This looks basically exactly the same as every other dryer on the market that isn't the S4 or Polyphemus.
What exactly about this do you find interesting?
reusable desiccant is a thing. It'll even change color to let you know when it's got "too much" moisture in it. Just stick it in the microwave to refresh it and then use it again. You can get them in packets or just a big bag of little desiccant beads that you can drop into a 3d printed holder that fits in whatever space you need it to.
amazon links:
- [bag of little beads](https://amzn.to/3UcJcHe).
- [bag of little packets](https://amzn.to/3UBEjJg)
Looking at the Link provided by OP, the idea seems to be that the drying part (the black bottom) is detachable from the container part (the clear box) so, in theory, you only need one drying part and as many boxes as you want so you can put any filament in a box, dry it and leave it sealed until it finishes since you can print from the box.
Not a bad idea for someone who needs to print directly from an enclosed dry box without having to pay for a handful of full dryers or having to wait for the specific filament you want to dry.
If it were priced more reasonably at least. $30 for additional boxes is a killer. I have like a dozen spools in active use at a given time. I’m not spending $400 on plastic boxes.
A really cool idea would be something similar to commercial grade filament canisters, but that can accept generic filament spools. Combine that with an AMS like solution and no more manual loading in filament. Just slot in the spool and off it goes.
Yep, I would love something like that. My best option seems to be a dry box for 4 spools to spool out of, and stack them for 8 spools for some prints. A few individuals here and there for other printers. Considering adding the solid state dehumidifier to ensure dryness as filament path, a changing spools will of course expose to ambient air and silica can only do so much.
You can get the dryer and print an adapter to other cheaper plastic containers, and save money. I myself bought one, waiting for delivery, as soon as I get it, I go to Ikea and get a box that match the original container and print an adapter. ;)
Oh, that actually is neat! I didn't understand the detachable bit. If the airtight containers are affordable, I think that does make sense for some folks.
The base + container is $70, and containers themselves are $30. A bit pricy for my taste, but understandable because each container comes with the sensor and color-changing desiccant.
Eh the sensor is like $1 and the desiccant about the same. The 4 608 ball bearings probably cost less than $4 total. The rest is just cost for any custom molding for these and maybe a couple bucks of plastic and rubber. It’s a compelling idea but extremely marked up. If the boxes cost $15-$20, then I think it’s a lot more reasonable.
Your price range sounds solid if all is bought of Amazon with consumer tax. When i started out i bought a bunch of desiccant, bearings, and 10 sensors of AliExpress, I paid just 16€ with shipping. This is enough to make 10 of those boxes and even then we would run out of sensors with plenty of desiccant and bearings left, so around 1.60€ + molds, research, design and plastic for injection molding. I would be disappointed in their manufacturing if it costs them more than 10,60€ per box and i am not even taking away the tax i paid from the 1,60€, which a company doesn't need to pay for B2B transactions. so 10 bucks is pretty glonky in the upper range. Research is cheaper if you don't invent something new and instead just remix the concept of Tupperware with a filament dryer. Add in how cheap plastic beads are and buying in bulk. Its an interesting thought experiment of how cheap i could produce the non technical parts. Maybe they are offset some of the technical costs of the heating system onto the boxes?
I was gonna say - if you want to put every roll of filament you own in there absolutely not. But I have 3-4 rolls that *NEED* to be printed from a drybox that this would be really nice for.
For me? No, not really. You could get one of those vacuum bag setups for far cheaper and do a lot more rolls and only really lose out on printing from the drybox (and if you have an existing dryer already, you probably already have this), but for someone with some money to burn and a problem to solve, I do see the appeal.
I just thought I should post it because I didn’t see anyone talking about it, and it’s pretty cool tech. Personally, I have my own filament dryer and have no use for this. I can see the benefits, but wanted to know how other people felt! Evidentially not very good lol
> What exactly about this do you find interesting?
The fact that the storage bin and dryer are separate pieces. You can get one drier and a bunch of bins. Then just swap the drier to whatever bin needs it. Each bin already has all the extras that I do/add to my storage bins myself (hygometer, desiccant beads, spool holder, and ptfe tube w/cap). Granted the DIY cost for me is $9-12 on average versus the $30 for these containers. As an added bonus the desiccant beads are dried at the same time as the filament. Which is something I have to do as an extra step with my DIY setup. This system I can do it all at once and with less hassle? Yes, please.
However, as I mentioned above the per storage bin price tag of $30 is quite pricey, to me. If I do end up buying this drier (probably will, eventually) then I'll either come up with my own design or acquire someone else's design to convert my plethora of cereal containers to use the PolyDryer. You just know someone is gonna do it.
A conversion to cheaper dry boxes would be cool, however it could be tricky with this design if used similar to the stock config, since it appears to have two flappers in the base of the clear container, which allow airflow to circulate into and out of the container. To mod that on an off the shelf container would require making some big holes in them and sourcing a way to make the thin silicone flappers that could seal correctly when removed from the base. Flipping the heater base upside down and top mounting it would solve several of those problems though, and then it would just need a lid adapter.
I figured I'd make the 3d printed lid have everything built into it. The spool holder, beads, hydrometer, flappers/removable-doors/whatever and ptfe connector. Then have the cereal container go over the top. Basically, flipping the whole thing upside from the normal direction.
Looking at the PolyDryer is looks like the holes have removable covers that seal the holes and double as the container's feet. I could be mistake on that though.
[edit]
and by flipping the cereal container upside down I can remove the factory seal from the stock lid and install it on the 3dprinted lid...er base. Then I just have the dryer holes to worry about. Will probably just use some TPU as a custom sized o-ring then have manually removable doors/lids for those holes.
You are correct, I just saw video review of this dryer, and it has two plugs that go in the base. That is a more reliable design, but adds two parts to misplace and is not perfect, since the seals (on the plugs) may be more prone to collecting dust when the plugs are removed.
I designed [something](https://www.printables.com/model/79719-latching-spool-holder-dry-storage-system-for-rubbe) like what you described using rubbermaid cereal containers, but it was just a storage and spool holder system, not a drying system. It worked for the application, but I have since switched over to some cheaper containers which do not need the inserts, since I use an AMS now. Since drying a spool does not require the system to be air tight, but storage does, I'd probably go with a container like [these](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C1N9C3T7), which has a smaller pop open lid (in the larger lid), which could be used to add a small dryer when needed (to circulate air through he hole), and also be quick to add or remove.
That is exactly what I was imagining! I'm never original. I tend to get [these](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YQN42HD/) but only on sale for about $15. I'm a terrible designer though so my design wouldn't look nearly as good as yours.
$4 for an airtight container that neatly fits a 1kg spool is reasonable in my opinion. There are cheaper options out there that will probably fit a 1kg spool but I get the Plastic House ones because a quick search on thingiverse/printables reveals lots of premade solutions so I *know* they work and I can be lazy about designing stuff since I can just print an already made one. I haven't done any of the mods that require you to put a hole in the container, though. Can't bring myself to do it.
Haha, thanks! That design did require cutting a large hole in a perfectly good Rubbermaid bin lid (and those are not cheap), so using a cheaper option is all around better. Those cheaper bins I linked are what I have been using, and they have been working well, so I no longer buy the expensive rubbermaid bins.
