Solid-State Dehumidifier: The Ultimate Filament Dry Box

CIRCULATE THE AIR!!!! You need a fan inside your boxes for better performance. Air doesn’t circulate, which is why the desiccant is performing so well. It’s spread out across the box, so it has a lot more volume across the container to absorb the moisture. Circulating the air, even with the tiniest fan, will increase dehumidification greatly.

how do you collect / animate the graph for this data? It's amazing for explaining engineering data

Hi, what type from Rosahl you have used for your AMS?
Is the glass cover removable for easier cutting the hole?
Could you provide your Fusion files from the mounting parts?
BR
Gerhard

This is a really nice piece of work but is this a bit of overkill? If the spool is in a static system (not open to the environment) how much water is in the air for the polymer to capture? I did some quick calculations and at 20C (my shop) and 100% RH there is roughly 0.015 kg (water)/kg of air from std vapor pressure curves. I keep my filament in approximately 1 m^3 sealed box (roughly) so there is approximately 0.018 kg of water (max @ 100% RH) to start based on vapor pressure data. It might be higher in hotter climates. I have 1 kg of silica gel in the box and there should be no problem removing this amount of water even if I open the box as that amount of silicon gel can hold 400 gm of water (approximately) before to needs to be recharged (I do this only 2X a year). If the material was exposed to a non-static condition open to the environment, the solution presented here would be useful. Diffusion of water into/out of polymers is rather slow at room temperature. It is imperative to keep filaments dry (although it doesn't need to be absolutely dry, i.e. <0.000001 % absorbed water) for consistent work, but simple solutions might be enough.

Reliability of desiccant "you don't know if it's good" you can buy silica gel with indicator in the balls themselves.

Do you think it is the material that makes them expensive or the relative low number produced? In other words, do you think the price will drop if/when it becomes more popular?

so amazing solution i love it !!!

I think you could actually use both. The silica gel pellets would do the major lifting while one of the cheap/smaller SS membranes would work to slowly dry out the pellets. Also, there’s nothing dangerous or unhealthy about indicating silica gel as long as you are using common sense. Don’t eat and don’t inhale. If that’s still a concern, use non-indicating silica gel which is completely non-toxic.

Maybe I'm p@ssy to cut into the AMS 😉, but what I found practical is to put the whole AMS to a large container with the lid open, and put aside with it 3 kg silica-based kitty-litter in socks. 😂 A fan also works helps inside.

So flammable O2 buildup and harmful Ozone production? Needs a bit more coverage than just a 2 second mention just before the end of the video. Incredibly irresponsible.

Would be interessting if one could get the neccessary power from the second Bambu Lab Bus connector on the backside of the AMS.

but if we use the electric version on a AMS which also costs over 300€ it seems to be a good deal to take the extra 150€ for the perfect dry filament storage with automatic print starts 👍

Wish there was a filament that were as strong as ABS and not as sensitive to water easy to print as pla and food safe. For the same price a pla.... and a flexible that also had the same property's

Well, what about Oxo degradation of the rool create by the concentration of oxygen? O2 is one of the main research to destroy plastic nowaday! You save on silica but take the risk to throw away your rools.

that chart, this is where you can let data lead you astray. It's at 77F(25C) and relative humidity. But what is the performance at actual drying temps. The material properties may be completely different, and one of the "lower" performing ones maybe better at high temps

a multitool tip when melting can be a problem is to cut a little at one corner, pull it back, cut a little more, pull it back, cut a little more going through, then cut along your line doing small cuts letting it cool and letting the debris fall away, If you work like this it will minimize friction and melting.

I’m only one week into 3-D printing, and I am amazed that the more I do, the more I am spending time on 3-D printing parts for the actual 3-D printer and trying to re-engineer bambu labs at some times over priced equipment. I love your idea, but confused about still needing to dry filament, such as carbon fiber before placing in an AMS unit before use. There has to be a better way of storing all of our filaments in a closed enclosure that keeps it dry and ready to go when needed without swapping spools, baking in an oven, drying, rebagging, respooling, etc. It’s starting to feel that I may end up wasting more time perfecting the 3-D printing process than actually 3-D printing

Didn't realize desiccant will lose it's ability overtime :( that's sad! no wonder my AMS won't get below 25%.
I thought just drying them works.

