWAYS come crushed and because the spools are cardboard, they're pretty much ruined as I don't have time to respool hundreds/thousands of spools.
the biggest issue for me is they dropped the ball on their QC on refills i don't care if the box is bent up if the product was protected because that's the boxes job but the amount of bad rolls (twisted from the factory, un sealed bags, no NFC tags) is higher than good rolls now. Using sunlu now and they are ok so far have not found a GREAT replacement only good or ok one.
@texal Thankfully I haven't had those issues either except for the refills being sort of twisted from time to time. Is there a specific filament type that you're ordering that is having these issues? I ask because a friend of mine had QC problems earlier this year but it was only with PLA Matte Charcoal refills, which I rarely ever purchase, IIRC.
Love your videos. Good information. One point of helping the flow. Put your humidifier to the left side of the table, that way when you put in or take out your filament, the door is out of the way and you won’t have to keep swinging the door. Thank you.
when I'm drying a spool at home (just 'spool on the print bed under a filamentbox at 50C' ) I notice a sharp spike in the RH as the moisture gets baked out and it then tapers off closer to ambient RH, then finally falls below ambient as the moisture stops coming out. My summer ambient can creep up well over 70% RH, and winter low is down around 55%. I've never been able to keep my bins dryer than 50% with just desiccant., and these are gasket-seal bins
Hi, I wonder if Bamboo Labs will contact you to discuss your shipping concerns. Do you rotate your refills to ensure the older stock is used first or does it not matter? Can you change the direction the dehydrator door opens to make it easier to unload the refills to the left of the dehydrator. Also, where does the water the dehydrator removes from the filament end up? Does it end up in your workshop? What are your energy requirements like? Do you use or are you thinking about generating your own energy on site? Solar, wind etc?
The dehydrator evaporates it to the air as it just works through blowing hot air, unlike a dehumidifier which works my cooling the air and letting the moisture collect onto coils and drip (which he has plumbed into his sink drain). The combo of having both gives him the best result since the humidity added to the air from the dehydrator, gets pulled right back out by the dehumidifier to go down the sink drain and out of the shop. As long as its sealed up, no real point to rotate stock around unless you start to see a shift in color, which occasionally happens as companies go through a Lot of color pellets and the next Lot may be a touch different, or something change in production and they have to use less/more colorant.
I like your business and it looks like you are systematically doing better and better. Keep up the good work. I just can't bring myself to use PLA filament because of the temperature. If your customers happen to leave one of your products out were the sun comes through a window, that PLA will warp, sag, and the product is ruined. PETG is a good alternative.
Sam, Great thinking around this filament dryer and I can dehydrate some other items as well! Better value! I am looking at a way to descant and vacuum seal the dry roll to hold the dry filament until needed. I am working on my 3D and laser setup for the retirement side hustle and seems like you and I think alike…. Thanks for all you do!
That dehydrator definitely looks like the ticket when it comes to drying large amounts of filament. I have definitely noticed a difference in the packing quality from bambu Labs. I have also had quality issues with the refill spools. The cardboard seems to be rough cut making it very difficult to load on a spool. Other than that filament itself is awesome. Thanks for sharing.
In terms of filament storage I saw on some reddit was a waterproof container like a Husky 12-Gal. from Home Depot, or something like it, Since it has gaskets, keeps things the same as when you opened things. If you were looking for something. So many others have been using Dehydraters in smaller form, this looks great for your use.
Sam, I love your honest and up front videos. If anyone can convince me to get started...it's you! I do have to wonder about this whole 3d printing concept. If you are trying to output 100's or even 1000's of components per month...assuming they are the same component...why not just have an injection mold made and hire an injection molding company to mass produce these parts?
3D printing works for me because I don't produce the same item over and over. I currently offer over 100 unique products that can also be customized with color options. :)
Drying filament is a hugely good idea. I hear people argue they "never have issues" or they live where the humidity doesn't affect them. Good on you - but - PLA, like other materials, is very hygroscopic. If you dry before use, you remove so many random problems - stringing, those tiny hairs you sometimes see, even poor layer adhesion. Its saved me so much time and money! No more trying to tweak retractions or other weird things I might suspect is the cause. That's quite the lab you have. I hope you're doing a great deal of venting/filtering to keep the VOC/UPF levels in check. Print safe!
Loving your videos! Luckily we don 't have many issues with wet filament here somehow. We have 30 some printers in the same room as around 2thousand gallons worth of saltwater. Two whole house dehumidifiers keep the humidity at 50% and i usually store some of the filament on the edge of our indoor pond lol. We print only PLA and PETG. The only time we run into issues with wet filament is if its been sitting for months luckily. Kingroon has some good cheap filament and you can usually get it for $9 a roll. All we use anymore.
Hey man, really nice very helpful video. I feel like I should call out something that I'm concerned about. You say you keep your humidity down at 26%. That is actually too low and can cause problems with static buildup which can lead to unfortunate discharges as well as maintenance issues. The recommended range is closer to 50%, and it's as important to keep the temperature consistent.
The answer as to whether or not to dry your filament is "it depends". lol - Living in SoCal, I have the luxury of not having to worrying about drying my filament. BUT - having come from the east coast of North Carolina, it's an absolute MUST to have a dryer. Bottomline, if you live in a humid environment, get a dryer, if not, you're probably fine. Great video, thanks for sharing!