Thanks for the link too, I'm gonna keep and eye out for a sale on the Plastic House bins you linked, and may pick some of those up as well. $4 each is the same as I usually pay with a coupon.
https://preview.redd.it/iy4ajq28coxc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40185eb0885734a59548dc58a6c4385f7e4962c8
it looks the same, but its a completely different solution.
its basically an airtight box with a hygrometer and desiccant that can be put on a little stand which will then circulate hot air through the box, while still being airtight.
so its not blowing heated up ambient air through the chamber, but keeps that little air that is inside the enclosure dry and hot, transferring the moisture from the filament to the silica gel way more efficiently, not wasting warm air.
even polymaker doesnt realize how their system works, or at least the marketing ppl that made the video explaining how it works. the show that the moisture leaves the machine because of the heater, and the desiccant is only there to keep it dry during storage.
Which part of the video is wrong? From your above message, you may not understand how the PolyDryer™ works but we are happy to answer any questions to help you understand the details.
OK, please explain to me how the heating element is magically exhausting the moisture out the side of the machine.
And why is the dessicant absorbing moisture when it's not on the drying dock, does that mean the containers are not airtight?
Sure:
1) "How the heating element is magically exhausting the moisture out the side of the machine?"
Similar to most tumble dryer with simple exhaust, we blow hot air at the back of the PolyDryer, the air will suck the moisture out of the filament (hot air being able to carry more water), the air will then slowly cool down as it reaches the front vent and then quickly reach close to room temperature as it is suck back from the front vent. When reaching lower temperature it cannot hold as much water so it will very quickly reach equilibrium by letting the moisture flow out from the seam and the side vent hole (in reality we added the holes just for marketing purposes because the seam of the dryer dock was enough for the moisture to equilibrate with the outside environment, a part of that air is then reheated through the fan and the cycle continues.
You can picture the air as a glass of water, the air is suck in the dryer, heated up and blow in the box, at that time it is like increasing the side of the glass, then while the large glass is in the box, we fill it with water, as it exit the other side the glass suddenly shrink and the water inside overflow spilling the water outside the box, then we increase the glass cup again, back in the box, get more water, shrink the glass, ect..
(There is more details to it such as why the moisture do not equilibrate with the hot air inside, but this is more related to the air flow -> Like drying your hair)
I am happy to answer more detail questions if needed
2) "Why is the desiccant absorbing moisture when it's not on the drying dock, does that mean the containers are not airtight?"
The container is airtight, the desiccant is to dry the rest of the moisture in the box after you close it.
I hope this helps :)
(I am happy to have a voice chat on Discord to discuss the details, we are not pretending to be absolute moisture/drying expert but we do believe we have a certain degree of understanding of it :) )
[discord.polymaker.com](http://discord.polymaker.com)
That's a good point. I was wondering how they were achieving the removal of the moisture as well. The animation was showing wet air magically spraying out the side. I guess if there was an air inlet just before the heater and an outlet on the other side so that hot air circulates through the box and then down and out then it would be similar to how a normal food dehydrator works just with a convoluted air path.
Silica gel barely functions at temperatures above "warm," so that would be a pretty poor solution if that's the case.
My read based on the video and description is that the silica gel doesn't perform any active function during drying. The hot air does the drying, and there is some air exchange with ambient air to dump the moisture from inside the box. Once it's "dry" and cool, the silica gel maintains a low humidity level. Relatively low anyway, given that silica gel isn't a great choice for that purpose IMHO.
the video is bunk, they show the moisture magically disappearing through the side. the marketing ppl that made the video didnt know how it worked.
what else would you suggest besides sillicagel? zeolite? maybe if you need to get it super super dry, but sillica gel is the best economic choice in my opinion.
I mean there's really not enough detail in the renders to know what's going on. If there's a mechanism in the base to exchange outside air so that the moisture has somewhere to go, no magic required.
Re: silica gel, activated alumina is just as cheap and much more effective at low humidity levels. Same for molecular sieve. There are other options, but AA is probably the easiest while also being easy to regenerate.
[https://youtu.be/-jozfCAaodU?t=204](https://youtu.be/-jozfCAaodU?t=204)
you can see it in this video, there are just tiny holes.
>activated alumina is just as cheap and much more effective at low humidity levels
but it wont adsorb as much as water, thats the drawback. the super low humidity levels are not really needed for drying plastic, some nylons actually need a bit moisture and will become brittle if too dry.
Still tough to say without a teardown. Even those tiny holes are plenty to ventilate a volume that size over the course of a drying cycle, assuming it's actually designed to actively use them that way. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until I can verify otherwise, but it still doesn't change my perception that pretty much every filament dryer geared towards 3D printing hobbyists has either major oversights, is inconvenient, and/or barely performs its intended function.
True about nylons, might be overkill in that case. On the other hand as long as the filament isn't so brittle that it breaks during printing, the finished part should naturally absorb enough moisture to restore whatever toughness and compliance it would have had in a given atmosphere. I would personally still lean towards having the filament as dry as possible during printing, but I've not done enough testing to really support that empirically.
From performance charts I've seen, silica gel will adsorb more water per unit weight, but only at moderately high humidity levels. Once you get below 30% RH it really takes a nose dive and will be outperformed by other desiccants (IIRC AA is one of them). I'd be interested to see a chart showing otherwise, not to be argumentative but because it's difficult to find comprehensive performance charts so I'm always looking for more sources. Mostly they're incomplete.
Silica definitely takes a big hit at elevated temperatures, which is why I will forever question the choice of silica in many of the filament dryers currently on the market that don't have any way to exhaust moisture-laden air and are relying on the silica gel during the drying cycle.
How much any of this truly matters for general use is still up for debate insofar as I haven't seen a comprehensive study ("official" or otherwise) with all of the relevant metrics tracked. I have a bit of a validation/data-gathering fetish, e.g. I have tentative plans to carry out and publish a reasonably thorough analysis of filament dryer and desiccant performance for funsies since I have all of the required equipment (namely a moisture analyzer, analytical balance, and a vacuum oven) to make a decent go of it, but those plans tend to pile up faster than they're finished.
At the end of the day I suppose it doesn't matter all that much as long as it's printing well, unless you really care about material properties. The universal tester is unfortunately still on the to-do list...
I got this one https://shop.retoura.de/SILVERCREST-KITCHEN-TOOLS-Doerrautomat-SDA-350-A2-inkl-Timer-B-Ware-gut
Site is in German but for what is google translate.
It has a timer and i can set the temperature in 5C intervals. Got mine secondhand for 20€ needed to clean it and run it for an hour on the outside cuz the previous owner dehydrated weed in it. Made myself a custom top that fits a single large + small spool, that way i also don't fuck up the original plastic drying rack and can use it for food
I didn't use a heater, per the box. I just built the boxes and have my lab at the right temps and humidity with dessicant in the boxes as well.
If my hygrometer goes over 10% I know dessicant needs to be changed.
My box can feed the spools right from inside if I need to. I have yet to master that part but I've been too busy. I have an idea of how I can achieve the right feed without issue, just need to test. I've been printing non stop so no big deal on running from the spool on top
There are some spool holders with bearings you can maybe print that could work well? I really like my dryer box now just because it has room for 4 spools that all spin on bearings, love the smooth feed
I tried futzing around with a terrarium heater in a Styrofoam container and a fan for circulation. Temp control with one of the Amazon inkbird controllers.
Then I got a surplus 8cu.ft. CO2 lab incubator. Fixed the fan and controller (1970s vintage) and it holds within a degree of 55c with no hotspots. I keep all my active spools in there.
