A few of you have noted that the 608 bearings I used have quite a lot of friction. I prefer this style, but if you're after something that rolls more easily I've linked to a second option in the video description. And while I'm here, huge thanks to everyone who built these boxes and has sent me feedback and suggestions on the design. I really do appreciate it!
The friction is most likely just thick grease. For this application you can clean out the grease with something like brake cleaner, and put in some lighter grease, or even some spray lubricant. With these speeds the bearings will never wear out, not even when used dry. The lubricant mainly acts like a rust preventer, even though that's not that important in a 10% RH environment either.
Here's what I did to address the packed grease bearings: 1. Popped off the bearing shields 2. Cleaned out the existing grease with brake cleaner (not really needed because the next step should take care of cleaning it out a little) 3. Soaked the bearings with WD40 4. Printed hard plastic (ABS/ASA/PLA etc) instead of TPU rollers. I found that using TPU rollers added slightly more drag and friction using cardboard spools. Using hard plastic roller let the cardboard slide a little, thus causing less binding and friction
PLEASE DO continue developing this ecosystem idea you have. I have already started the process of building a set of these for myself as I watched this video. I think this is an excellent idea that answers a lot of the shortcomings that other attempts at filament storage have.
I use a center core desecant holder that just screws into the hole in the center of the filament spool. That way, if you build your active heater, you could just pop off the lid opening and put it on the heater, then pop the lid back on when it's done.
Nice video, the only thing I can add is that a magnet glued to the side of the spool so you can rewind the spool with another magnet outside the container 😊
I'm planning on trying that this weekend, I've made about 10 of these dry boxes and they are great but rewinding is the only issue I've had. Have you tried the magnet method?
Hello friend, I found that if you will print this on Bambu Lab A1 unit, both bottom parts fit at once on print bed, you can use the Bambu Lab Studio (previous to print) overlap them a little bit, merge them and print at once as a single piece, it saves time and filament on printing. I print few of those (thanks), but still working on a different support for the base two overpasses instead of the support block. For some reason when printing with PET-G those blocks are almost impossible to remove. Other, I installed the bowden coupler on the top, 1/4 from one edge, so the filament gets out vertically, and I shorten the hygrometer holder arm just to hold the indicator, eliminating the long bottom curved (I don't feel any difference). The box(es) stay aside the printer, it is better way to exit vertical. I also made a tube like a medicine bottle with cap (full of narrow slits), a bit of smaller diameter, 50% full of silica gel, insert into the spool hole, it turns slow along with the spool and move the silica. With that it reaches 14% moisture. Have few of those tubes ready, bake them whenever empty the 1kg spool. Always fresh silica gel.
Did you ever get a better base support? I just got an A1 and was looking to make some of these. Have you tested with Bambu spools? I think someone commented that they didnt fit in this design.
I made this pretty much as offered. I thought it was wonderful and worked pretty well. Some feedback: -- I used 608 ZZ bearings instead of 608 2SR for less rolling friction. For even less friction you can even use unshielded bearings as this is in an enclosed clean space. -- Be very careful drilling the top hole. I was careful but some still cracked. I think it is from stresses in the plastic at the fill port. -- I modified the coupler cap to be easier to remove. Where the "handle" meets the thin tube I changed it to have a shoulder for added space then a cone section for even more space. You can easily remove the cap with one hand. -- Maybe it's my printer (Bambu A-1 Mini) but I had clearance issues with the roller shafts. I had to sand them all. But other than that the fit and function were perfect. ( I made the rollers from PLA as I don't have any TPU.) --DO NOT buy the silica gel that is clear then only has a small amount of color-changing indicator beads. It is very hard to see them through the basket. I might try printing in white, but just buy the ones he listed. -- I was really surprised at how effective the silica beads are! They take an empty box from 60% humidity to 12% in an hour! -- Has anyone with an A-! Mini made one of these? Have you experimented with having the filament come out at the bottom? Or by moving the Bowden tube directly from the printer to the dry box? I don't know the best orientation to use this in! Thank you for the great design and for making it affordable. Good work!
I'm new to 3d printing and really appreciate you sharing the models for this. I was looking at so many different solutions for storage, but these really spoke to me! They went together well, and I can't argue with the results. After 24 hours the empty ones I prepared went from 55%+ humidity down to sub 20.
Great design. I’m finally getting my moisture sensitive filaments out of dry bags and easier to use. I’ll second what someone else said about the bearings. The first 6 dry boxes I used the 2rs bearings and had to pop the dust covers off and degrease them. A small dab of graphite and they are silky smooth. I was getting way too much drag before.
I was a little hesitant because someone mentioned the Bambu spools don't fit, but I received my initial supply of containers and they seem to fit pretty well in there. The only other issue I need to consider is the storage space the containers take up on my shelves. Currently I bag my filament and lay them horizontally, stacking them four in a column for four columns, 16 rolls in all. I figure in the same space I could fit about 7 containers, so it leaves me less space to store them. But it would look much nicer and I would be sure they would stay dry.
You mentioned metric vs Freedom units. I think I can muddy the waters for you a little more than that. Those bowden tube entry gromets are sold as M10 but the thread on them is actually a G1/8 BSPP - as are a lot of threads that are on parts that were originally pneumatic parts. This is only really useful if you want to either tap the hole or model the thread in the 'rocket' part. The correct tap drill size you might actually have as it's 11/32 (about 8.8mm). I've just finished printing parts for a system the 'right' way round....but now I'm wondering if a 50-50 mix of the two would let me fit them closer together and get more on a shelf.
Stumbled across this excellent 'how-to' DIY build and made it my first project on my new Qidi plus4 (after the ubiquitous initial PLA benchy of course!). All in all it has gone 100% according to plan. Parts printed perfectly - once I figured out the correct orientation for strength - and I am now the happy owner of 6 of these excellent & cost effective dry-boxes. Thank you Mark from a UK fan. Well done!
I was thinking the same exact thing about the PolyMaker dryer system.... I'll still probably get a couple to keep my AMS dry and a couple to keep the spare spools dry and ready. I even keep my PLA dry; it really helps with finish quality especially at speed.
This is a awesome way to store and use filament. The Bambu AMS doesn't like to load mixed types, with this I can load the AMS with PLA and use this system to store and feed into the external port, while leaving the AMS untouched. Just a side note the ROG font works in Bambu studio. 😉 I'll leave feedback when I have my first one together. A second filament guide STL for the round humidity meter would be great. :)
Thank you for sharing your ideas. I have 60 of those boxes and will definitively give it a try. One at a time :) One thing to ease the drilling is to use a step drill. They are cheap and do an excellent job on plastic. P.S. There is no blank tag on printables.
Printed 12x Dry Boxes!! Thank you so much for your contribution to this project. Love the upside down orientation. If you progress the agenda to install a heater/fan that fits in the desiccant port… for an active heating/drying system let me know!!
Really cool idea. I have just started printing the needed parts for my first box. I have a Bambu Lab A1 with AMS Lite and my idea is to have a dry box for each of the rolls of filament to make easier switch of filament, feeding the AMS Lite from the boxes. I like your idea about an active dryer system. I guess food dehumidifier with a printed "lid" with a "coupling" that fit opening in the box could du the job, but it will need an exit hole for hot air as well 🙂 Keep up the good work and keep the videos coming 🙂 Thanks.
Many thanks Mark for a great & helpful video! I bought my Ender3 V3 last week and, apart from the odd benchy, this the first real project I’ve printed. Everything printed and fitted perfectly. All the parts were easily obtainable from Amazon here in the UK for roughly £10 ($7.7) per box excluding the desiccant. I found some connectors that came with 5m of Teflon tubing which will allow me to run the filament from the floor to printer fully enclosed. Thanks again
Fantastic! A much sturdier option than the roller system for these boxes I’ve been using. Thank you for the great redo! I have a Polydryer and hate it. The storage box they use was a good, although poorly set up, idea. These cereal boxes have worked very well for me and this build makes them even better!
