The effect of humidity on filament for 3D printers can cause some serious printing problems…
All filament-types are, more or less, hygroscopic, meaning they absorb moisture from the air.
This has consequences, often destructively bad, for the quality of the prints…
In storing filament you can eliminate moisture-absorption by combining silica-sachets with
vacuum-enclosure, giving your print a good start, however, during a generally long printing proces,
filament will be exposed to the air...
With containers and dryers you can reduce quality problems considerably while printing, but
slow moving and exposed filament is insufficient and the energy consumption and fire hazard
of a filament-dryer left unattended for many hours, is dangerous…
After considering different options and combining existing products, i was still experiencing
difficulty and it seemed to me that, to gain control over these moisture-related problems, i had
to make my own tightly tailored printer-specific solution…
So i designed a container with a transit channel that seals filament from the environment as
well as possible, but also absorbs ingressing moisture in a reservoir filled with silica-granules,
placed in the lid…
NO (!) moisture-related problem has occurred since the installation of the filament-dispenser…
No layer-separation, no brittle print or blob-forming due to humidity…Combined with a simple
drying & storage-protocol, this printer add-on proved to be a problem-discarder…
For me, this solution worked effectively, and although the design is specific for the UM2 Ext+,
i wanted to share my findings with the community and be helpful in tackling a nasty problem…
I Hope the images and files are self-explanatory, if you have any questions let me know…
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