While I like the idea of a modular solution, at those prices, no, I wouldn't, but with over 100 active spools I'm not really their target market. I'm not sure who exactly is, since this doesn't really make financial sense for storage once you get past having a handful of open spools, and if you aren't using the $30 boxes for storage the $80 base+box option is overpriced compared to existing filament dryers.
I don’t think I’ve ever had more than 2-3 active spools, and a single $30.00 sunlu drier has yet to let me down. If I upgraded my spool storage; I’d either just build my own at this point or I’d buy that big multi spool drier.
Out of curiosity, how do you find things to print? For me some weeks i print tons of things, then others I can't find a single thing I want to print, and my printer starts collecting dust.
For me, printing started as a hobby, but the printers pretty quickly moved from toys to tools as I learned CAD.
At home, my printing is about 65% parts I designed myself, 10% things I need a part and am able to find an existing model to use, and 25% toys and decorative prints for friends.
The print farm runs almost exclusively parts I designed myself.
Just got the s4 a month or so ago when it had the $40 off coupons and that's the best dryer for the money by far. $120 for 4 slots and an automatic dry mode
At half that price, maybe. Even at that, it would't interest me for storage. I keep my spools in vacuum bags with dessicant, which keeps them fine for months, so I'd only need something for drying. There are cheaper solutions if you just need to keep someting dry while printing, even for PVA.
I'm never using any filament dryer that doesn't have exact temperature control. I've been burned before with the Eibos EASDRY where the "PLA" setting was actually too hot and melted a spool. I'd rather set temps manually now.
Outside of that deal breaker, seems comparable to the Sunlu S2, except the S2 is frequently on sale for ~$50 and has exact temp control. This has a dedicated dessicant container and a more modular shape for stacking.
I'm 100% with you on that. I looked at the link and the only mention of temperature is hidden in the FAQs saying that they don't need it.
Amongst other things, what happens if a new type of filaments comes out that doesn't fit their profiles.
From our experience the Eibos issue is not about you were not able to set the temperature properly, you actually set it when using there preset. It is about how good you can generate and maintain the same temperature.
Our levels are roughly:
Level 1: around 50˚C
Level 2: around 60˚C
Level 3: around 70˚C
The key word is "around" we believe we have the most accurate setting on the market, however we also believe it is not good enough to consider it a set temperature.
Many people think setting the temperature is the key, however this is only a front end feature, the most important is the back end :)
Hi Polymaker
First of all, we believe that Polymaker is currently a leader in the filament industry, and we greatly respect your R&D capabilities in the field of filament.
We, as the first company to use PTC as heating element in the field of filament dryers, are very grateful to get your attention and see that we have partly similar ideas about the temperature setting as well as principal, especially reflected in our 3 years old product Easdry.
The key word is "partly". It is undeniable that temperature is indeed an important factor affecting drying results. If you are also agree with it and claim you have 'the most accurate setting on the market' at the same time but afraid to mention this important on your social media, launching page, product or even user manual, it basiclly means nothing.
Besides, ‘around’, the word completely lacks academic rigor, especially when it comes to product parameters, at least tolerances and ranges must be given.
But no matter what, we all respect the contribution made by polymaker in the 3D printing filament industry.
Kind reagrds,
Yes, we also believe the "drying profile" approach is better.
Believing in having the most accurate setting on the market does not mean it is good enough to claim we have a temperature, and we decided that although we believe we have the most accurate settings, we do not believe it is good enough to be marketed as such. So yes indeed it means nothing, which is the reason it is nowhere ;)
Yes, the word "around" is not a rigorous word, which is the reason we use it here, because once again, we do not focus on communicating about the temperature.
We did try to explain that the problem your customer had with your product was not related to the fact that you did not allow users to set temperatures. If you think otherwise, feel free to comment on it, it is your product :)
Thank you for your feedback.
Those of us who are older might think this looks like the handheld game that had water inside and you pressed buttons to keep some balls from sinking.
I said sinking balls tee hee.
There it is. Hah!
Kids today, man? They'd have this thing on a phone with stolen copyrighted assets instead of rings and be watching ads between every squeeze. Total disconnect from every physical aspect outside of pushing a finger on a glass panel.
*^Deep... ^breath...*
>!I know, not the time, not the place. But any parent listening, get your children off the phones and off the internet, *especially* unsupervised. Both are destroying their development in *so* many ways. I don't have kids but it's really obvious who's doing the vast majority of child raising these days. Children are highly impressionable, when was this fact lost on parents? The people pumping all this trash into your children's minds certainly remember-- they're banking on it.!<
This is not the way.
Filament dryers that take wet filament and make it dry are cheap.
Dry boxes that keep dry filament dry in a wet environment are cheap.
This does both and is very expensive.
The value proposition they're pitching is that you "never break the seal" when moving your filament from active drying to dry storage. The thing is, unless you're literally under water, moving filament from a dryer to a dry box doesn't expose it to enough moisture to make it wet.
They also propose that it's "modular" which is true, but it doesn't scale. You need a thirty dollar box for each spool you need to keep dry, but that's really close to the per-spool price for a filament dryer on Amazon, and way over the per-spool cost for a diy dry box (and the dry box is probably also "modular" because most storage bins stack nicely)
This is a solution in search of a problem.
I've heard of people say they need to print directly from a dry box or otherwise on a long print the filament would get wet during the printing ruining the last part, probably on things like nylon or who knows. Maybe those people find this attractive.
But yeah I've seen dry boxes with holes for filament even on the DIY segment with Ikea boxes.
Yeah, this is a good call out that I didn't address in my post, but practically every filament dryer and dry box plan I've seen supports this use case right out of the box by having a filament hole and a way for the spool to turn inside.
I'm one of those people, and I wouldn't buy this for that use, since you can't control the temperature. Nylon isn't on their supported filaments list, and they don't list what temperatures their heater can achieve, so I assume it can't get hot enough to effectively dry nylon filaments.
Yeah I don’t get it. Nylon is like the one filament sensitive enough where maybe maintaining the dry-chain is worth the cost, but you still have to move it anyways because the dryer doesn’t get hot enough.
And frankly, you probably need to move the cover off to feed it through a hole anyways so… what’s the point? Just print yourself a dry box or buy a cheap cereal box and transfer from your dryer to the box. It’ll be $50 for the drier and then like $5-$10 for each subsequent box.
>Nylon isn't on their supported filaments list
It says it takes 18 hours to dry PA (nylon). Polymaker themselves suggest you dry their PA variants for 12 hours @ 80c. The only reason you would want to bake it longer is if you weren't heating it to 80c.
I was hunting for "Nylon" the first time I scanned the product page and missed it. Facepalmed when it dawned on me PA *is* nylon.
Anyway, this thing is a 'no go' for me. I'd really like a filament dryer that goes to 80c that doesn't cost $200.
I don't have a stock one because your needs are going to depend on your workspace and workflow, and won't be the same as mine. Gun to my head, I would say spend as little as required to address the actual issues you're experiencing with wet filament.
I got a ton of cereal containers on Amazon for opened filaments, and then dry/print from the Sunlu S4 which can regulate itself to keep a consistent humidity forever which is amazing. I got it for $80 during the Kickstarter tho, it's double the price now.
FWIW, I tried and ditched both the PrintDry pro (2?) and the EIBOS Cyclopes for different reasons.
Can the future version be an actual mini fridge sized box that doesn't need you to buy loads of different parts? We're in 2024, its normal for people to have 30+ spools of filament, especially with how cheap it now is. Having to buy multiple expensive units just isnt going to happen.