@@Yggdrasil42 I don’t. It’s very very noisy. The main switch is on the back, and the base is extremely light. The lid to the box is a bit difficult to open and close, you really have to put some serious force behind the latches.
I printed the rollers in TPU. That way, the spool has more grip than on hard plastic. I printed the filament stop also in tpu. A bit of flex gives better fit (I think).
I liked your video. As for a heater dryer, I think you could probably just set the unit fully loaded with filament and dessicant in the sun for a little while. It will heat up and the dessicant will absorb the moisture.
I too started out with roller bearings, however it is best to have a little bit of friction otherwise the roll might unwind in a bad way. Just use some PTFE tubing for the contact surface instead.
Thank you very much for a great design and tutorial. I will be doing a slightly improved version of your box. I plan to add two extra holes at the bottom of the box with sealed caps to fit the Polymaker Polydryer. This will still give me plenty of dry boxes for all my filaments but at a more affordable price than buying an extra box for each filament I want to store.
Your approach and design is outstanding. It addresses most all of the concerns and so forth. When it comes to active drying if needed what about cutting an opening out of the other end of the base. In that way one would not need to remove the hydrometer while actively drying. And we could design a TPU plug for the hole when not actively drying. Just a thought. But really you have a great design here, thank you for all the effort you put into this video. Including all the links, it is appreciated.
That approach could work as well. I'm still not sure whether an active drying solution is going to be something I need. I tend to print enough (and with only a few colors) that I use up spools within a few months after opening them, so I'm thinking that the current system will keep everything dry enough for my use case.
Great video Mark, thanks for sharing your project and information! In reference to your workspace, if you have AC in the room and the humidity is too high, there are solutions to help lower it if this space is actually a seperate room in your garage. A decent exterior door that is made to be waterproof with seals, instead of using an interior door, would help quite a bit. Again this assumes this is a seperate room within your garage. Next are the wall, ceiling, and floor. They make moisture barrier concrete sealer if you have a concrete floor. If you have carpet over the floor, it makes sense to remove the carpet, seal the floor, then reinstall the carpet. They also make moisture barrier paint that can be applied to both the walls and ceiling, which should also help the intrusion of water vapor into your workspace. Once you have sealed the room from water vapor from external sources, your air conditioner should easily reduce the moisture in that space to below 40, or even 30%, possibly more, depending on how well the room is treated. Any hear generated in the room will cause the AC to run even more, further reduce its moisture content.
Thanks for all the suggestions. One of the four "walls" of the studio is actually the garage door, so unfortunately there's only so much I can do to keep the humidity away.
I really love this, and will probably be using it for building a DIY MMU (tradrack). I like the drop-in desiccant, versus the glue-in one the other guy did, but the innovation of doing the lid on bottom, was a really cool thing the other guy did, and I like what you've done to improve it. Good work
Thanks! And I agree... the idea to flip the container upside down was the thing that unlocked a lot of new possibilities for me, and is the key thing that makes this all work so well.
i wish id have seen this video a month ago before i started prototyping my own version of this... i ended up drilling out two middle hole for a bearing roller and attatching a fan and 5ohm resistor for a bit of mild heating. powered by microusb. all attached to the lid. doing it all upside down is great but you have to remove the filament from the tube if you want to uncap it. had to make like 6 different sized rollers for different hole sizes. cheaped out and just poured dessicant beads into the bottom. now I'm going to prototype a version that uses 2 nested containers for insulation and i can put the electronics in the gap.
We have a similar setup. I was considering doing the active cooling trick by using a special "lid" for the Eibos EasDry (I have the same model) which has the connection ports (for two containers, with the Eibos getting feet on the backside and being positioned lid up) -- I'm working on an ESP32 upgrade for that to add active temp/humidity logic to it first, I just need to finish the prototype.
You are a gentleman and a scholar! This is so great, I've been eyeing the PolyBox system but they are hard to get where I live. Would LOVE to see the active attachment version. My only concerns with this design are with the slack potentially tangling, and with the cap not being air tight. I see that you have worked to address both of these issues, just my impression from the video.
I am torn, I wanted to go with the polydryer completely. I just hate the missing temperature input, limited to only three "strengths/modes". Maybe this selfmade system could be it, with a different dryer. Tho all the parts, here in Switzerland, probably cost more than a polybox. 😅
@@eye9have5you35 I have both and I am trying to see when I might have time to look into making an adapter to sit them on the polymaker dryer. This is a lot less expensive for me.
Great design. Just a thought. Would there be a way to combine the filament tag holder to be that part of the “wasted” support material you built in. Would be material efficient and a cleaver way to reduce waste plastic
@@gunplamark just want to add, I’ve made 6 of these so far and ordering another set of containers to make more, I’ve tried other filament storage methods in the past and this really is a fantastic solution. Going to be putting all of my loose rolls in these from now on, having them in Individual containers ready to print is so much easier than having mass storage in totes and compromising the humidity level everytime you just need one of the spools out. I added hot glue over the top screw and over around the coupler exit to reduce air potentially entering and have most my rolls sitting around 10-15% in what is normally a 45% humidity room.
Great design, Boxes ordered… one tiny change I will, use a bit of blocked off Bowden tube to seal the filament hole, printed stop is too likely to get knocked/sheared off.
Maybe another desiccant holder under the other side, under the roller axle bracket? Can't have too much. Nice enhancement over the original with regards to the desiccant bin and improved roller design with more 3d printed parts.
Given that humid air is less dense than dryer air, I would store these such that the silica gel is up top. I would install the hygrometer upside down then. I wonder if that would actually make a perceivable change. Anyone who built it try to store it upside down and let us know! I might also design a different capped filament outlet so I don't need to buy PTFE tubes or their fittings. Over all this looks super elegant and I can't wait for the parts to arrive so I can build it. Thanks for the great video!
Small weak magnet attached to the spool on the side would enable you to roll back the filament onto the spool from outside with another magnet without having to open the box. Spacing between spool and box should not be too far so that magnet would pull the spool down from the bearings.
If you do in the future decide to modify these to do the active drying, remember that airflow and having some place for the moisture to escape is much more important for effective drying than the heat is. So to have success on that project, ensure you have both a way to ensure good air circulation in the container and a way for the moist air to escape. Both of these could probably be aided by building a vent into the top of the container with some kind of method to seal it when it is not actively drying.
Yeah, this was my initial thought as well... create a circulating airflow through the one big opening. Of course I'll need to do some testing to see how effective this approach can be.
I currently have 10 open spools that I try to dry before use. Some are in resealable bags with small descant pouches in them. Imma gonna try it. It could save a lot of time and possibly filament. Thanks
Love this design and have decided to have a go. I would like to replace the hygrometer with a zigbee version so my smart home system can monitor the humidity of each dry box and warn me if they start to rise. Would you be prepared to share the 3D cad file for the filament guide so I can modify it for my zigbee hygrometer? I would of course be happy to share the modified design, should anyone want to do the same.
this is a pretty cool project. one thing that i might mention though is that, in your old design you had the desiccant in the top. there's one reason in particular that this was the better design. specifically because humid air is less dense than dry air, and because of that, it rises. in the new design you are in essence drying the dry air with the desiccant in the bottom, while the filament 'soaks' in the upside down 'bucket' full of humid air....