Yep, NC here and even PLA can't be left out for more than a few days or it'll get wet. I've had PLA "blow up" on the spool from humidity too. Vacuum bags, dry boxes, and filament dryers are a must here.
I've been having good luck out of the cardboard rolled elgoo filament and it prints great out of the box the plastic rolls of elgoo filament I've has to dry u cn see the water even in the vacuum sealed baga
You certainly have achieved good growth in a short space of time. Where I live as I write the humidity is at 85% daily. So drying filement is a real issue even on the tiny scale that I presently use. if I leave open rolls on the shelf... well you can imagine the result. I dry and then store mine in 20 ltr pales you can get up to 6 in one of those with desiccant and that works quite well. It's not ideal but needs must.
I had a shameful shipment from bambu show up the other day as well. Not near as much as you, but they just jumble it up in a box like it doesn’t matter, and they’ve also been taking a very long time to ship stuff to me lately as well.
Green being your lead color completely stunned me. The more orders I got, the more my customers are telling me "we hate green" 😂 I'll try to add more green, you must be right.
The really great thing about filament is that, in most cases, is that it takes rattle can paint, hand painting, or even an air brush, REALLY WELL. When I 3D print items, I rarely care about color. The one type of filament that I have not had any luck with printing, is TPU. I have used PLA, PLA+, PLA Pro, etc, ASA, and PETG, mostly solid colors, and some color changing (which I never paint), and have had no issues with these types of filament taking paint.
@PaganWizard I was talking more from a printed finished product point of view. I mainly produce GameCube controller buttons and sticks, both with resin and FDM printing. With FDM, I can offer a wide, WIDE, color options to my customers. But I pushed more on pink than green, because pink has been a best seller. Also black and white of course. I'll give a second chance to greens.
as for storing dried filament i use 100 litre ip67 rated storage tubs, they hold 30 spools each. i only have one printer and i open spools and put them in and in about 36 hrs the 3kg of desicant i have in the tub has absorbed on average 5 grams of water from a fresh spool. so that may be an option for keeping dried filament dry. 4 tubs is a easy 120 rolls dried and ready to go.
I'm currently using a Sunlu S4 dryer (4 slots) & a couple single/double spool dryers, as my output doesn't demand more, but if business does end up picking up enough to justify it, I'll definitely be looking at a larger setup like you're using. I wish you'd have mentioned the brand you're looking into, I've tried most that are available around here, and could give a little bit of warning on a couple of them.. Some of the US-made stuff being sold relatively inexpensively has had issues with contaminates in the filament (GST3D, IIIDMax come to mind), and, while cheap, you'll not get the consistency you're looking for. I've also had an issue recently with Elegoo with contamination, but I'm not yet convinced that it wasn't just a on-off problem (the contaminates appear to be little bits of carbon coming from the extruder they make the filament on, and poor maintenance on said equipment). Sunlu has been a good supplier so far for me, but I'm also not ordering in the quantities that you're getting in so I'm not sure if they could keep up or not. Anycubic has been pretty good on quality as well, and if you end up going into any of the engineering filaments (ASA-GF, etc), SirayaTech's line has been outstanding on a price/quality standpoint.
Hi Sam. Try Sunlu Filament. When Joel, 3D Printing Need, was at the Fair here in Germany a few Weeks ago and talked to the Bambu Lab CEO IT was mentioned that Sunlu actually produces the Filament for Bambu Lab. I also been using Sunlu PLA and PetG for a few Months now and let me Tell you, IT IS pretty good and No Issues so gar at all. Been following your Channel since before the New Workshop AS i also have a small Business for Laserengraving, Sublimation and 3D Printing here in Germany. Cheers and Happy Holiday Season
Elegoo Rapid PLA and Rapid PETG has been an absolute game changer for me. That said, it looks like you're running nearly 100% BambuLab printers, it may make sense just to stay with them because of their RFID patch on their spools? Would be a nice follow-up video from you as in the pro's and con's of running bambu filament vs having to always go into slicer settings to update which color filament is in which "spool holder" of the AMS/AMS lite.
17:59 prusament (is great I use only this), poly maker (I think a VC owns both DJi, bambu lanbs and poly maker), Jessie filament there’s a couple others in North America (‘Murica and Canadia) that would be able to help. Protopasta can get custom colours made. Sam craft colour.
Hi Sam. Great video. Two questions if I may. 1)At what temperature do you keep your shop? 2) What state do you live in? Enjoying your videos keep up the great work and thanks.
Amazing how you have adapted to market / technology conditions. The move, remodeling the Palm Habor / homestead. Thanks for the update, how's the rest of the family doing sir?
That shipping issue is not just with you. It's international. In Australia, I have the same experience as you. My first shipment of filament was nicely packed. The second one was just thrown in the box and then our postal service played soccer with it too.
so you're taking wet filament, Putting it in the dehumidifier, which then vents the now-wet air back into your shop, where your filament is once again resting in the open, and relying on a de-humidifier across the room to dehumidify the air, again ... I dunno seems like a problem in workflow there to me ... should probably pipe the wet air out or somethin'... 😅
3dFuel filament is from a company in North Dakota. The filament prints wonderfully, but I don't know if they will be able to meet your in-stock requirements. Might be worth some investigation. Anyway, enjoying your channel. Good luck to you.
if anyone is looking for large dryers you can make one yourself for about $50... check out kiln wood dryers you can use a freezer off the road and put in an heat lamp and fan or get pink foam and make one yourself
👍🏻Right on Sam. Not my knowledge-base, however I've lived all over the USA. I think humidity in environment is the main issue. IE; the need for drying is probably very different between Alabama, Georgia versus California, Arizona etc. 2 cents worth😁. New shop looks great and congratulations on business.