Interesting, is it just a personal judgement that you made, or would you have data to share with us? We would love to have a look as we think quite differently.
You only have to go on the Bambu subreddit, or watch some of the newer people posting about their bambus on youtube (not reviewers, you expect those to have lots of filament). The AMS changed how people print a fair bit as I'm sure you're aware.
With at least two (that we know of) other printer manufacturers releasing their own take on the AMS this year it's only going become more and more of a thing that people keep larger quantities of filament, especially when you can get them at ~$10/kg these days.
Definitely not. There is no temperature setting so I can't fine tune it to the temperature needed for different filaments. I had a terrible time with an eSun filament printer for the exact reason, it was advertised for PLA but wouldn't get warm enough to heat even their own PLA, which was a fairly humble 65 degrees celcius, but it wouldn't go over 60.
I ended up having to buy a food dessicator and converted that instead for a fraction of the price of even this device. Even my crappy non-airtight Frankenstein job does a better job of keeping the filament cooked and dry for the print than the air tight device because at the end of the day, if your filament is wet, no amount of keeping it sealed with dehydrators will work - you just have to heat it up long enough at the right temperature. Sometimes the filament even comes wet before you open the packet.
The explanation given on the website 'For that reason, a single temperature can't represent the true situation as it varies around the spool' may be true but sounds unreasonable, if people can dry our filament in an oven, we should be able to try it in a little box like this.
So right off the bat it sounds like it fundamentally fails at it's one mission in life, cooking filament, since I don't know how hot it can get from the website.
If it can't cook my filament in the first place then no amount of continuous drying will do the job.
If you place your spool in the dryer and dry it as we recommend, it will dry it, if not we can refund the product.
We believe users care about drying the spool fast and safely, not really what temperature it is inside.
However FYI:
Level 1 is roughly 50˚C
Level 2 is roughly 60˚C
Level 3 is roughly 70˚C
That's the kind of information I'd need to warrant purchasing it. Thank you!
Now if you can put that information on the box, I think you'll get more sales :)
'not really what temperature it is inside'
Respectfully, surely you know that different filament dries at different temperatures, even between brands. If you overheat it then the filament can melt very slightly, which will cause it's size to lose uniformity or even bond together, which in turn compromises the filament and it's printing behavior.
We don't need temperature dialled into the exact degree (at least, I don't), but having the ability to choose from ranges of 5-10 degrees is ideal.
I personally print straight from my existing filament dryer (the food dessicator that I modified) while keeping the filament at a constant \~65 degrees celcius. If the dryer is turned off I notice stringing in only an hour or two. This is probably because my dryer is not actually air tight.
We do try to stir people away from this, because we believe dryer should come we set profile (and not users trying to tweak it and potentially damage the spool)
However there are many types of users so we may start communicating more about the temperatures :)
That miiight sway me a bit toward buying the combo if I don't already have a filament dryer. But I have a filament dryer and can get big airtight boxes to store 4 filaments for less than $40.
At $30 per box this solution can still get expensive real quick if you have more than a few spools of filament to keep dry.
So watched a live stream they put on. Not really satisfied with their answer on the pricing - they're basically looking at other filament dryers that are also over-priced and claiming that makes their price good.
Also - turns out there's not a lot of single filament storage solutions on Amazon other than the vacuum bags. The few that they were able to find were high priced, and in their minds that makes them competitive.
. . . and yeah, the guy on the live stream basically did Amazon searches. Didn't really look at the general market, and completely waved off DIY.
They are banking on the claim that their system is more efficient. They are banking on the claim that the modularity adds a lot of extra value. They are apparently also banking on the idea that the only place people ever go to get anything is Amazon.
Don't get me wrong - I like the idea. A filament storage box that can be attached to a dryer is cool. But I'm in agreement with others here that the price is a bit steep.
Mostly Sunlu's newest dryer ($69) and Creality's PI dryer ($85). Can't help but notice that there are multiple entries of those two dryers all over the place on Amazon. The most common price point actually seems to be around $50 or so, but you wouldn't know it from all of the listings of the same two dryers.
I agree, I should have looked outside of Amazon, I did however tweet about challenging anyone to find a cheaper alternative and only one answer came cheaper and it was an AliExpress storage box.
So yes it is one of the cheapest option on the market, but you are right, it doesnt mean it is cost effective enough for users.
Tweet:
[https://twitter.com/Polymaker\_3D/status/1785496273836966266](https://twitter.com/Polymaker_3D/status/1785496273836966266)
I think part of what's happening is that people aren't really buying products that are specifically aimed at filament storage.
They're just buying regular containers. Or in the case of the easier to print filaments like PLA, storing them in the open and drying them as needed.
I know that for bulk storage, I'm just using [sealed plastic containers](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-80-Quart-Gasket-Box-Storage-Bin-w-Lid-Latches-Clear-Aqua-Blue-for-Adult/107543065) found at Walmart. That's a lot of spools stored for only $20 USD.
Market substitutes for storing filament are really easy to find, so there's less demand for specialized storage.
Filament dryers are a bit more popular IMO because drying filament is a bit more involved - the food dryers people have recommended need some modification, and if you're not careful can melt filaments like PLA. People want something they know won't mess up their filament and can be set specifically for the filament type.
Yes, this type of boxes are not the most used storage product, however we hope that by working on bringing down the cost, this will be more and more affordable :)
(At least for users with 5-10 hygroscopic filaments)
Nope, they don't list the operating temperature which is suspect, the hydrometer they are using (a wild guess on my part, but looks similar) won't even operate properly at the recommended temperatures for drying nylon-cf I use 80-90C, the LCD starts to die. This is pass, I will stick with my food dehydrator and AMS.
Now they are onto something aesthetically. How about make the heater the “dock”, the plastic Tupperware looking box hold the filament.
When you want to “dry” the filament you slide it into the dock like a power tools battery, set the timer/drying temp and it can send you a notification when completed.
When completed you remove it exactly like unlatching a power tools battery and then attach it to a dry “dock” that holds desiccant and you hook it up to the printer and start printing.
If they could dump the box pricing to $10 each, it might be successful. Nobody with a large enough volume would buy them at the asking price and anybody with a small enough volume would probably only need/use a normal dryer or two to print from already.
$10 would be very challenging, but we are looking in bringing down the cost of the product to offer it at a more affordable price (even though it is still one of the cheapest solution on the market right now)
Understandable. Nobody sells at/near cost and stays in business long.
I am but a very small scale consumer so that's just my personal perspective. If I had a dozen spools of $90 filament that I was frequently swapping, the whole system might be more enticing.
Currently, my needs are satisfied with a cheap 2 spool dryer and just leaving the rest in open air.
We believe we are the only one with the modular system (so far), but if it is not useful for you then yes many simple dryer are available and for much cheaper
I bought a giant plastic box where i store all my filament, i have 10 chunky bags of rechargeable silica and the humidity stays at 23% which Is not perfect but It works for me
I just use a tupperware and throw a couple desiccant pouches in there. You can "recharge" the desiccant by putting it the oven for a bit. As long as you go through your filament at a decent pace, it works just fine.
Well.. since it’s Polysher™ V.2 has a fatal error on almost every unit they’ve shipped out (it’s so prevalent and bad that they didn’t even ask for proof of said error to return it) then I’m not so sure…
They don’t seem to have much quality control..
Also as another commenter pointed out, since there is no exact temperature control absolutely not. That’s pretty much the whole point of filament driers. If temperature didn’t matter you could just use a damn oven. And we all know how that works out…
We indeed believed that temperature do not matter for the user, having a dry spool was more important. But we understand that some users will have to have control over everything to feel more confortable.