What I've found in practice is that since the new design allows me to open the container exactly once to load a new spool of filament and then never open it again for the lifetime of that spool, the location of the desiccant is less important. At least for my use case, there is enough desiccant in the bin to dry out the interior of the container and keep it dry until I've used up the spool and it's time to load a new one.
You could probably change the description to say that this video exists on your older one. Great solution, I will definitely be seeing if I can source some containers.
We have the same problem in Canada: it is a metric country, where Imperial measurements are still the norm. I'm building boxes using your ideas. I'll keep you posted.
This is great stuff and I am planning to build some for my burgeoning filament collection. And I, like many of the others here, are interested in integrating some type of heating unit. Several good suggestions were mentioned in the comments. However, I am trying to reconcile best practices when using this system in conjunction with an AMS or other multi-material system. I want the best of both worlds and at the moment I don't think that's gonna happen. But wouldn't it be cool to take your system and be able to feed it through a multi-material system?
I am soooooo glad you made this video. I have assembled about 36 filament driers from the previous video you mentioned. The most common issue I had with those, is when I opened the top of the container, and the cap for the desiccant/hygrometer holder would pop off, causing desiccant to run wild all over the room. This looks like it will eliminate that problem. On a side note, I loved hearing you say "Freedom Units", I love that phrase. There are two types of Countries on this planet, those that have put a man on the Moon, and those that use the metric system. MURICA!!!!!!!! 🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆
Yeah, I had that same problem with some of my older desiccant bins popping open. I'm enjoying this new system a lot more as I continue to replace the old bins. And I tend to use the term "freedom units" in a joking way, because I really do prefer metric and wish we could just use it everywhere.
Guess which institution (NASA) works in metric but converts all their units to imperial because the public of the country they're in (US) is the last country on earth to refuse uniformity in their measurement systems?
I really like your design as well, I'm building some. I was wondering why you have access holes at the top and not the bottom where it would be easier to pull the filament through? I'm going to try that for at least one and see how it works. Again, really nice work.
The filament exit is designed to be across from the curved underside of the printed part that screws into the top of the container. That way, when you unload filament and push the excess back into the container, that piece works as a guide to keep the filament from tangling.
Thank you for the tutorial. But what caught my eye was the stand/action base on the 3D printer, is it 3D printed? I been looking forever for a robust stand model that can be use with PG kit.
The kit on top of the printer is the In Era+ Trailblazer, and the stand it's on comes with the kit. The Trailblazer is roughly the same size as a larger 1/100 scale Bandai Master Grade kit, so I think the stand would be a bit too small for PG scale kits. 3D printed display bases are a good idea though, and maybe I should design a few of those!
Hmm, the top guide, which I printed in eSun PLA+ probably needs more support if, like me, you sit it on the windowsill for any length of time..! Not a design problem, just a consideration.
I see comments about sealed bearings having too much friction because of grease, that the spools just slide around and don't turn the rollers. This makes me think that it isn't needed at all. Before I go nuts with this, I am going to try a print with the filament just sitting on some pvc pipe (that does not rotate) or even bypassing the whole roller concept altogether. I am wondering if this is at all necessary. I will try a TPU print as an ultimate test of this idea.
If you use more powerful desicants like calcium chloride then you will never need to actively dry the filament with heat, risking degradation from repeated heat cycles. Furthermore this is counter intuitive but if you wanted to dehydrate the dry box well below 10% then COOL the box this will increase the relative humidity but it will help the desicant to absorb even more moisture and when the dry box warms back up to normal room temp, the RH will drop.
Pretty cool design. However, I feel having a rewind system is mandatory for me, because Prusa XL has quite long filament lines to rewind into the spool, plus any extra lines from the shelf. For me, it's close to 2 meters of filament to rewind into the spool every time I decide to change.
Yeah, I think you're right. My filament path is about 1 meter and I don't have any issues, but 2 meters is likely too much filament to manually push back into the container.
@@gunplamark If you ever make a rewinding version, I will definitely try it. Although it might be quite an effort, because there's no center axle in this design.
Very nice. Is there any chance this could be adapted to work with the PolyMaker PolyDryer? I really like their system but it's too expensive to buy dry boxes for every roll.
is there an Oring on the cuppler andcuppler hole and top hole ? if not, Why, they are dirt cheap. ? and i have a few ideas more for updates, you should design, the desecant holder to be inserted, into hole with a sealer like silicone or something, air tight, then make it screw on inside, instead, that hole , plus those other 2 are never gonna be air tight, it would i my mind be much much better to make those 3 holes more tight, with the Orings and design change.
Just my 2 cents - From my experience when you're printing filament from the drybox (especially TPU) the amount of force required to pull the filament out is enough to cause extruder issues. The rollers under the filament need to be positioned closer together or print a third roller to position in the centre and raise that roller by about 2mm. If the spool would rather slip on the roller rather than the roller spin then the bearing may be a sealed type which adds a slight amount of friction. An ecosystem may be a good idea but test to see if the cereal holder will withstand the max temp you intend to use.
I don't print as much TPU as other materials, but I do have maybe 5 or 6 hours of TPU printing time so far with this setup and haven't seen any issues. I'll keep an eye on it, though. Thanks for the feedback.
Hey great job on these boxes. I have now made 10 of them, and they seem great so far.. Do you have or know of any kind of adapter for the top of the box so you could stack them safely.
New to this, your solution looks really affordable !! By the way, I really more interested by your wall of Gundams, what is the honeycomb grid do you use and how do you attach them to it ?
I'm using a different design that's in the same cereal box. Hygrometer in the front, dessicant in the back. Keeps filament at about 11% in a room that hovers around 65% (my house has super high humidity this summer). Curious which is better.
A single LED will emit quite a bit of great if in a container, like these. It seems to me it would be enough to form a dryer using your idea. Just an observance.
With the amount of desiccant this design holds, you need to start out with your filament being pretty dry already before you put it in the box. The box will do a good job of keeping the filament dry for a long time if it starts out at a decently low moisture content. Note that brand new filament often comes out of the package needing to be dried, even if it was in a sealed package. I've found that especially filament that comes on cardboard spools needs drying... the cardboard can hold a lot of moisture. I always run my new spools through a cycle in my powered filament dryer before storing them in these containers.
I LOVE the idea of this, but my printers are struggling with printing the thin base even with a brim. The petg flexes and will break the part loose, Is there any way to adjust the walls to be a bit thicker?
I hope the next version integrates a dryer system. I plan to build 6 of these soon. Have you tried the boxes from Skroam? They look the same on the outside and also have decent ratings.
@@gunplamark I am curious how much of a gap you add to your supports. They take minimal effort to remove but have almost no gap visually. I've been tinkering with them in my designs and they arent as clean as yours.
@@SpannMagoo For the built in supports on the base pieces, I left 0.2mm of vertical gap, so just a single layer assuming you're slicing with the most common layer height.
Your Hygrometers are probably updating plenty fast, but I have that exact same dessicant, and it's not instant. Those little beads take time to pull the moisture out of the air. And isn't 999-perimeters a lot stronger than 100% infill?
Either perimeters or infill would be fine. I prefer the 100% infill setting because then you get alternating 45 degree angled layers in the interior of the axle.
Nice! I have a zero power, passive, low cost idea for long term ,easy fast access, storage. Purchase a big plastic box with airtight lid, fill the floor with a few inches of Silica crystals that absorb water. Get another smaller box to house your filament spools made from any mesh. Make sure you have a few inches between the inner box and outer box, also fill space with Silica crystals, make sure the lid also has a layer of silica. A 50kg sac used for making Beer is a low cost bulk price. & wont pass the mesh. After use just but the spools back. seal lid,. Maybe to preserve the crystals for long term storage , can add a small vacuum pump, to remove the air from the box. If the crystals ever get to wet, just dry them in an oven or the sun. If you are worried some filaments get wet unopened? Just fill a bin with those crystals and bury your stock until needed. A clever designer would take that idea, and could build that around an ,in use, spool hooked up to a working machine. and the 6 x silica panels would be removable to easily remove for drying.