Dude! I have followed your channel for awhile and you do everything now lol pretty amazing setup! Wish I was your neighbor so I could get some inspiration.
Have you ever weighed the spools or tracked to see what amounts of water are involved. Perhaps weigh them out of the box. Write that on the spool and track? Particularly regarding the rehydration issue .
Sam again a great video. I am happy to see your print farm growing. We have 4 printers so we are growing but slower than you. I have a question for you with all those printers going what is the room temperatures like. Should be nice and warm this winter. Also shop power usage how is that going? looking forward to your next video
We go through a few dozen rolls a month and our boxes usually arrive in perfect condition. Ours ship FedEx from a distribution center in CA and arrive via air in OH. Depot to depot so maybe your local/regional shipper is being less than gentle with your boxes?
Have you ever weighed your filament before/after putting in the dehydrator? I’ve always understood you didn’t really need to dry fresh PLA, or PLA at all really. I’d be very curious if you detect a weight change from dehydrating. Congrats on 100k!
Question have you done a video on how you rotate your filament. I think you do the Run out from one spool pick up from the other. then cycle till all 4 are changed out. then wash rinse repeat. If you have please point to the video It will be helpful for me as I was thinking of going Spool to spool .. Meaning NO AMS lite. ( I have 3 ams Lite and one P1S with AMS)
I just had it last week like this too. All the boxes just dumped into a large box with no padding. I keep getting tangles/poorly rolled filament as well
Great video. Your content and presentation are really good. Have you done a video concerning maintenance procedures and maintenance schedule for your operation?
I liked your video, and kudos to you for building your business. However, your video showed what i believe is a fundamental flaw of bambulab printers in this setting: the lack of bigger spool support. Being able to use 2 or 3kg spools for your main colors would save you quite some time dealing with filament reloading.
I just got my first printer and agree about the bambu filament shipments. Doesn't look good and no packing slip for even partial shipments was annoying. What kind of shelving do you use for your printers?
Would love to have a Bambu Labs A1 combo. My Ender printers are shot and now out of service as well as my 3d printing service. Bambu Labs are you listening?
Same here, I have ordered 60 spools recently, and all arived in shit condition like this, some to the extend of having to record opening the box and checking the seal for the rolls inside...
Why not move your dehydrator to the other side of that shelf because of the way the door opens you would not move the door to load and unload filament! Just an idea you do you I don't know all that well you may have a good reason that I didn't know! Any how great video!
If you buy from good filament brands like Bambu, PolyMaker, Sunlu, Elegoo, and Creality, they are pre-dried from the factory. PLA is a hygroscopic filament, which means it absorbs moisture. It absorbs moisture very very very slowly. TPU, PETG, and Nylon are the only filaments you should dry before use. PLA should only be dried in extreme cases. Like PLA sitting in the open for 3 months in 50% humidity or above.
I am lucky. I live in an area that has low humidity most of the year. We are talking high humidity here is in the 70's and lows in the 40's averaging in the high 50's.
Are you saying that Bambu sells sealed filaments that are wet? Have you tested their humidity? I think they are drier than the ones you have installed in your printers. I will add that PLA filament (I see you are ordering this) is not susceptible to moisture, so this whole fun of drying it is an overgrowth of form over substance.
impressive setup. I enjoy you sharing your process. I don't have a print farm but do have a couple printers. How long have you had your print faarm and what did it take to get the product demand that resulted in having a print farm like yours. Do you have. video on how you built such a demand for your products.
My issue with Bambu Labs filament is not quality of product, but also shipping damage at times, although so far limited to the boxes. Mine are packed like yours, boxes inside larger box, and yes the shipping process is very hard on the packages. Its the sorting machines that is the problem from what I understand. Bambu needs to step up protection inside the big boxes it seems. Biggest problems is their fulfilment process. It just takes too long for them to process the filament order and get it out the door. I get the order has shipped notices very quickly, but that only means they created a shipping label. Often my order sits for 3- 5 days waiting to get fulfilled and finally to UPS.
I have a Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo. What would be the best filament in your opinion for that printer. Just got it for our 14 year old grandson for Christmas. Thank you Sam
That's a great gift for your grandson, I hope he enjoys it! I generally print with PLA, as it's very easy to use and there are many good choices out there.
I just had 2 printers (P1S) get destroyed by FedEx. It didn't help that Bambu packaging is 4 corners of foam and some bubble wrap... Very disappointing. Still waiting on my replacements.
Hey Sam, can you make a video based on why you chose to print things yourself compared to going through a third party company/manufacture? I’m in the middle of a creation/invention of my own. And my wife thinks it would be beneficial for me to go the third party route rather than invest in my own printers etc. So I’m trying to look at all angles.