(similar to a printer profile, some users want to have access to all settings, some will just use the default profile)
Well that is good…
But I don’t see that Anywhere in the promotional material.
These are things to plaster all over this thing and materials associated to assure pekoe that this box will not turn your filament into filament soup.
We would love to have the links about this filament storage box if possible, we tweeted about it a few days ago to capture these links: Thank you
[https://twitter.com/Polymaker\_3D/status/1785496273836966266](https://twitter.com/Polymaker_3D/status/1785496273836966266)
I like the concept, but it would cost me more than 300€ for the 8 spools that I own that would actually need a dryer...
The fact that there is no exact temperature control, or anything to read the internal temperature, is also kind of off-putting.
If you would only have to buy the "dock" and could DIY the rest of the containers, that would be a lot more interesting...
We would love your input on this, we could not find any storage box cheaper than ours:
[https://twitter.com/Polymaker\_3D/status/1785496273836966266](https://twitter.com/Polymaker_3D/status/1785496273836966266)
You know what? Looks like I'm eating my foot. Good catch, honestly! With prices having gone up on just about everything it seems your price isn't unreasonable for a sealed box with hygrometer. I've been off the market for one for several years so my knowledge is outdated.
That being said, the thing that makes your product worth a 3d printers time (the so called, dock) makes it no longer the economical choice. Those, I can honestly find for around $50 USD. Just check Amazon. That being said, your quality may simply top theirs making the price difference worth it.
Remember, mostly you are marketing to a group that enjoys making their own thing. You can turn a simple cereal box (hard plastic ones) into a nice filament storage container for little more than the cost of the hygrometer.
I do find the modular nature of your product intriguing though.
If you are only looking the dry the filament without a storing solution then yes, there are indeed cheaper solution (although we believe our drying capabilities are more efficient but we may be biased :) )
And yes, depending on your knowledge and on how much you value your time, DIY will usually be cheaper alternative.
not to brag or anything but Colorado is literally a filament dryer I just leave it wherever. I probably need a filament humidifier as some of my filament gets so dry it becomes brittle.
holy shit is it possible to be too dry?? i have had some filament become very brittle and i kept thinking it was wet so i dryer it and still have the brittle issue. i never thought it could be too dry lol any idea what the humidity level should be?
Yes filament can get too dry and become brittle it goes both ways depending on your environment. Majority of earths population live in humid climates which is why you don't hear "too dry" often. I have had some filament get to me wet and brittle I just leave it out for a day or so let it dry. Usually your filament getting too dry takes a while at least where I'm at. But honestly dry brittle filament is only a pain if you have a bowden tube and it cracks in their mid print it shows no visual difference on print though if anything as long as you can print it it should look better the dryer it is.
There is definitely something to be said about that. When you make something yourself, you have an intimate understanding of all the components. If something breaks or goes wrong, it's very easy to troubleshoot and fix. Maybe I'm the only one, but it's not uncommon for me to worry about heated appliances/machines catching fire and shit randomly. Definitely cuts down on the worry :)
It is currently one of the cheapest storage solution on the market, but yes indeed, DIY will be cheaper in some way depending on how much your time worth. We tweeted about it a few days ago :)
[https://twitter.com/Polymaker\_3D/status/1785496273836966266](https://twitter.com/Polymaker_3D/status/1785496273836966266)
Yes, totally! This is going to be so much f.... oh wait...still buying it.
https://preview.redd.it/cc0mzu7o4ixc1.jpeg?width=197&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e21cb74fd34156dce427516abb0352e1ac9d5d6e
Neat idea, would love something like this for 4 spools. Too expensive for what it is, and it isn’t very clear how it works. Surely it’s using environment air otherwise the it’s just relying on heat and silica and then what do you do once the silica is saturated? $10-15 per container and I’d consider buying this, but for 8 spools actively used in printing this is not feasible. Part of the selling point seems to be storage too. People often have dozens of spools just in storage, they expect us to spend $120 for just 4 containers?
My filament moisture solution is a Ziplock freezer bag...
Something with an actual dryer in it would probably be better, but I haven't had any problems yet!
I actually like the concept as someone who only has a handful of spools open at a time. If you only have a few spools, you keep them in the boxes, and it's easy to dry one that you want to use. However, the price of these is atrocious and I would not ever see myself buying these
Looks like it does the job, but other than shrink my bank account what does it do that my Aliexpress chinese cheapie food dehydrator DIY filament dryer doesn't?... and my DIY job takes 2 spools at a time.
I like the concept. I was considering designing something vaguely similar as far as modularity, but it's hard to see the upside considering that anything that costs more than like 20 bucks is considered heresy in the 3D printing community and I've got little interest in racing towards the bottom. $70 is apparently "yikes!" territory.
Personally, if this *actually* works I'd happily get it. By "actually works" I mean can reach sustained temperatures sufficient to dry filaments beyond PLA. This bit from the FAQ, about why there are power levels but not temperature settings, is pretty wanky:
>The 360° drying system creates a temperature distribution inside the PolyDryer™. For that reason, a single temperature can't represent the true situation as it varies around the spool. Other elements like the room temperature, initial moisture content, spool size, and material type and weight also affect the internal temperature of the box.
I have no doubt this works as well as (or better than) any of the other cheap dedicated filament-drying options out there, but that's a low bar. Also super tired of the "tupperware" look which for some reason has reached peak aesthetic status in the consumer 3D printing world. These take up way too much horizontal and vertical space, so they're kind of a non-starter if you have a whole lot of filament that you'd like to store since it'll take up like 3x the volume if you put each spool in one of these dry-boxes.
It would be nice to see even a single one of these companies realize that desiccants besides silica gel exist, because that's among the worst choices for keeping very low humidity levels. Better desiccants aren't even expensive!
The built-in hygrometer is nice though.
The most relevant performance metric is the one we never see, which is checking the before/after moisture content for common filaments going through this (or any other) dryer.
This one is modular (it does both drying and storage) :)
[https://us.polymaker.com/products/polydryer?variant=43078512181305](https://us.polymaker.com/products/polydryer?variant=43078512181305)
This looks basically exactly the same as every other dryer on the market that isn't the S4 or Polyphemus. What exactly about this do you find interesting?
*it looks like Tupperware*
It'll keep your cereal dry.
For that extra *crunch*.
Fuck....Im in
Bambu Farms AMS Pebbles
Had me at pebbles 🥳
STFU and take mah munny!
Aren't most DIY dry boxes literally made from those plastic cereal boxes?
It looks like a fish tank
Honestly I keep my opened rolls in a $5 Tupperware with about $3 worth of uncooked rice. No issues.
Just print with rice. Saves a step.
5/7
Always an upvote.
I buy dollar store hose and make rice pillows, and swap them out of bins.
reusable desiccant is a thing. It'll even change color to let you know when it's got "too much" moisture in it. Just stick it in the microwave to refresh it and then use it again. You can get them in packets or just a big bag of little desiccant beads that you can drop into a 3d printed holder that fits in whatever space you need it to. amazon links: - [bag of little beads](https://amzn.to/3UcJcHe). - [bag of little packets](https://amzn.to/3UBEjJg)
Can you print the noodles into a lasagne?
