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.
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.
Haven't bothered with one of those since getting just the beads is probably way cheaper.
I store my filament in an Ikea Samla box with added weather strips to decently seal it and just added 1kg of beads (orange to green color change) with a spacer grid to the bottom of the box. Constantly keeps the RH in the box around 20%, and I only have to dry the beads 1-2x per year (in the oven).
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.
I've used up my filament fast enough to not have to dry it, but if you're storing it in a decently sealed box with this thing or desiccant, what happens that the filament would need to be dried in a dehydrator?
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!
They work really great for keeping dry filament dry, and seem to help drying out wet filament to a degree. I use a food dehydrator to dry wet filament, then store my dry filament in a plastic tub with one of these. They recharge decently quick, and I don't need to recharge them very often. I put one in a bin with 4 spools of filament and recharge every few months or so.
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?
you can dry them back out in an oven, or in a food dehydrator. I dry my desiccant out when I put filament through the dehydrator (the dehydrator takes out most of the moisture- especially on things like TPU or PETG- the desiccant takes the rest out- and keeps it out)
I didn't realize that the desiccant beads were able to be dried out. I thought they were single use. I have a bunch in the bottom of a Rubbermaid tote with a rubber foam sealed lid along with my filament. I don't know how to tell when the beads are "full" and started thinking about a more recyclable approach. After thinking about it a bit, I should probably get a humidity meter.
The manufacturer of the desiccant beads I got strongly advised to not microwave them since the very sudden change from bound liquid water to steam can lead to the beads bursting/cracking. Slowly drying them in an oven at the recommended temperature (can depend by manufacturer, mine said 110-120°C) is the better choice.
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.
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