Just curious, you seem to have embraced the metric system, everything mentioned in Celsius or Kg. Is that due to all the equipment and supplies coming form metric companies and its just easier to stay with their system? I don't hate metric, but also don't like constantly switching back and forth. I got a laser a few months ago and I found it was easier to just go with metric due to the software and machine being made in China. I found myself spending way too much time and thought on converting everything all the time. Wondering if that was your reasoning as well.
Sam I'm not a filament printer person but I do like your videos and always like learning, your a good teacher.
you're
It's nice seeing that your business has grown as fast as it has. Great job!!!
I noticed that if you move your dehydrater all the way to the left side of the shelf, then you wouldn't have to deal with the door being in the way to load and unload the filament.
What a great guy, so well organised, intelligent and conscientious - he deserves to succeed
Perhaps consider putting your dehydrator on the left so the door doesn't get in the way when you unload.
That was bothering me. What’s the point of opening up that door 180° when it just blocks the rest of the shelf?
It looks like the dryer door opens to the wrong side. Maybe it would be better for loading and unloading if you place the dryer on the left and the filament on the right.
Nice setup and workflow! One thing to note is that a good filament manufacturer will dry their filament after production and then seal in a metalized plastic pouch. Regular clear plastic will leech moisture over time. As you’re looking for another source ask about post production drying and those metalized pouches. 💪🏼
you should move the dehydrator on the left side of the shelf, and place the spool on the right side, so the door will stop to annoy you :)
I’ve been 3D printing for 10 years, for work and for home. I’m in central Florida, and have never needed a dryer for PLA. Other filaments are sensitive to moisture, but never PLA in my experience. The lowest humidity I’ve seen in the past couple of months has been 40%. This week, it’s been 66% pretty consistently. I have two A1 combos running non stop, using Bambu basic PLA. Fantastic print quality. I do store my opened rolls not in use in 1 gallon Ziplock bags. These fit a 1kg spool perfectly. I can also store these bagged spools on a RepRack wall mount system. I’ve only ordered about 40 rolls of filament from Bambu. The first two orders arrived in good condition about 5 days after being ordered. My latest order was a couple of weeks ago, still hasn’t shipped. My other go to filament is Sunlu. Prints as nice as Bambu, but requires an adapter (Maker World) for use on the AMS Lite. The spools reportedly don’t roll well in the regular AMS. Amazon had a bundle of 10 spools for $129 on sale last week. Sunlu often has sales on their website, and you’d probably get additional savings on the quantity you order. I typically order 4-20 rolls at a time.
That's really interesting to hear about your experience with PLA and filament ordering. Thanks for sharing!
I agree. Honestly, I store PLA in the open in the Midwest (KC) and while we do have humid weather, I've never had issues with PLA. Now, PETG, ABS and TPU, I also store in gallon Ziplocs and dry at times. Especially TPU and ABS. I have a Sunlu S4 and two rolls of TPU and one roll of ABS are in there all the time due to the volume of what I'm printing.
I've never had an issue with PLA either. I do dry PETG and TPU, not because I've had issues with them but because I use them so rarely that it's no hassle to do, so why not just do it just in case. With how often I use PLA and the amount of different spools of it I use, it would be a royal pain to always keep dry so I just figured I'd see if it became an issue, and it never did. I've had spools sitting for years and I just blow some dust off and they print fine.
Sunlu always runs fine in my standard AMS.
How do you fit a spool in a one gallon ziplock bag?
I would highly recommend looking at either a) having a backup humidifier on hand or b) getting a more commercial level dehumidifier and keeping your original as a backup.
Those single room units are designed to run 8-12 hours a day maximum to make a room comfortable in the 40-50% range, running it for the extended periods down in the 20s you likely will significantly decrease it's lifespan from 3-4 years to 1-2 or less (Tosot only have a 1 year warranty).
Even if its a cheap Vevor or Costway commercial model it'll be longer lived and significantly more powerful (125-200 PPD) than the single room roll around one (and probably wont cost that much more).
Are the filament spools themselves damaged in any way? The primary function of shipping boxes, after all, is to protect the product in them. If the spools are undamaged, then there isn't a huge problem here.
They’re not. Never had a damaged spool. I find that statement a weird considering it’s only the boxes and bambu can’t even control the shipment company just throwing around boxes.
It's a busy time for the shipping companies and if the box is heavy they are going to mistreat it
@@LCSL90 The problem is that Bambu is not adding any packing materials to the shipping box. They are trying to save money and time and with that is could lead to damaged product even if it has not happened yet. I agree that Bambu cannot control the shipper and how they handle the packages but they can add more protection inside the shipping box.
@@collimic This is EXACTLY the problem, zero packing to keep things from moving around. And while it looks like Sam's just getting refill rolls, shipping can absolutely damage filament spools.. I've got about a 25% breakage rate on spools I order from Amazon when I need some weird filament (silks, coextrusions, etc) with one brand I've been using (Chitu coextrusion silks) at a 100% broken spool rate on shipments.. I've been able to salvage them using a V-spooler setup (awesome respooler that works great) that I printed, but shouldn't have to do that on a new spool. Same issue as Bambu's shipment, no extra packing materials, and the spool boxes are bouncing around in a much larger box..
I wouldn't be upset with that shipping.