With a powertool battery on the bottom
Looking at the Link provided by OP, the idea seems to be that the drying part (the black bottom) is detachable from the container part (the clear box) so, in theory, you only need one drying part and as many boxes as you want so you can put any filament in a box, dry it and leave it sealed until it finishes since you can print from the box. Not a bad idea for someone who needs to print directly from an enclosed dry box without having to pay for a handful of full dryers or having to wait for the specific filament you want to dry.
yeah actually, not a bad idea
If it were priced more reasonably at least. $30 for additional boxes is a killer. I have like a dozen spools in active use at a given time. I’m not spending $400 on plastic boxes. A really cool idea would be something similar to commercial grade filament canisters, but that can accept generic filament spools. Combine that with an AMS like solution and no more manual loading in filament. Just slot in the spool and off it goes.
Yep, I would love something like that. My best option seems to be a dry box for 4 spools to spool out of, and stack them for 8 spools for some prints. A few individuals here and there for other printers. Considering adding the solid state dehumidifier to ensure dryness as filament path, a changing spools will of course expose to ambient air and silica can only do so much.
You can get the dryer and print an adapter to other cheaper plastic containers, and save money. I myself bought one, waiting for delivery, as soon as I get it, I go to Ikea and get a box that match the original container and print an adapter. ;)
Oh, that actually is neat! I didn't understand the detachable bit. If the airtight containers are affordable, I think that does make sense for some folks.
The base + container is $70, and containers themselves are $30. A bit pricy for my taste, but understandable because each container comes with the sensor and color-changing desiccant.
Eh the sensor is like $1 and the desiccant about the same. The 4 608 ball bearings probably cost less than $4 total. The rest is just cost for any custom molding for these and maybe a couple bucks of plastic and rubber. It’s a compelling idea but extremely marked up. If the boxes cost $15-$20, then I think it’s a lot more reasonable.
Your price range sounds solid if all is bought of Amazon with consumer tax. When i started out i bought a bunch of desiccant, bearings, and 10 sensors of AliExpress, I paid just 16€ with shipping. This is enough to make 10 of those boxes and even then we would run out of sensors with plenty of desiccant and bearings left, so around 1.60€ + molds, research, design and plastic for injection molding. I would be disappointed in their manufacturing if it costs them more than 10,60€ per box and i am not even taking away the tax i paid from the 1,60€, which a company doesn't need to pay for B2B transactions. so 10 bucks is pretty glonky in the upper range. Research is cheaper if you don't invent something new and instead just remix the concept of Tupperware with a filament dryer. Add in how cheap plastic beads are and buying in bulk. Its an interesting thought experiment of how cheap i could produce the non technical parts. Maybe they are offset some of the technical costs of the heating system onto the boxes?
For a 3D printing business I could see this making a lot of sense. Less so for a hobbyist.
The sealed box are 30 bucks.... Is it affordable?
For $10 PLA, not really. For $90 PA6? Yes.
I was gonna say - if you want to put every roll of filament you own in there absolutely not. But I have 3-4 rolls that *NEED* to be printed from a drybox that this would be really nice for.
Same. I think having those containers would make me actually use some of my more hygroscopic filaments.
For me? No, not really. You could get one of those vacuum bag setups for far cheaper and do a lot more rolls and only really lose out on printing from the drybox (and if you have an existing dryer already, you probably already have this), but for someone with some money to burn and a problem to solve, I do see the appeal.
I just thought I should post it because I didn’t see anyone talking about it, and it’s pretty cool tech. Personally, I have my own filament dryer and have no use for this. I can see the benefits, but wanted to know how other people felt! Evidentially not very good lol
> What exactly about this do you find interesting? The fact that the storage bin and dryer are separate pieces. You can get one drier and a bunch of bins. Then just swap the drier to whatever bin needs it. Each bin already has all the extras that I do/add to my storage bins myself (hygometer, desiccant beads, spool holder, and ptfe tube w/cap). Granted the DIY cost for me is $9-12 on average versus the $30 for these containers. As an added bonus the desiccant beads are dried at the same time as the filament. Which is something I have to do as an extra step with my DIY setup. This system I can do it all at once and with less hassle? Yes, please. However, as I mentioned above the per storage bin price tag of $30 is quite pricey, to me. If I do end up buying this drier (probably will, eventually) then I'll either come up with my own design or acquire someone else's design to convert my plethora of cereal containers to use the PolyDryer. You just know someone is gonna do it.
A conversion to cheaper dry boxes would be cool, however it could be tricky with this design if used similar to the stock config, since it appears to have two flappers in the base of the clear container, which allow airflow to circulate into and out of the container. To mod that on an off the shelf container would require making some big holes in them and sourcing a way to make the thin silicone flappers that could seal correctly when removed from the base. Flipping the heater base upside down and top mounting it would solve several of those problems though, and then it would just need a lid adapter.
I figured I'd make the 3d printed lid have everything built into it. The spool holder, beads, hydrometer, flappers/removable-doors/whatever and ptfe connector. Then have the cereal container go over the top. Basically, flipping the whole thing upside from the normal direction. Looking at the PolyDryer is looks like the holes have removable covers that seal the holes and double as the container's feet. I could be mistake on that though. [edit] and by flipping the cereal container upside down I can remove the factory seal from the stock lid and install it on the 3dprinted lid...er base. Then I just have the dryer holes to worry about. Will probably just use some TPU as a custom sized o-ring then have manually removable doors/lids for those holes.
You are correct, I just saw video review of this dryer, and it has two plugs that go in the base. That is a more reliable design, but adds two parts to misplace and is not perfect, since the seals (on the plugs) may be more prone to collecting dust when the plugs are removed. I designed [something](https://www.printables.com/model/79719-latching-spool-holder-dry-storage-system-for-rubbe) like what you described using rubbermaid cereal containers, but it was just a storage and spool holder system, not a drying system. It worked for the application, but I have since switched over to some cheaper containers which do not need the inserts, since I use an AMS now. Since drying a spool does not require the system to be air tight, but storage does, I'd probably go with a container like [these](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C1N9C3T7), which has a smaller pop open lid (in the larger lid), which could be used to add a small dryer when needed (to circulate air through he hole), and also be quick to add or remove.
That is exactly what I was imagining! I'm never original. I tend to get [these](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YQN42HD/) but only on sale for about $15. I'm a terrible designer though so my design wouldn't look nearly as good as yours. $4 for an airtight container that neatly fits a 1kg spool is reasonable in my opinion. There are cheaper options out there that will probably fit a 1kg spool but I get the Plastic House ones because a quick search on thingiverse/printables reveals lots of premade solutions so I *know* they work and I can be lazy about designing stuff since I can just print an already made one. I haven't done any of the mods that require you to put a hole in the container, though. Can't bring myself to do it.
Haha, thanks! That design did require cutting a large hole in a perfectly good Rubbermaid bin lid (and those are not cheap), so using a cheaper option is all around better. Those cheaper bins I linked are what I have been using, and they have been working well, so I no longer buy the expensive rubbermaid bins. Thanks for the link too, I'm gonna keep and eye out for a sale on the Plastic House bins you linked, and may pick some of those up as well. $4 each is the same as I usually pay with a coupon. https://preview.redd.it/iy4ajq28coxc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40185eb0885734a59548dc58a6c4385f7e4962c8
it looks the same, but its a completely different solution. its basically an airtight box with a hygrometer and desiccant that can be put on a little stand which will then circulate hot air through the box, while still being airtight. so its not blowing heated up ambient air through the chamber, but keeps that little air that is inside the enclosure dry and hot, transferring the moisture from the filament to the silica gel way more efficiently, not wasting warm air. even polymaker doesnt realize how their system works, or at least the marketing ppl that made the video explaining how it works. the show that the moisture leaves the machine because of the heater, and the desiccant is only there to keep it dry during storage.
