Has anybody used one of these mini “dehumidifiers” to dry out filament as a substitute for buying a bunch of the desiccant beads? My filament seems OK, but I could do better to keep it dry.

  • hiyaaaaa23@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    FYI AFAIK desiccants don’t actually dry out the filament, they just prevent it from getting any wetter. To truly dry it, you could get a filament dehydrator or use a modified food dehydrator (among other options).

    With that said, you might be able to use those, personally I’d just recommend collecting those “do not eat” packets that come with things and throwing those into your drybox.

    They’re usually just little cloth packages of desiccant beads.

    Personally, I store my filament in ziplock bags with a couple of those packets and it seems to work well for the most part. I also have a dehydrator (modified food dehydrator) though, which I use on filaments that were left out.

  • Feath3rblade@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    I’ve used these in a drybox to keep filament dry, and they work really well for that, but to actually dry filament I use what amounts to a modified food dehydrator. You really need heat and airflow to get moisture out of already wet filament. If you don’t have a food dehydrator you can use, you can also try an oven, but be careful of temperature fluctuations which could cause it to get too hot and melt your filament.

  • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I use them in my safe, they work well for that but would probably do fine for filament. I like that you can just plug them in to dry them out, pretty convenient!

  • marcos@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    On a related question, is “desiccant refresher” a thing, as in a reasonably small device that will heat a small quantity of those beads to something like 120ºC while keeping a slow air flow?

    • bakavic@latte.isnot.coffee
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      1 year ago

      I had good results with microwaving a bunch of beads in a microwave safe non-plastic bowl on mid-low.

      It drives out the moisture, and you can see the bead colour indicators change.

      But be careful, they’re hot!

      • ffhein@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Also if you’re using blue indicating silica gel, NPS recommends that you wear gloves, lab coat, safety goggles and respirator with HEPA when handling it. I’m guessing they’e talking about larger quantities, but you probably want to minimise any amount of cobalt chloride you inhale or get in contact with your skin.