Great video. Side note, I see you use the Eibos filament dryer. How do you like it? I’m thinking about picking one up myself and wanted to know your thoughts on it.
I think it's fine. I use it to dry spools of filament before placing them in the sealed plastic containers. It's the only filament dryer I own so I can't really compare it with other brands, but for me it works well and does its job.
neat! it seems like it'd be quite hard to push floppy tpu back into the box when you're done with it. And TPU is the thing I really need this for! Have you tried tpu in it?
Actually, I made a mistake on the first message. Not the hydrometer but the desiccant holder. But that might not be that important. Anyway, you have a great design. Thank you
Hello Printing the part on my Bambu Labs A1 using ABS filament. the BOX-BASE-4.STL file does not print. After I looked at the file it is different than the one you showed on the video. It is all one piece do you have the half piece file still with the supports on it?
This is an FYI for anyone who might run into the problem of the support piece in the base-with-support_x2 STL file not slicing as a separate piece. Prusa based slicers don't recognize the gap between the support and the bottom of the roller platform. I had to use Ultimaker Cura to slice the base piece with support built in. I didn't try any other slicers after finding Cura worked.
Is there a way to vacuum out some air to help cut down on moisture? Or would that potentially cause the container to shrink a little and cause the filament not to roll well?
In my use of these so far, the amount of desiccant is enough to keep the interior at around 10% humidity for months, as long as I dry each new spool before putting it in the container. So I don't think that trying to remove air would make much difference.
What strange timing, I just upgraded my printer to a X1C with AMS and I have a number of odd sized rolls that I wanted to use in my fifth slot so I made a try box with rollers out of the same box. You have to be very careful since prices can be crazy for the cereal boxes.
Pricing was mentioned in another comment as well. I was unaware of this, since I have a large collection of these containers that were all purchased over a year ago. I'll be on the lookout for a more cost effective container that's similarly sized.
The support is meant to be broken off before assembling. I included that version because I wasn't happy with the automatic supports that my slicer was generating.
Great design, going to order parts and give one a try. Would you suggest printing each part on its own, or could I get away with printing all but the TPU rollers on one plate?
Yep. For me, all the containers are still reading around 15% humidity and I haven't needed to replace or dry the desiccant. My spool of black ASA is nearly empty, and I'll probably swap out the desiccant when I put a new spool in that container.
Can you post alternate sellers for the containers? The people who sell these are raising prices cause of your videos getting greedy. I’m scared to buy another version not knowing if the print will fit. Post 3 containers that also work so we don’t have to pay $40 for these now when they use to be $20
What you want to look for is the hexagonal detail on the container's lid. It's the detail circled in red here: imgur.com/a/X9XrgWn I'm pretty sure that all the different brands that have that detail are made from the same molds and are identical in size. I just did a quick search on Amazon for "cereal container" and found some that are branded as "Skroam" and "PRAKI" that are currently being sold at decent prices. But it seems like the prices change frequently, so your best bet is to search around.
If you pay attention to the dimensions of the box, 8.66x3.35x9.45, they are a pretty standard size across these generic containers. Just find another that matches the same dimensions.
So my question is, if your filament will absorb moisture from the air while on the spool, won’t your printed parts too? Therefore lowering the efficacy of your desiccant? Would everything not work better if there was no printed parts exposed to the open air?
The big problem with wet filament is that it doesn't behave well when you heat it up to print with it. Once parts are printed, I'm not too concerned about their humidity absorption properties. It is true that the parts exposed to outside air will absorb some moisture, but I think I prefer that for the convenience of being able to remove and refill the desiccant container without opening the dry box itself.
The bin is plastic too. The printed parts will absorb moisture however, once wet, they will "block" moisture from entering the dry box. Almost all plastic is both hygroscopic and water-permeable. Take something like nylon. It sucks up moisture well but it does not like to give that moisture back up without a bit of prodding. The air gap between the side of the container combined with the desiccant drying the air will overcome any humidity that might leak into the container. Add to the fact that the desiccant storage is at the point of entry for moisture if it came in through the printed part and I think it is a non-issue. It may shorten the life of the dessicant but I doubt it would even be to a measurable degree. This design really is the perfect storage solution. The only modification I would make is to replace those LR44s with a Li-PO or FePO cell so they actually last more than a few months. A 1000ma battery will last around a year (based on a 1-2 month life of a pair of LR44s).
I looked at these containers before. But the did not ship to the Netherlands at that time. I found them on the Dutch version of Amazon, unfortunately a bit more expensive. I ordered four of them to test them. Printing the parts for the first container now. Question: Is there a reason why you put the grips at the backside of the container.
The side of the container with the grips is slightly more narrow, and the filament guide with hygrometer fits better into the wider side of the container - and you want those facing the front.
A few of you have noted that the 608 bearings I used have quite a lot of friction. I prefer this style, but if you're after something that rolls more easily I've linked to a second option in the video description.
And while I'm here, huge thanks to everyone who built these boxes and has sent me feedback and suggestions on the design. I really do appreciate it!
The friction is most likely just thick grease. For this application you can clean out the grease with something like brake cleaner, and put in some lighter grease, or even some spray lubricant. With these speeds the bearings will never wear out, not even when used dry. The lubricant mainly acts like a rust preventer, even though that's not that important in a 10% RH environment either.
@@timderks5960 > The friction is most likely just thick grease
And/or seal drag
Here's what I did to address the packed grease bearings:
1. Popped off the bearing shields
2. Cleaned out the existing grease with brake cleaner (not really needed because the next step should take care of cleaning it out a little)
3. Soaked the bearings with WD40
4. Printed hard plastic (ABS/ASA/PLA etc) instead of TPU rollers. I found that using TPU rollers added slightly more drag and friction using cardboard spools. Using hard plastic roller let the cardboard slide a little, thus causing less binding and friction
PLEASE DO continue developing this ecosystem idea you have. I have already started the process of building a set of these for myself as I watched this video. I think this is an excellent idea that answers a lot of the shortcomings that other attempts at filament storage have.
I use a center core desecant holder that just screws into the hole in the center of the filament spool. That way, if you build your active heater, you could just pop off the lid opening and put it on the heater, then pop the lid back on when it's done.
Nice video, the only thing I can add is that a magnet glued to the side of the spool so you can rewind the spool with another magnet outside the container 😊
I'm planning on trying that this weekend, I've made about 10 of these dry boxes and they are great but rewinding is the only issue I've had. Have you tried the magnet method?
Hello friend, I found that if you will print this on Bambu Lab A1 unit, both bottom parts fit at once on print bed, you can use the Bambu Lab Studio (previous to print) overlap them a little bit, merge them and print at once as a single piece, it saves time and filament on printing.
I print few of those (thanks), but still working on a different support for the base two overpasses instead of the support block. For some reason when printing with PET-G those blocks are almost impossible to remove.
Other, I installed the bowden coupler on the top, 1/4 from one edge, so the filament gets out vertically, and I shorten the hygrometer holder arm just to hold the indicator, eliminating the long bottom curved (I don't feel any difference). The box(es) stay aside the printer, it is better way to exit vertical.
I also made a tube like a medicine bottle with cap (full of narrow slits), a bit of smaller diameter, 50% full of silica gel, insert into the spool hole, it turns slow along with the spool and move the silica. With that it reaches 14% moisture. Have few of those tubes ready, bake them whenever empty the 1kg spool. Always fresh silica gel.