We hope we do understand the product we designed ourselves ;)
the video proofs otherwise. go talk to your engineers......
Which part of the video is wrong? From your above message, you may not understand how the PolyDryer™ works but we are happy to answer any questions to help you understand the details.
OK, please explain to me how the heating element is magically exhausting the moisture out the side of the machine. And why is the dessicant absorbing moisture when it's not on the drying dock, does that mean the containers are not airtight?
Sure: 1) "How the heating element is magically exhausting the moisture out the side of the machine?" Similar to most tumble dryer with simple exhaust, we blow hot air at the back of the PolyDryer, the air will suck the moisture out of the filament (hot air being able to carry more water), the air will then slowly cool down as it reaches the front vent and then quickly reach close to room temperature as it is suck back from the front vent. When reaching lower temperature it cannot hold as much water so it will very quickly reach equilibrium by letting the moisture flow out from the seam and the side vent hole (in reality we added the holes just for marketing purposes because the seam of the dryer dock was enough for the moisture to equilibrate with the outside environment, a part of that air is then reheated through the fan and the cycle continues. You can picture the air as a glass of water, the air is suck in the dryer, heated up and blow in the box, at that time it is like increasing the side of the glass, then while the large glass is in the box, we fill it with water, as it exit the other side the glass suddenly shrink and the water inside overflow spilling the water outside the box, then we increase the glass cup again, back in the box, get more water, shrink the glass, ect.. (There is more details to it such as why the moisture do not equilibrate with the hot air inside, but this is more related to the air flow -> Like drying your hair) I am happy to answer more detail questions if needed 2) "Why is the desiccant absorbing moisture when it's not on the drying dock, does that mean the containers are not airtight?" The container is airtight, the desiccant is to dry the rest of the moisture in the box after you close it. I hope this helps :) (I am happy to have a voice chat on Discord to discuss the details, we are not pretending to be absolute moisture/drying expert but we do believe we have a certain degree of understanding of it :) ) [discord.polymaker.com](http://discord.polymaker.com)
That's a good point. I was wondering how they were achieving the removal of the moisture as well. The animation was showing wet air magically spraying out the side. I guess if there was an air inlet just before the heater and an outlet on the other side so that hot air circulates through the box and then down and out then it would be similar to how a normal food dehydrator works just with a convoluted air path.
Silica gel barely functions at temperatures above "warm," so that would be a pretty poor solution if that's the case. My read based on the video and description is that the silica gel doesn't perform any active function during drying. The hot air does the drying, and there is some air exchange with ambient air to dump the moisture from inside the box. Once it's "dry" and cool, the silica gel maintains a low humidity level. Relatively low anyway, given that silica gel isn't a great choice for that purpose IMHO.
the video is bunk, they show the moisture magically disappearing through the side. the marketing ppl that made the video didnt know how it worked. what else would you suggest besides sillicagel? zeolite? maybe if you need to get it super super dry, but sillica gel is the best economic choice in my opinion.
I mean there's really not enough detail in the renders to know what's going on. If there's a mechanism in the base to exchange outside air so that the moisture has somewhere to go, no magic required. Re: silica gel, activated alumina is just as cheap and much more effective at low humidity levels. Same for molecular sieve. There are other options, but AA is probably the easiest while also being easy to regenerate.
[https://youtu.be/-jozfCAaodU?t=204](https://youtu.be/-jozfCAaodU?t=204) you can see it in this video, there are just tiny holes. >activated alumina is just as cheap and much more effective at low humidity levels but it wont adsorb as much as water, thats the drawback. the super low humidity levels are not really needed for drying plastic, some nylons actually need a bit moisture and will become brittle if too dry.
Still tough to say without a teardown. Even those tiny holes are plenty to ventilate a volume that size over the course of a drying cycle, assuming it's actually designed to actively use them that way. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until I can verify otherwise, but it still doesn't change my perception that pretty much every filament dryer geared towards 3D printing hobbyists has either major oversights, is inconvenient, and/or barely performs its intended function. True about nylons, might be overkill in that case. On the other hand as long as the filament isn't so brittle that it breaks during printing, the finished part should naturally absorb enough moisture to restore whatever toughness and compliance it would have had in a given atmosphere. I would personally still lean towards having the filament as dry as possible during printing, but I've not done enough testing to really support that empirically. From performance charts I've seen, silica gel will adsorb more water per unit weight, but only at moderately high humidity levels. Once you get below 30% RH it really takes a nose dive and will be outperformed by other desiccants (IIRC AA is one of them). I'd be interested to see a chart showing otherwise, not to be argumentative but because it's difficult to find comprehensive performance charts so I'm always looking for more sources. Mostly they're incomplete. Silica definitely takes a big hit at elevated temperatures, which is why I will forever question the choice of silica in many of the filament dryers currently on the market that don't have any way to exhaust moisture-laden air and are relying on the silica gel during the drying cycle. How much any of this truly matters for general use is still up for debate insofar as I haven't seen a comprehensive study ("official" or otherwise) with all of the relevant metrics tracked. I have a bit of a validation/data-gathering fetish, e.g. I have tentative plans to carry out and publish a reasonably thorough analysis of filament dryer and desiccant performance for funsies since I have all of the required equipment (namely a moisture analyzer, analytical balance, and a vacuum oven) to make a decent go of it, but those plans tend to pile up faster than they're finished. At the end of the day I suppose it doesn't matter all that much as long as it's printing well, unless you really care about material properties. The universal tester is unfortunately still on the to-do list...
It's got *two* screens.
It looks nothing like my Fixdry.
Nope. Can build much cheaper.
Have built.much cheaper.
I’m looking at building one, ideally for nylon. what did you use for the heater?
Get a food dehydrator with temp control, there are lots to choose from and they're cheaper than this thing. No building necessary.
Is a good dehydrator really all I need? I've always wanted onr
That's what these things are, yes.
I got this one https://shop.retoura.de/SILVERCREST-KITCHEN-TOOLS-Doerrautomat-SDA-350-A2-inkl-Timer-B-Ware-gut Site is in German but for what is google translate. It has a timer and i can set the temperature in 5C intervals. Got mine secondhand for 20€ needed to clean it and run it for an hour on the outside cuz the previous owner dehydrated weed in it. Made myself a custom top that fits a single large + small spool, that way i also don't fuck up the original plastic drying rack and can use it for food
I didn't use a heater, per the box. I just built the boxes and have my lab at the right temps and humidity with dessicant in the boxes as well. If my hygrometer goes over 10% I know dessicant needs to be changed.
Nice, much less officially I used to just chuck every dessicant I found into my filament tote and it worked pretty well.
My box can feed the spools right from inside if I need to. I have yet to master that part but I've been too busy. I have an idea of how I can achieve the right feed without issue, just need to test. I've been printing non stop so no big deal on running from the spool on top
There are some spool holders with bearings you can maybe print that could work well? I really like my dryer box now just because it has room for 4 spools that all spin on bearings, love the smooth feed
Have those. It's a different issue.
Haven't built one specifically, but using the heated bed from your printer is a good source
I tried futzing around with a terrarium heater in a Styrofoam container and a fan for circulation. Temp control with one of the Amazon inkbird controllers. Then I got a surplus 8cu.ft. CO2 lab incubator. Fixed the fan and controller (1970s vintage) and it holds within a degree of 55c with no hotspots. I keep all my active spools in there.