Do you do anything by way of keeping track of how much moisture your filaments are losing after heat treating them or drying them? I weigh my filaments before they go into the dryer and weigh them after to make sure that the process is working. It also helps to rule out the idea of wet filament when I encounter Less than ideal prints. I’m curious to know how well your dehydrator works. Love the videos!
I have personally received refill spools that I couldn't use because the inner cardboard roll was mangled and misshapen. They were replaced, but it took a while. I use a lot of IIIDMax filament now because if you order 10 spools, you pay about $12 per for misc. Colors. Some of their colors aren't very color fast though, meaning you may get some streaks in the print, which can look cool, but if you're after consistency, that may not be good for you.
I haven't seen your channel in quite some time, THANKS RUclips, and I am pleasantly surprised to see that you have shifted your channel from woodworking, to 3D printing. I really enjoy both hobbies, so getting used to your new (at least to me( format, is going to be pretty easy. Where are you selling your 3D printed items?? Your print farm really looks impressive to say the very least, but there seems to be something missing from your workshop, fire suppression. Is it very well integrated into your ceiling, or is it just MIA?? AWESOME VIDEO, AND CONGRATS ON YOUR NEW BUSINESS!!!!!!
Nice stuff. I really like optimization on multiple levels. If this dryer was mine I would move it to the left side of the table or swap doors around to open to the other side if possible. This way you would have more direct path to put and take out filament.
Hi Sam, it is about 42% humidity where my filament is kept. I dry petg/ pla-cf but not PLA as I find it does not make much difference. I use Bambu and Overture Professional!
For my small farm (300ish printers) I almost exclusively use Bambu filament and Ive only had a dented box once. I think maybe some mail hubs are rougher on packages than others. If i buy Polymaker the packages ALWAYS come crushed and because the spools are cardboard, they're pretty much ruined as I don't have time to respool hundreds/thousands of spools.
the biggest issue for me is they dropped the ball on their QC on refills i don't care if the box is bent up if the product was protected because that's the boxes job but the amount of bad rolls (twisted from the factory, un sealed bags, no NFC tags) is higher than good rolls now. Using sunlu now and they are ok so far have not found a GREAT replacement only good or ok one.
@texal Thankfully I haven't had those issues either except for the refills being sort of twisted from time to time. Is there a specific filament type that you're ordering that is having these issues? I ask because a friend of mine had QC problems earlier this year but it was only with PLA Matte Charcoal refills, which I rarely ever purchase, IIRC.
nice to see a new video :)
amazing to see how ALL printers are busy. Wow that's a well running business
Love your videos. Good information. One point of helping the flow. Put your humidifier to the left side of the table, that way when you put in or take out your filament, the door is out of the way and you won’t have to keep swinging the door. Thank you.
when I'm drying a spool at home (just 'spool on the print bed under a filamentbox at 50C' ) I notice a sharp spike in the RH as the moisture gets baked out and it then tapers off closer to ambient RH, then finally falls below ambient as the moisture stops coming out. My summer ambient can creep up well over 70% RH, and winter low is down around 55%. I've never been able to keep my bins dryer than 50% with just desiccant., and these are gasket-seal bins
Hi, I wonder if Bamboo Labs will contact you to discuss your shipping concerns.
Do you rotate your refills to ensure the older stock is used first or does it not matter?
Can you change the direction the dehydrator door opens to make it easier to unload the refills to the left of the dehydrator. Also, where does the water the dehydrator removes from the filament end up? Does it end up in your workshop?
What are your energy requirements like? Do you use or are you thinking about generating your own energy on site? Solar, wind etc?
The dehydrator evaporates it to the air as it just works through blowing hot air, unlike a dehumidifier which works my cooling the air and letting the moisture collect onto coils and drip (which he has plumbed into his sink drain). The combo of having both gives him the best result since the humidity added to the air from the dehydrator, gets pulled right back out by the dehumidifier to go down the sink drain and out of the shop. As long as its sealed up, no real point to rotate stock around unless you start to see a shift in color, which occasionally happens as companies go through a Lot of color pellets and the next Lot may be a touch different, or something change in production and they have to use less/more colorant.
I like your business and it looks like you are systematically doing better and better. Keep up the good work. I just can't bring myself to use PLA filament because of the temperature. If your customers happen to leave one of your products out were the sun comes through a window, that PLA will warp, sag, and the product is ruined. PETG is a good alternative.
Sam, Great thinking around this filament dryer and I can dehydrate some other items as well! Better value! I am looking at a way to descant and vacuum seal the dry roll to hold the dry filament until needed. I am working on my 3D and laser setup for the retirement side hustle and seems like you and I think alike…. Thanks for all you do!
That dehydrator definitely looks like the ticket when it comes to drying large amounts of filament. I have definitely noticed a difference in the packing quality from bambu Labs. I have also had quality issues with the refill spools. The cardboard seems to be rough cut making it very difficult to load on a spool. Other than that filament itself is awesome. Thanks for sharing.
In terms of filament storage I saw on some reddit was a waterproof container like a Husky 12-Gal. from Home Depot, or something like it, Since it has gaskets, keeps things the same as when you opened things. If you were looking for something. So many others have been using Dehydraters in smaller form, this looks great for your use.
Sam, this is such a good video. Clearly you've thought a lot about your methods and there is a lot for me to learn.