Did you ever get a better base support? I just got an A1 and was looking to make some of these. Have you tested with Bambu spools? I think someone commented that they didnt fit in this design.
I made this pretty much as offered. I thought it was wonderful and worked pretty well.
Some feedback:
-- I used 608 ZZ bearings instead of 608 2SR for less rolling friction. For even less friction you can even use unshielded bearings as this is in an enclosed clean space.
-- Be very careful drilling the top hole. I was careful but some still cracked. I think it is from stresses in the plastic at the fill port.
-- I modified the coupler cap to be easier to remove. Where the "handle" meets the thin tube I changed it to have a shoulder for added space then a cone section for even more space. You can easily remove the cap with one hand.
-- Maybe it's my printer (Bambu A-1 Mini) but I had clearance issues with the roller shafts. I had to sand them all. But other than that the fit and function were perfect. ( I made the rollers from PLA as I don't have any TPU.)
--DO NOT buy the silica gel that is clear then only has a small amount of color-changing indicator beads. It is very hard to see them through the basket. I might try printing in white, but just buy the ones he listed.
-- I was really surprised at how effective the silica beads are! They take an empty box from 60% humidity to 12% in an hour!
-- Has anyone with an A-! Mini made one of these? Have you experimented with having the filament come out at the bottom? Or by moving the Bowden tube directly from the printer to the dry box? I don't know the best orientation to use this in!
Thank you for the great design and for making it affordable. Good work!
I haven't printed this yet but will be soon. Would you be willing to share the couple cap STL you designed?
I would also like to have the redesigned cap if you are willing to share it please and thank you.
I will have the filament coming out of the top for my P1P…. But that’s quite an obvious change.
@@GHOSTYAIRO I tried posting a link but it got removed. It is on the same site as the original dry box, model 995277.
@@iceisrawr I tried posting a link but it got removed. It is on the same site as the original dry box, model 995277.
I'm new to 3d printing and really appreciate you sharing the models for this. I was looking at so many different solutions for storage, but these really spoke to me! They went together well, and I can't argue with the results. After 24 hours the empty ones I prepared went from 55%+ humidity down to sub 20.
Great design. I’m finally getting my moisture sensitive filaments out of dry bags and easier to use. I’ll second what someone else said about the bearings. The first 6 dry boxes I used the 2rs bearings and had to pop the dust covers off and degrease them. A small dab of graphite and they are silky smooth. I was getting way too much drag before.
I was a little hesitant because someone mentioned the Bambu spools don't fit, but I received my initial supply of containers and they seem to fit pretty well in there. The only other issue I need to consider is the storage space the containers take up on my shelves. Currently I bag my filament and lay them horizontally, stacking them four in a column for four columns, 16 rolls in all. I figure in the same space I could fit about 7 containers, so it leaves me less space to store them. But it would look much nicer and I would be sure they would stay dry.
You mentioned metric vs Freedom units. I think I can muddy the waters for you a little more than that. Those bowden tube entry gromets are sold as M10 but the thread on them is actually a G1/8 BSPP - as are a lot of threads that are on parts that were originally pneumatic parts. This is only really useful if you want to either tap the hole or model the thread in the 'rocket' part. The correct tap drill size you might actually have as it's 11/32 (about 8.8mm).
I've just finished printing parts for a system the 'right' way round....but now I'm wondering if a 50-50 mix of the two would let me fit them closer together and get more on a shelf.
Stumbled across this excellent 'how-to' DIY build and made it my first project on my new Qidi plus4 (after the ubiquitous initial PLA benchy of course!). All in all it has gone 100% according to plan. Parts printed perfectly - once I figured out the correct orientation for strength - and I am now the happy owner of 6 of these excellent & cost effective dry-boxes. Thank you Mark from a UK fan. Well done!
This is a super elegant solution - nicely done!!
Very Nice and I am building 6 of them in the next few days.
I was thinking the same exact thing about the PolyMaker dryer system.... I'll still probably get a couple to keep my AMS dry and a couple to keep the spare spools dry and ready. I even keep my PLA dry; it really helps with finish quality especially at speed.
This is a awesome way to store and use filament. The Bambu AMS doesn't like to load mixed types, with this I can load the AMS with PLA and use this system to store and feed into the external port, while leaving the AMS untouched. Just a side note the ROG font works in Bambu studio. 😉 I'll leave feedback when I have my first one together. A second filament guide STL for the round humidity meter would be great. :)
Thank you for sharing your ideas. I have 60 of those boxes and will definitively give it a try. One at a time :)
One thing to ease the drilling is to use a step drill. They are cheap and do an excellent job on plastic.
P.S. There is no blank tag on printables.
Good suggestion. If I'm going to make a lot more of these, a step drill bit would be worth looking into.
Printed 12x Dry Boxes!! Thank you so much for your contribution to this project. Love the upside down orientation. If you progress the agenda to install a heater/fan that fits in the desiccant port… for an active heating/drying system let me know!!
Just did the print with the recommened items and it worked great. Printing out all my ABS tags now. Thank you, way cheaper than buying the units.
Really cool idea. I have just started printing the needed parts for my first box. I have a Bambu Lab A1 with AMS Lite and my idea is to have a dry box for each of the rolls of filament to make easier switch of filament, feeding the AMS Lite from the boxes.
I like your idea about an active dryer system. I guess food dehumidifier with a printed "lid" with a "coupling" that fit opening in the box could du the job, but it will need an exit hole for hot air as well 🙂
Keep up the good work and keep the videos coming 🙂
Thanks.
Many thanks Mark for a great & helpful video! I bought my Ender3 V3 last week and, apart from the odd benchy, this the first real project I’ve printed. Everything printed and fitted perfectly. All the parts were easily obtainable from Amazon here in the UK for roughly £10 ($7.7) per box excluding the desiccant. I found some connectors that came with 5m of Teflon tubing which will allow me to run the filament from the floor to printer fully enclosed. Thanks again
Fantastic! A much sturdier option than the roller system for these boxes I’ve been using. Thank you for the great redo! I have a Polydryer and hate it. The storage box they use was a good, although poorly set up, idea. These cereal boxes have worked very well for me and this build makes them even better!
I've been thinking about buying one. The boxes are too pricey though at €30+ each. You don't like the dryer?
@@Yggdrasil42 I don’t. It’s very very noisy. The main switch is on the back, and the base is extremely light. The lid to the box is a bit difficult to open and close, you really have to put some serious force behind the latches.
I would definitely be interested in a drying system to work with these. I just started assembling my dry boxes. Thanks so much for your design!!
Just ordered the parts for making 6 of the dry boxes. Thanks for sharing the idea.
I printed the rollers in TPU. That way, the spool has more grip than on hard plastic. I printed the filament stop also in tpu. A bit of flex gives better fit (I think).
I liked your video. As for a heater dryer, I think you could probably just set the unit fully loaded with filament and dessicant in the sun for a little while. It will heat up and the dessicant will absorb the moisture.
I too started out with roller bearings, however it is best to have a little bit of friction otherwise the roll might unwind in a bad way. Just use some PTFE tubing for the contact surface instead.
Thank you very much for a great design and tutorial. I will be doing a slightly improved version of your box. I plan to add two extra holes at the bottom of the box with sealed caps to fit the Polymaker Polydryer. This will still give me plenty of dry boxes for all my filaments but at a more affordable price than buying an extra box for each filament I want to store.
Sounds great, let us know how you cut the box so the opening matches tour Polydrier
Your approach and design is outstanding. It addresses most all of the concerns and so forth. When it comes to active drying if needed what about cutting an opening out of the other end of the base. In that way one would not need to remove the hydrometer while actively drying. And we could design a TPU plug for the hole when not actively drying.