I have yet to see HOW dry is dry enough for filament and what hygrometers are actually accurate, can you clear that up in your next video please.

@CNCKitchen - Great content. You brought me to the idea to use both worlds: Silica inside the dry box to keep the filament dry, but using the solid-state module to regenerate the silica. This should allow to dry silica to a lower level, as it's possible to dry it by heating and furthermore, energy costs are lower. Additionally, there's no risk of side effects to the filament due to oxygen accumulation.

300 bucks folks

Awesome information. Video well done.

Can you make a comparison to a vacuum bucket? Doesn't need energy once evacuated and moisture should be around ~0.

I wonder if anyone is using these for telescope eyepieces (which ALWAYS fog up).

The silence makes it worth it. If the multimaterial box i ordered with a dehumidifier turns out to be loud, i will definetly mod it with this thing so i would not have to kick up the heat as often.

Inert gas purge

It's a waste of money, I bought it, installed it and there is practically no difference in AMS

The big question is for how long will it work and stay in good shape?

Its been long proven that PLA Doesnt need to be dried.....
ABS, ASA and PETG only really need to be dried if they have been stored in VERY humid places for a long time....
and even then, they usually dont suffer in the short term

I like the concept but don't like the thought of cutting my ams

i just print PLA and PETG and never had any issues with filament being to wet tbh. i always put it in a plastic bag after i use it

Why not use a small amount of indicating desiccant with a large amount of regular desiccant then just dry both once it starts indicating?

does it also need to be cleaned periodically?

It kinda reminds me of a peltier. Cool and absorb water on one side, heat and vaporize water on the other. If only we can find a way to move the water through the peltier 🤔

No mnetion of the hydrogen you produce? The oxygen inside might form ozone, yes, but one better not play around with a lit cigarette close to the outside of that dehumidifier. It produces hydrogen. Sure hydrogen is small and not staying in place, but the sheer safety precautions we have to take at work wherever hydrogen is produced even in very small amounts is quite a lot.
Another thing: i have no clue how the AMS is equipped, but your comment about moving air for this dehumidifier to work better lets me to the belief that the AMS has no fan for moving air around inside. See your silica gel would most likely also take more moisture out of the air in a shorter time when you actively move the air. That's normal for dehumidification.
And lastely: if you have the same absolute % of moisture in a certain volume of air and you increase the temperature, the relative humidity should drop because warmer air can hold more moisture.

I'll put it into my core one.

If you use your AMS regularly, 4W is nothing, as you note, so consider it if it will always be on. It's roughly the same current as drawn by 4 smart switches in my home and the benefit is clearly phenomenal. However, if you are using your AMS irregularly, then vacuum pack your spools between runs instead, because you're going to be swapping spools between materials and colours anyway.

i bet if this tech was sold in higher volumes it would become WAY WAY cheaper

hi can Car Dehumidifier Bags in diy filament dryer will it work

Macht eine Feuchtigkeitsanzeige überhaupt Sinn in einer befüllten Box? SO für zwischendurch sagt der Wert ja garnix aus wenn das Filament einiges aufsaugt. Oder ist das nur um festzustellen das alles dadrin durchfeuchtet ist weil die Feuchtigkeit in der Luft steigt?

200-700 Euro for 1 membrane... LOL

You should benchmark filaments dried with your dryer vs the commercial dryers

I store my filament in vacuum packed mylar bags (2-gallon for 1kg...yeah, mixing my measurements, sue me) with a desiccant pack inside. Use a dryer as a feed. Will usually run the heat for a few hours before printing. This all works well.

These things, if cheap and easy, I would try. Still use the heated feed as it helps with both moisture and printing, but add in a membrane to suck residual moisture away. Especially for nylon.

I've long thought that all of these dehumidifying solutions would be more effective with a small fan in the enclosure to stir the air around.

Good info:
Im thinking of using a goldenrod/dry-rod (the ones used pew-pew safes) in a custom enclosure for larger rolls of filament. I'm thinking of adding a fan inside also to circular the air. I'm just wondering how to do the ventilation.