Looking forward to the VOC results video.
Sam, I love your honest and up front videos. If anyone can convince me to get started...it's you! I do have to wonder about this whole 3d printing concept. If you are trying to output 100's or even 1000's of components per month...assuming they are the same component...why not just have an injection mold made and hire an injection molding company to mass produce these parts?
3D printing works for me because I don't produce the same item over and over. I currently offer over 100 unique products that can also be customized with color options. :)
Drying filament is a hugely good idea. I hear people argue they "never have issues" or they live where the humidity doesn't affect them. Good on you - but - PLA, like other materials, is very hygroscopic. If you dry before use, you remove so many random problems - stringing, those tiny hairs you sometimes see, even poor layer adhesion. Its saved me so much time and money! No more trying to tweak retractions or other weird things I might suspect is the cause. That's quite the lab you have. I hope you're doing a great deal of venting/filtering to keep the VOC/UPF levels in check. Print safe!
Loving your videos! Luckily we don 't have many issues with wet filament here somehow. We have 30 some printers in the same room as around 2thousand gallons worth of saltwater. Two whole house dehumidifiers keep the humidity at 50% and i usually store some of the filament on the edge of our indoor pond lol. We print only PLA and PETG. The only time we run into issues with wet filament is if its been sitting for months luckily. Kingroon has some good cheap filament and you can usually get it for $9 a roll. All we use anymore.
Hey man, really nice very helpful video. I feel like I should call out something that I'm concerned about. You say you keep your humidity down at 26%. That is actually too low and can cause problems with static buildup which can lead to unfortunate discharges as well as maintenance issues. The recommended range is closer to 50%, and it's as important to keep the temperature consistent.
Great job building your business and thanks for sharing your journey.
The answer as to whether or not to dry your filament is "it depends". lol - Living in SoCal, I have the luxury of not having to worrying about drying my filament. BUT - having come from the east coast of North Carolina, it's an absolute MUST to have a dryer. Bottomline, if you live in a humid environment, get a dryer, if not, you're probably fine. Great video, thanks for sharing!
Yep, NC here and even PLA can't be left out for more than a few days or it'll get wet. I've had PLA "blow up" on the spool from humidity too. Vacuum bags, dry boxes, and filament dryers are a must here.
I've been having good luck out of the cardboard rolled elgoo filament and it prints great out of the box the plastic rolls of elgoo filament I've has to dry u cn see the water even in the vacuum sealed baga
You certainly have achieved good growth in a short space of time. Where I live as I write the humidity is at 85% daily. So drying filement is a real issue even on the tiny scale that I presently use. if I leave open rolls on the shelf... well you can imagine the result. I dry and then store mine in 20 ltr pales you can get up to 6 in one of those with desiccant and that works quite well. It's not ideal but needs must.
I had a shameful shipment from bambu show up the other day as well. Not near as much as you, but they just jumble it up in a box like it doesn’t matter, and they’ve also been taking a very long time to ship stuff to me lately as well.
Green being your lead color completely stunned me. The more orders I got, the more my customers are telling me "we hate green" 😂
I'll try to add more green, you must be right.
The really great thing about filament is that, in most cases, is that it takes rattle can paint, hand painting, or even an air brush, REALLY WELL. When I 3D print items, I rarely care about color. The one type of filament that I have not had any luck with printing, is TPU. I have used PLA, PLA+, PLA Pro, etc, ASA, and PETG, mostly solid colors, and some color changing (which I never paint), and have had no issues with these types of filament taking paint.
@PaganWizard I was talking more from a printed finished product point of view. I mainly produce GameCube controller buttons and sticks, both with resin and FDM printing. With FDM, I can offer a wide, WIDE, color options to my customers. But I pushed more on pink than green, because pink has been a best seller. Also black and white of course. I'll give a second chance to greens.
as for storing dried filament i use 100 litre ip67 rated storage tubs, they hold 30 spools each.
i only have one printer and i open spools and put them in and in about 36 hrs the 3kg of desicant i have in the tub has absorbed on average 5 grams of water from a fresh spool.
so that may be an option for keeping dried filament dry. 4 tubs is a easy 120 rolls dried and ready to go.
With all of your new additions, could we possibly get an "off grid" update? Love your channel!
I'm currently using a Sunlu S4 dryer (4 slots) & a couple single/double spool dryers, as my output doesn't demand more, but if business does end up picking up enough to justify it, I'll definitely be looking at a larger setup like you're using. I wish you'd have mentioned the brand you're looking into, I've tried most that are available around here, and could give a little bit of warning on a couple of them.. Some of the US-made stuff being sold relatively inexpensively has had issues with contaminates in the filament (GST3D, IIIDMax come to mind), and, while cheap, you'll not get the consistency you're looking for. I've also had an issue recently with Elegoo with contamination, but I'm not yet convinced that it wasn't just a on-off problem (the contaminates appear to be little bits of carbon coming from the extruder they make the filament on, and poor maintenance on said equipment). Sunlu has been a good supplier so far for me, but I'm also not ordering in the quantities that you're getting in so I'm not sure if they could keep up or not. Anycubic has been pretty good on quality as well, and if you end up going into any of the engineering filaments (ASA-GF, etc), SirayaTech's line has been outstanding on a price/quality standpoint.