Just a thought. But really you have a great design here, thank you for all the effort you put into this video. Including all the links, it is appreciated.
That approach could work as well. I'm still not sure whether an active drying solution is going to be something I need. I tend to print enough (and with only a few colors) that I use up spools within a few months after opening them, so I'm thinking that the current system will keep everything dry enough for my use case.
Just place it on the heated build plate and add a fan....
@@sierraecho884 Good idea I hadn't thought of that. Thank you.
@@glennfelpel9785 You are welcome =)
Great video Mark, thanks for sharing your project and information!
In reference to your workspace, if you have AC in the room and the humidity is too high, there are solutions to help lower it if this space is actually a seperate room in your garage. A decent exterior door that is made to be waterproof with seals, instead of using an interior door, would help quite a bit. Again this assumes this is a seperate room within your garage. Next are the wall, ceiling, and floor. They make moisture barrier concrete sealer if you have a concrete floor. If you have carpet over the floor, it makes sense to remove the carpet, seal the floor, then reinstall the carpet. They also make moisture barrier paint that can be applied to both the walls and ceiling, which should also help the intrusion of water vapor into your workspace. Once you have sealed the room from water vapor from external sources, your air conditioner should easily reduce the moisture in that space to below 40, or even 30%, possibly more, depending on how well the room is treated. Any hear generated in the room will cause the AC to run even more, further reduce its moisture content.
Thanks for all the suggestions. One of the four "walls" of the studio is actually the garage door, so unfortunately there's only so much I can do to keep the humidity away.
I ordered all the parts and am currently printing 6 of these sets. Eventually will do all 18 that I ordered and will help keep some dry. Testing soon.
I really love this, and will probably be using it for building a DIY MMU (tradrack). I like the drop-in desiccant, versus the glue-in one the other guy did, but the innovation of doing the lid on bottom, was a really cool thing the other guy did, and I like what you've done to improve it. Good work
Thanks! And I agree... the idea to flip the container upside down was the thing that unlocked a lot of new possibilities for me, and is the key thing that makes this all work so well.
Love this! Thank you so much... I'm a newbie to 3D Printing and this is exactly what I was looking for. Nice and easy project, fun to make!
i wish id have seen this video a month ago before i started prototyping my own version of this... i ended up drilling out two middle hole for a bearing roller and attatching a fan and 5ohm resistor for a bit of mild heating. powered by microusb. all attached to the lid. doing it all upside down is great but you have to remove the filament from the tube if you want to uncap it.
had to make like 6 different sized rollers for different hole sizes. cheaped out and just poured dessicant beads into the bottom.
now I'm going to prototype a version that uses 2 nested containers for insulation and i can put the electronics in the gap.
We have a similar setup. I was considering doing the active cooling trick by using a special "lid" for the Eibos EasDry (I have the same model) which has the connection ports (for two containers, with the Eibos getting feet on the backside and being positioned lid up) -- I'm working on an ESP32 upgrade for that to add active temp/humidity logic to it first, I just need to finish the prototype.
You are a gentleman and a scholar! This is so great, I've been eyeing the PolyBox system but they are hard to get where I live. Would LOVE to see the active attachment version. My only concerns with this design are with the slack potentially tangling, and with the cap not being air tight. I see that you have worked to address both of these issues, just my impression from the video.
Ha! I'm neither a gentleman nor a scholar... just a guy who likes to make things. But thanks for the kind words, and for the feedback.
Great job! Making an adapter for it to sit on the polymaker dryer would be a solid win.
I am torn, I wanted to go with the polydryer completely. I just hate the missing temperature input, limited to only three "strengths/modes".
Maybe this selfmade system could be it, with a different dryer.
Tho all the parts, here in Switzerland, probably cost more than a polybox. 😅
@@eye9have5you35 I have both and I am trying to see when I might have time to look into making an adapter to sit them on the polymaker dryer. This is a lot less expensive for me.
@@eye9have5you35 just got mines today to try out and so far not impressed. Been drying the petg for 6 hrs and can’t get under 32% humidity
Great design. Just a thought. Would there be a way to combine the filament tag holder to be that part of the “wasted” support material you built in. Would be material efficient and a cleaver way to reduce waste plastic
Maybe. Good suggestion, and I'll look into it.
@@gunplamark just want to add, I’ve made 6 of these so far and ordering another set of containers to make more, I’ve tried other filament storage methods in the past and this really is a fantastic solution. Going to be putting all of my loose rolls in these from now on, having them in Individual containers ready to print is so much easier than having mass storage in totes and compromising the humidity level everytime you just need one of the spools out. I added hot glue over the top screw and over around the coupler exit to reduce air potentially entering and have most my rolls sitting around 10-15% in what is normally a 45% humidity room.
Great design, Boxes ordered… one tiny change I will, use a bit of blocked off Bowden tube to seal the filament hole, printed stop is too likely to get knocked/sheared off.
I use this setup on my PPS-CF and PET type of filaments, works great thanks...
Maybe another desiccant holder under the other side, under the roller axle bracket? Can't have too much. Nice enhancement over the original with regards to the desiccant bin and improved roller design with more 3d printed parts.
Given that humid air is less dense than dryer air, I would store these such that the silica gel is up top. I would install the hygrometer upside down then. I wonder if that would actually make a perceivable change. Anyone who built it try to store it upside down and let us know!
I might also design a different capped filament outlet so I don't need to buy PTFE tubes or their fittings. Over all this looks super elegant and I can't wait for the parts to arrive so I can build it. Thanks for the great video!
Air in a closed system of this size is not going to have any measurable variation in humidity from top to bottom of the chamber.
Small weak magnet attached to the spool on the side would enable you to roll back the filament onto the spool from outside with another magnet without having to open the box. Spacing between spool and box should not be too far so that magnet would pull the spool down from the bearings.
Do you have found magnets that work? I’m stilling searching some that work good
Great work and Thanks for Sharing
You might want to consider a desiccant holder that goes into the middle of the spool as it will allow you to add an additional amount.
If you do in the future decide to modify these to do the active drying, remember that airflow and having some place for the moisture to escape is much more important for effective drying than the heat is. So to have success on that project, ensure you have both a way to ensure good air circulation in the container and a way for the moist air to escape. Both of these could probably be aided by building a vent into the top of the container with some kind of method to seal it when it is not actively drying.
The inlet and vent could be done through the same hole if the inlet air flow is directed well enough via a baffle or two.
Yeah, this was my initial thought as well... create a circulating airflow through the one big opening. Of course I'll need to do some testing to see how effective this approach can be.
I currently have 10 open spools that I try to dry before use. Some are in resealable bags with small descant pouches in them. Imma gonna try it. It could save a lot of time and possibly filament. Thanks
Love this design and have decided to have a go. I would like to replace the hygrometer with a zigbee version so my smart home system can monitor the humidity of each dry box and warn me if they start to rise. Would you be prepared to share the 3D cad file for the filament guide so I can modify it for my zigbee hygrometer? I would of course be happy to share the modified design, should anyone want to do the same.
great solution, I live in the Mohave desert but monsoon season is coming and it can get humid.
Nice. Really slick implementation.
this is a pretty cool project. one thing that i might mention though is that, in your old design you had the desiccant in the top. there's one reason in particular that this was the better design. specifically because humid air is less dense than dry air, and because of that, it rises. in the new design you are in essence drying the dry air with the desiccant in the bottom, while the filament 'soaks' in the upside down 'bucket' full of humid air....