Hi Sam.
Try Sunlu Filament.
When Joel, 3D Printing Need, was at the Fair here in Germany a few Weeks ago and talked to the Bambu Lab CEO IT was mentioned that Sunlu actually produces the Filament for Bambu Lab.
I also been using Sunlu PLA and PetG for a few Months now and let me Tell you, IT IS pretty good and No Issues so gar at all.
Been following your Channel since before the New Workshop AS i also have a small Business for Laserengraving, Sublimation and 3D Printing here in Germany.
Cheers and Happy Holiday Season
Elegoo Rapid PLA and Rapid PETG has been an absolute game changer for me. That said, it looks like you're running nearly 100% BambuLab printers, it may make sense just to stay with them because of their RFID patch on their spools? Would be a nice follow-up video from you as in the pro's and con's of running bambu filament vs having to always go into slicer settings to update which color filament is in which "spool holder" of the AMS/AMS lite.
17:59 prusament (is great I use only this), poly maker (I think a VC owns both DJi, bambu lanbs and poly maker), Jessie filament there’s a couple others in North America (‘Murica and Canadia) that would be able to help. Protopasta can get custom colours made. Sam craft colour.
Hi Sam. Great video. Two questions if I may. 1)At what temperature do you keep your shop? 2) What state do you live in? Enjoying your videos keep up the great work and thanks.
My last order of filament arrived the same way. Same size box for 6 rolls of filament.
Amazing how you have adapted to market / technology conditions. The move, remodeling the Palm Habor / homestead. Thanks for the update, how's the rest of the family doing sir?
You should link you dehumidifier as well. That is a pretty difficult RH to hit in a shop without being also in a dry geographic.
That shipping issue is not just with you. It's international. In Australia, I have the same experience as you. My first shipment of filament was nicely packed. The second one was just thrown in the box and then our postal service played soccer with it too.
so you're taking wet filament, Putting it in the dehumidifier, which then vents the now-wet air back into your shop, where your filament is once again resting in the open, and relying on a de-humidifier across the room to dehumidify the air, again ... I dunno seems like a problem in workflow there to me ... should probably pipe the wet air out or somethin'... 😅
Can you make a video about printing TPU? common issues, problem solving, recommendations, filaments, brands, etc
You are so very inspirational. Thanks for your videos from your neighbor in TN. 🙂
this is a great insight to a printfarm buisiness. i will never start one but i really love watching this content. One Single A1 is enough for me ;)
3dFuel filament is from a company in North Dakota. The filament prints wonderfully, but I don't know if they will be able to meet your in-stock requirements. Might be worth some investigation. Anyway, enjoying your channel. Good luck to you.
So Sam when do you start your new addition printing building lol it's great things are going so well congrats
if anyone is looking for large dryers you can make one yourself for about $50... check out kiln wood dryers you can use a freezer off the road and put in an heat lamp and fan or get pink foam and make one yourself
👍🏻Right on Sam. Not my knowledge-base, however I've lived all over the USA. I think humidity in environment is the main issue. IE; the need for drying is probably very different between Alabama, Georgia versus California, Arizona etc. 2 cents worth😁. New shop looks great and congratulations on business.
Dude! I have followed your channel for awhile and you do everything now lol pretty amazing setup! Wish I was your neighbor so I could get some inspiration.
Have you ever weighed the spools or tracked to see what amounts of water are involved.
Perhaps weigh them out of the box. Write that on the spool and track?
Particularly regarding the rehydration issue .
Just a tip, move your dehydrator to the other end of the bench. Then the open door wont be in the way of loading and unloading it.
You are busy busy. Full watch and very interesting ☕️🇨🇦
Sam again a great video. I am happy to see your print farm growing. We have 4 printers so we are growing but slower than you. I have a question for you with all those printers going what is the room temperatures like. Should be nice and warm this winter. Also shop power usage how is that going? looking forward to your next video
We go through a few dozen rolls a month and our boxes usually arrive in perfect condition. Ours ship FedEx from a distribution center in CA and arrive via air in OH. Depot to depot so maybe your local/regional shipper is being less than gentle with your boxes?
Wow, you've really filled that workshop! How do you like the Osmo camera? Any downsides? I've been thinking of getting one to simplify making videos.
Have you ever weighed your filament before/after putting in the dehydrator? I’ve always understood you didn’t really need to dry fresh PLA, or PLA at all really. I’d be very curious if you detect a weight change from dehydrating. Congrats on 100k!
Question have you done a video on how you rotate your filament. I think you do the Run out from one spool pick up from the other. then cycle till all 4 are changed out. then wash rinse repeat. If you have please point to the video It will be helpful for me as I was thinking of going Spool to spool .. Meaning NO AMS lite. ( I have 3 ams Lite and one P1S with AMS)
Awesome Job Sam! Here's one looking forward to future profits and business.
Thank you, I appreciate it!
Congratulations on reaching 100,000 subscribers.
Thank you! I appreciate the support!
I just had it last week like this too. All the boxes just dumped into a large box with no padding. I keep getting tangles/poorly rolled filament as well
Sam getting things done in the workshop. Keet it up.
Thanks! It's all about getting the work done! 😁
Great video. Your content and presentation are really good.
Have you done a video concerning maintenance procedures and maintenance schedule for your operation?
I liked your video, and kudos to you for building your business.
However, your video showed what i believe is a fundamental flaw of bambulab printers in this setting: the lack of bigger spool support. Being able to use 2 or 3kg spools for your main colors would save you quite some time dealing with filament reloading.
You are exactly right on the large spools. I am working on a solution to that though. :)
I just got my first printer and agree about the bambu filament shipments. Doesn't look good and no packing slip for even partial shipments was annoying. What kind of shelving do you use for your printers?
Would love to have a Bambu Labs A1 combo.
My Ender printers are shot and now out of service as well as my 3d printing service.
Bambu Labs are you listening?
I have had the same problem with shipments. Terrible shipping practices. My boxes are beat to hell..
You can devide by 2 your drying time for pla, 6h is sufficient !
I like the format of your videos, I run a A1 Mini and use elegoo rapid pla plus without issue.
I just ordered some Elegoo filament but not their rapid. I may check it out next.
Same here, I have ordered 60 spools recently, and all arived in shit condition like this, some to the extend of having to record opening the box and checking the seal for the rolls inside...
Why not move your dehydrator to the other side of that shelf because of the way the door opens you would not move the door to load and unload filament! Just an idea you do you I don't know all that well you may have a good reason that I didn't know! Any how great video!
Nice video thank you, does your dehydrator collect the water or is released back into the shop?
Was thinking that too? Do you have to empty a water tank?
It looks totally open so it would get moved to the open air and his dehumidifier would take care of it.
Looking good Sam. Keep up the great work
Thanks 👍
If you buy from good filament brands like Bambu, PolyMaker, Sunlu, Elegoo, and Creality, they are pre-dried from the factory. PLA is a hygroscopic filament, which means it absorbs moisture. It absorbs moisture very very very slowly. TPU, PETG, and Nylon are the only filaments you should dry before use. PLA should only be dried in extreme cases. Like PLA sitting in the open for 3 months in 50% humidity or above.
I am lucky. I live in an area that has low humidity most of the year. We are talking high humidity here is in the 70's and lows in the 40's averaging in the high 50's.
Are you saying that Bambu sells sealed filaments that are wet? Have you tested their humidity? I think they are drier than the ones you have installed in your printers. I will add that PLA filament (I see you are ordering this) is not susceptible to moisture, so this whole fun of drying it is an overgrowth of form over substance.
impressive setup. I enjoy you sharing your process. I don't have a print farm but do have a couple printers. How long have you had your print faarm and what did it take to get the product demand that resulted in having a print farm like yours. Do you have. video on how you built such a demand for your products.
My issue with Bambu Labs filament is not quality of product, but also shipping damage at times, although so far limited to the boxes. Mine are packed like yours, boxes inside larger box, and yes the shipping process is very hard on the packages. Its the sorting machines that is the problem from what I understand. Bambu needs to step up protection inside the big boxes it seems.
Biggest problems is their fulfilment process. It just takes too long for them to process the filament order and get it out the door. I get the order has shipped notices very quickly, but that only means they created a shipping label. Often my order sits for 3- 5 days waiting to get fulfilled and finally to UPS.
Have you printed a set of filament swatches for checking and comparing colors?
Thank you for making this video I've been looking for a video like this!
I have a Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo. What would be the best filament in your opinion for that printer.
Just got it for our 14 year old grandson for Christmas.
Thank you Sam
That's a great gift for your grandson, I hope he enjoys it! I generally print with PLA, as it's very easy to use and there are many good choices out there.
@ , thank you
My bambulabs order arrived like that too but the stuff inside was fine.
What is your mantaience/trouble shooting like if a printer has issues?
Why big brands dont use stabilisers? How do they stabilise the design?
ive seen the difference especially rolls that have been stored and not used right away. Dry Dry all day
Thank you for an informative video. What brand/model you are using for the main dehumidifier? In low 20s is pretty impressive. Thank you
If the shop humidity is already so low, why do you need a separate dryer?
Living in Vegas does the opposite, my filaments crack under the dry conditions here
Hello Sam, What are the new blue things you have added to your A1s?
Hi from 🇺🇦. Good job!
I just had 2 printers (P1S) get destroyed by FedEx. It didn't help that Bambu packaging is 4 corners of foam and some bubble wrap... Very disappointing. Still waiting on my replacements.
Hey Sam, can you make a video based on why you chose to print things yourself compared to going through a third party company/manufacture? I’m in the middle of a creation/invention of my own. And my wife thinks it would be beneficial for me to go the third party route rather than invest in my own printers etc. So I’m trying to look at all angles.
I will add this to my short list, thanks for the question!
@@Samcraftcom awesome thank you so much, I also sent you an email about it to see which you would have replied quicker to just in case lol
Just curious, you seem to have embraced the metric system, everything mentioned in Celsius or Kg. Is that due to all the equipment and supplies coming form metric companies and its just easier to stay with their system? I don't hate metric, but also don't like constantly switching back and forth. I got a laser a few months ago and I found it was easier to just go with metric due to the software and machine being made in China. I found myself spending way too much time and thought on converting everything all the time. Wondering if that was your reasoning as well.
Order in quantities that fill their boxes. It seams they have 2 box sizes. If your order fills the box it wont flop around