What I've found in practice is that since the new design allows me to open the container exactly once to load a new spool of filament and then never open it again for the lifetime of that spool, the location of the desiccant is less important. At least for my use case, there is enough desiccant in the bin to dry out the interior of the container and keep it dry until I've used up the spool and it's time to load a new one.
You could probably change the description to say that this video exists on your older one. Great solution, I will definitely be seeing if I can source some containers.
Not sure why I didn't think to do that, so thanks for the good idea.
Very cool. Thanks for the walk through.
We have the same problem in Canada: it is a metric country, where Imperial measurements are still the norm. I'm building boxes using your ideas. I'll keep you posted.
This is great stuff and I am planning to build some for my burgeoning filament collection. And I, like many of the others here, are interested in integrating some type of heating unit. Several good suggestions were mentioned in the comments. However, I am trying to reconcile best practices when using this system in conjunction with an AMS or other multi-material system. I want the best of both worlds and at the moment I don't think that's gonna happen. But wouldn't it be cool to take your system and be able to feed it through a multi-material system?
I am soooooo glad you made this video. I have assembled about 36 filament driers from the previous video you mentioned. The most common issue I had with those, is when I opened the top of the container, and the cap for the desiccant/hygrometer holder would pop off, causing desiccant to run wild all over the room. This looks like it will eliminate that problem. On a side note, I loved hearing you say "Freedom Units", I love that phrase. There are two types of Countries on this planet, those that have put a man on the Moon, and those that use the metric system. MURICA!!!!!!!! 🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🎆
Yeah, I had that same problem with some of my older desiccant bins popping open. I'm enjoying this new system a lot more as I continue to replace the old bins.
And I tend to use the term "freedom units" in a joking way, because I really do prefer metric and wish we could just use it everywhere.
So you use 68thou 9 tenths filament 🤔😁
Guess which institution (NASA) works in metric but converts all their units to imperial because the public of the country they're in (US) is the last country on earth to refuse uniformity in their measurement systems?
Hi, Thanks for this solution and this great video. In this video you talk about an future active solution for this box. Does it go on? Thanks
Yes, I'm looking into a few options for an active drying solution, but I haven't found one that I'm happy with just yet.
thanks for sharing this amazing design
This is my 1st time hearing that imperial = freedom!
Ha. I've heard other people use that term, but I tend to use it in a sarcastic way because I'd much prefer if everything was just metric.
I really like your design as well, I'm building some. I was wondering why you have access holes at the top and not the bottom where it would be easier to pull the filament through? I'm going to try that for at least one and see how it works. Again, really nice work.
The filament exit is designed to be across from the curved underside of the printed part that screws into the top of the container. That way, when you unload filament and push the excess back into the container, that piece works as a guide to keep the filament from tangling.
Thank you for the tutorial. But what caught my eye was the stand/action base on the 3D printer, is it 3D printed? I been looking forever for a robust stand model that can be use with PG kit.
The kit on top of the printer is the In Era+ Trailblazer, and the stand it's on comes with the kit. The Trailblazer is roughly the same size as a larger 1/100 scale Bandai Master Grade kit, so I think the stand would be a bit too small for PG scale kits.
3D printed display bases are a good idea though, and maybe I should design a few of those!
@@gunplamarkI'll be very grateful if you ever decide to design one for a PG kit. Thank you so much.
Very nice
Works great! Thank you so much for sharing! 😃
Very nice, thank you and greetings from Germany.
Best one so far ! so so cool !
FWIW, you can add/change the description to the older vid and to add a link to this vid. Or add/change a card for a link there too.
Hmm, the top guide, which I printed in eSun PLA+ probably needs more support if, like me, you sit it on the windowsill for any length of time..!
Not a design problem, just a consideration.
Very cool solution. Thank you
I see comments about sealed bearings having too much friction because of grease, that the spools just slide around and don't turn the rollers. This makes me think that it isn't needed at all. Before I go nuts with this, I am going to try a print with the filament just sitting on some pvc pipe (that does not rotate) or even bypassing the whole roller concept altogether. I am wondering if this is at all necessary. I will try a TPU print as an ultimate test of this idea.
If you use more powerful desicants like calcium chloride then you will never need to actively dry the filament with heat, risking degradation from repeated heat cycles.
Furthermore this is counter intuitive but if you wanted to dehydrate the dry box well below 10% then COOL the box this will increase the relative humidity but it will help the desicant to absorb even more moisture and when the dry box warms back up to normal room temp, the RH will drop.
Pretty cool design. However, I feel having a rewind system is mandatory for me, because Prusa XL has quite long filament lines to rewind into the spool, plus any extra lines from the shelf. For me, it's close to 2 meters of filament to rewind into the spool every time I decide to change.
Yeah, I think you're right. My filament path is about 1 meter and I don't have any issues, but 2 meters is likely too much filament to manually push back into the container.
@@gunplamark If you ever make a rewinding version, I will definitely try it. Although it might be quite an effort, because there's no center axle in this design.
Very nice. Is there any chance this could be adapted to work with the PolyMaker PolyDryer? I really like their system but it's too expensive to buy dry boxes for every roll.
That's an option I've started looking into. I'm still unsure whether it'd be easier to do that versus building something custom.
@@gunplamarkHave you experimented with hangers vs the roller system you have? I’m wondering what the difference would be.
is there an Oring on the cuppler andcuppler hole and top hole ? if not, Why, they are dirt cheap. ?
and i have a few ideas more for updates, you should design, the desecant holder to be inserted, into hole with a sealer like silicone or something, air tight, then make it screw on inside, instead, that hole , plus those other 2 are never gonna be air tight, it would i my mind be much much better to make those 3 holes more tight, with the Orings and design change.
Nice! Gotta try this out.
Just my 2 cents - From my experience when you're printing filament from the drybox (especially TPU) the amount of force required to pull the filament out is enough to cause extruder issues. The rollers under the filament need to be positioned closer together or print a third roller to position in the centre and raise that roller by about 2mm. If the spool would rather slip on the roller rather than the roller spin then the bearing may be a sealed type which adds a slight amount of friction. An ecosystem may be a good idea but test to see if the cereal holder will withstand the max temp you intend to use.
I don't print as much TPU as other materials, but I do have maybe 5 or 6 hours of TPU printing time so far with this setup and haven't seen any issues. I'll keep an eye on it, though. Thanks for the feedback.
I love this. Well done.
Hey great job on these boxes. I have now made 10 of them, and they seem great so far.. Do you have or know of any kind of adapter for the top of the box so you could stack them safely.
I'm working on a part that will allow them to slot into a peg board. I hadn't thought about stacking, but that's a great idea. I'll look into it.
New to this, your solution looks really affordable !!
By the way, I really more interested by your wall of Gundams, what is the honeycomb grid do you use and how do you attach them to it ?
Great idea, thank you.
Thanks for sharing. I think I will make some of these. 🙂
I'm using a different design that's in the same cereal box. Hygrometer in the front, dessicant in the back. Keeps filament at about 11% in a room that hovers around 65% (my house has super high humidity this summer). Curious which is better.
A single LED will emit quite a bit of great if in a container, like these. It seems to me it would be enough to form a dryer using your idea. Just an observance.
Very good, but for me it takes forever for the humidity to drop to 10% if it even will get there
With the amount of desiccant this design holds, you need to start out with your filament being pretty dry already before you put it in the box. The box will do a good job of keeping the filament dry for a long time if it starts out at a decently low moisture content.
Note that brand new filament often comes out of the package needing to be dried, even if it was in a sealed package. I've found that especially filament that comes on cardboard spools needs drying... the cardboard can hold a lot of moisture. I always run my new spools through a cycle in my powered filament dryer before storing them in these containers.
I LOVE the idea of this, but my printers are struggling with printing the thin base even with a brim. The petg flexes and will break the part loose, Is there any way to adjust the walls to be a bit thicker?
I hope the next version integrates a dryer system. I plan to build 6 of these soon. Have you tried the boxes from Skroam? They look the same on the outside and also have decent ratings.
Another idea is make the desiccant more visible to the outside.
I haven't tried that brand of containers, but from the product images I found they look identical to the containers that I use.
@@gunplamark I will pick them up today and report back once I get the first built. I started printing the parts last night.
@@gunplamark I am curious how much of a gap you add to your supports. They take minimal effort to remove but have almost no gap visually. I've been tinkering with them in my designs and they arent as clean as yours.
@@SpannMagoo For the built in supports on the base pieces, I left 0.2mm of vertical gap, so just a single layer assuming you're slicing with the most common layer height.
Your Hygrometers are probably updating plenty fast, but I have that exact same dessicant, and it's not instant.
Those little beads take time to pull the moisture out of the air.
And isn't 999-perimeters a lot stronger than 100% infill?
Either perimeters or infill would be fine. I prefer the 100% infill setting because then you get alternating 45 degree angled layers in the interior of the axle.
nice work
Nice! I have a zero power, passive, low cost idea for long term ,easy fast access, storage. Purchase a big plastic box with airtight lid, fill the floor with a few inches of Silica crystals that absorb water. Get another smaller box to house your filament spools made from any mesh. Make sure you have a few inches between the inner box and outer box, also fill space with Silica crystals, make sure the lid also has a layer of silica. A 50kg sac used for making Beer is a low cost bulk price. & wont pass the mesh. After use just but the spools back. seal lid,. Maybe to preserve the crystals for long term storage , can add a small vacuum pump, to remove the air from the box. If the crystals ever get to wet, just dry them in an oven or the sun. If you are worried some filaments get wet unopened? Just fill a bin with those crystals and bury your stock until needed. A clever designer would take that idea, and could build that around an ,in use, spool hooked up to a working machine. and the 6 x silica panels would be removable to easily remove for drying.
Great video. Side note, I see you use the Eibos filament dryer. How do you like it? I’m thinking about picking one up myself and wanted to know your thoughts on it.
I think it's fine. I use it to dry spools of filament before placing them in the sealed plastic containers. It's the only filament dryer I own so I can't really compare it with other brands, but for me it works well and does its job.
neat! it seems like it'd be quite hard to push floppy tpu back into the box when you're done with it. And TPU is the thing I really need this for! Have you tried tpu in it?
Yes. My spool of black TPU that I used to print the roller parts is in one of these containers. I haven't had any problems pushing excess back in.
Actually, I made a mistake on the first message. Not the hydrometer but the desiccant holder. But that might not be that important. Anyway, you have a great design. Thank you
Hello Printing the part on my Bambu Labs A1 using ABS filament. the BOX-BASE-4.STL file does not print. After I looked at the file it is different than the one you showed on the video. It is all one piece do you have the half piece file still with the supports on it?
Also the filament cap and rollers are missing from printables please add those files also
This is an FYI for anyone who might run into the problem of the support piece in the base-with-support_x2 STL file not slicing as a separate piece. Prusa based slicers don't recognize the gap between the support and the bottom of the roller platform. I had to use Ultimaker Cura to slice the base piece with support built in. I didn't try any other slicers after finding Cura worked.
Is there a way to vacuum out some air to help cut down on moisture? Or would that potentially cause the container to shrink a little and cause the filament not to roll well?
In my use of these so far, the amount of desiccant is enough to keep the interior at around 10% humidity for months, as long as I dry each new spool before putting it in the container. So I don't think that trying to remove air would make much difference.
@@gunplamark thank you. I just got the bins in the other day. Just need to start printing the dessicant containers
What strange timing, I just upgraded my printer to a X1C with AMS and I have a number of odd sized rolls that I wanted to use in my fifth slot so I made a try box with rollers out of the same box. You have to be very careful since prices can be crazy for the cereal boxes.
Pricing was mentioned in another comment as well. I was unaware of this, since I have a large collection of these containers that were all purchased over a year ago. I'll be on the lookout for a more cost effective container that's similarly sized.
Hi, using the base with the square support, you can not use your desiccant bin, or am I missing something? thanks
The support is meant to be broken off before assembling. I included that version because I wasn't happy with the automatic supports that my slicer was generating.
@@gunplamark got it, thanks
Great design, going to order parts and give one a try. Would you suggest printing each part on its own, or could I get away with printing all but the TPU rollers on one plate?
I guess it depends on the printer you're using, but I've been printing all the parts for each container at once on my 350mm Voron 2.4.
@@gunplamark Guess there is only one way to find out, I'll give it a go on my A1.
So, are your desiccant beads still nice and orange after a month or so? What about the hygrometer readings?
Yep. For me, all the containers are still reading around 15% humidity and I haven't needed to replace or dry the desiccant. My spool of black ASA is nearly empty, and I'll probably swap out the desiccant when I put a new spool in that container.
@@gunplamark thanks for replying. This is good to hear! I will be creating some boxes here in the near future.
Can you post alternate sellers for the containers? The people who sell these are raising prices cause of your videos getting greedy. I’m scared to buy another version not knowing if the print will fit. Post 3 containers that also work so we don’t have to pay $40 for these now when they use to be $20
What you want to look for is the hexagonal detail on the container's lid. It's the detail circled in red here: imgur.com/a/X9XrgWn
I'm pretty sure that all the different brands that have that detail are made from the same molds and are identical in size. I just did a quick search on Amazon for "cereal container" and found some that are branded as "Skroam" and "PRAKI" that are currently being sold at decent prices. But it seems like the prices change frequently, so your best bet is to search around.
If you pay attention to the dimensions of the box, 8.66x3.35x9.45, they are a pretty standard size across these generic containers. Just find another that matches the same dimensions.
So my question is, if your filament will absorb moisture from the air while on the spool, won’t your printed parts too? Therefore lowering the efficacy of your desiccant? Would everything not work better if there was no printed parts exposed to the open air?
The big problem with wet filament is that it doesn't behave well when you heat it up to print with it. Once parts are printed, I'm not too concerned about their humidity absorption properties. It is true that the parts exposed to outside air will absorb some moisture, but I think I prefer that for the convenience of being able to remove and refill the desiccant container without opening the dry box itself.
@@gunplamark HiPS instead ABS/ASA. The less hygroscopic material for FDM printing. Gorgeous matt finishing!
The bin is plastic too. The printed parts will absorb moisture however, once wet, they will "block" moisture from entering the dry box. Almost all plastic is both hygroscopic and water-permeable. Take something like nylon. It sucks up moisture well but it does not like to give that moisture back up without a bit of prodding. The air gap between the side of the container combined with the desiccant drying the air will overcome any humidity that might leak into the container. Add to the fact that the desiccant storage is at the point of entry for moisture if it came in through the printed part and I think it is a non-issue. It may shorten the life of the dessicant but I doubt it would even be to a measurable degree. This design really is the perfect storage solution. The only modification I would make is to replace those LR44s with a Li-PO or FePO cell so they actually last more than a few months. A 1000ma battery will last around a year (based on a 1-2 month life of a pair of LR44s).
I looked at these containers before. But the did not ship to the Netherlands at that time. I found them on the Dutch version of Amazon, unfortunately a bit more expensive. I ordered four of them to test them. Printing the parts for the first container now. Question: Is there a reason why you put the grips at the backside of the container.
The side of the container with the grips is slightly more narrow, and the filament guide with hygrometer fits better into the wider side of the container - and you want those facing the front.
@@gunplamark Thanks