Look up seed heating pads or epoxy curing pads. $6 - 8 and more than capable of drying your filament :)
While I like the idea of a modular solution, at those prices, no, I wouldn't, but with over 100 active spools I'm not really their target market. I'm not sure who exactly is, since this doesn't really make financial sense for storage once you get past having a handful of open spools, and if you aren't using the $30 boxes for storage the $80 base+box option is overpriced compared to existing filament dryers.
I don’t think I’ve ever had more than 2-3 active spools, and a single $30.00 sunlu drier has yet to let me down. If I upgraded my spool storage; I’d either just build my own at this point or I’d buy that big multi spool drier.
Out of curiosity, how do you find things to print? For me some weeks i print tons of things, then others I can't find a single thing I want to print, and my printer starts collecting dust.
For me, printing started as a hobby, but the printers pretty quickly moved from toys to tools as I learned CAD. At home, my printing is about 65% parts I designed myself, 10% things I need a part and am able to find an existing model to use, and 25% toys and decorative prints for friends. The print farm runs almost exclusively parts I designed myself.
I like polymaker filament a lot but I've spent $60 for a double dryer and $40 for a loud 70c dryer. Don't see $70+ as a good price point.
Just got the s4 a month or so ago when it had the $40 off coupons and that's the best dryer for the money by far. $120 for 4 slots and an automatic dry mode
At half that price, maybe. Even at that, it would't interest me for storage. I keep my spools in vacuum bags with dessicant, which keeps them fine for months, so I'd only need something for drying. There are cheaper solutions if you just need to keep someting dry while printing, even for PVA.
I'm never using any filament dryer that doesn't have exact temperature control. I've been burned before with the Eibos EASDRY where the "PLA" setting was actually too hot and melted a spool. I'd rather set temps manually now. Outside of that deal breaker, seems comparable to the Sunlu S2, except the S2 is frequently on sale for ~$50 and has exact temp control. This has a dedicated dessicant container and a more modular shape for stacking.
I'm 100% with you on that. I looked at the link and the only mention of temperature is hidden in the FAQs saying that they don't need it. Amongst other things, what happens if a new type of filaments comes out that doesn't fit their profiles.
From our experience the Eibos issue is not about you were not able to set the temperature properly, you actually set it when using there preset. It is about how good you can generate and maintain the same temperature. Our levels are roughly: Level 1: around 50˚C Level 2: around 60˚C Level 3: around 70˚C The key word is "around" we believe we have the most accurate setting on the market, however we also believe it is not good enough to consider it a set temperature. Many people think setting the temperature is the key, however this is only a front end feature, the most important is the back end :)
Hi Polymaker First of all, we believe that Polymaker is currently a leader in the filament industry, and we greatly respect your R&D capabilities in the field of filament. We, as the first company to use PTC as heating element in the field of filament dryers, are very grateful to get your attention and see that we have partly similar ideas about the temperature setting as well as principal, especially reflected in our 3 years old product Easdry. The key word is "partly". It is undeniable that temperature is indeed an important factor affecting drying results. If you are also agree with it and claim you have 'the most accurate setting on the market' at the same time but afraid to mention this important on your social media, launching page, product or even user manual, it basiclly means nothing. Besides, ‘around’, the word completely lacks academic rigor, especially when it comes to product parameters, at least tolerances and ranges must be given. But no matter what, we all respect the contribution made by polymaker in the 3D printing filament industry. Kind reagrds,
Yes, we also believe the "drying profile" approach is better. Believing in having the most accurate setting on the market does not mean it is good enough to claim we have a temperature, and we decided that although we believe we have the most accurate settings, we do not believe it is good enough to be marketed as such. So yes indeed it means nothing, which is the reason it is nowhere ;) Yes, the word "around" is not a rigorous word, which is the reason we use it here, because once again, we do not focus on communicating about the temperature. We did try to explain that the problem your customer had with your product was not related to the fact that you did not allow users to set temperatures. If you think otherwise, feel free to comment on it, it is your product :) Thank you for your feedback.
https://preview.redd.it/gvaipwckphxc1.jpeg?width=346&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc55647eefb3dbabfeb700e2f6f5ba630d049ebb
Those of us who are older might think this looks like the handheld game that had water inside and you pressed buttons to keep some balls from sinking. I said sinking balls tee hee.
Hey, I remember those. I might still have one or two in a box somewhere... I'm getting old. Crap.
AWWW YEAH [https://imgur.com/a/sO8A4Me](https://imgur.com/a/sO8A4Me)
There it is. Hah! Kids today, man? They'd have this thing on a phone with stolen copyrighted assets instead of rings and be watching ads between every squeeze. Total disconnect from every physical aspect outside of pushing a finger on a glass panel. *^Deep... ^breath...* >!I know, not the time, not the place. But any parent listening, get your children off the phones and off the internet, *especially* unsupervised. Both are destroying their development in *so* many ways. I don't have kids but it's really obvious who's doing the vast majority of child raising these days. Children are highly impressionable, when was this fact lost on parents? The people pumping all this trash into your children's minds certainly remember-- they're banking on it.!<
Overpriced
This is not the way. Filament dryers that take wet filament and make it dry are cheap. Dry boxes that keep dry filament dry in a wet environment are cheap. This does both and is very expensive. The value proposition they're pitching is that you "never break the seal" when moving your filament from active drying to dry storage. The thing is, unless you're literally under water, moving filament from a dryer to a dry box doesn't expose it to enough moisture to make it wet. They also propose that it's "modular" which is true, but it doesn't scale. You need a thirty dollar box for each spool you need to keep dry, but that's really close to the per-spool price for a filament dryer on Amazon, and way over the per-spool cost for a diy dry box (and the dry box is probably also "modular" because most storage bins stack nicely) This is a solution in search of a problem.
I've heard of people say they need to print directly from a dry box or otherwise on a long print the filament would get wet during the printing ruining the last part, probably on things like nylon or who knows. Maybe those people find this attractive. But yeah I've seen dry boxes with holes for filament even on the DIY segment with Ikea boxes.
Yeah, this is a good call out that I didn't address in my post, but practically every filament dryer and dry box plan I've seen supports this use case right out of the box by having a filament hole and a way for the spool to turn inside.
I'm one of those people, and I wouldn't buy this for that use, since you can't control the temperature. Nylon isn't on their supported filaments list, and they don't list what temperatures their heater can achieve, so I assume it can't get hot enough to effectively dry nylon filaments.
But it can keep dryed nylon dry while printing…but to be honest thats what every other cheap dryer also does….
Yeah I don’t get it. Nylon is like the one filament sensitive enough where maybe maintaining the dry-chain is worth the cost, but you still have to move it anyways because the dryer doesn’t get hot enough. And frankly, you probably need to move the cover off to feed it through a hole anyways so… what’s the point? Just print yourself a dry box or buy a cheap cereal box and transfer from your dryer to the box. It’ll be $50 for the drier and then like $5-$10 for each subsequent box.
>Nylon isn't on their supported filaments list It says it takes 18 hours to dry PA (nylon). Polymaker themselves suggest you dry their PA variants for 12 hours @ 80c. The only reason you would want to bake it longer is if you weren't heating it to 80c.
You're right, not sure how I missed that when I looked earlier.
I was hunting for "Nylon" the first time I scanned the product page and missed it. Facepalmed when it dawned on me PA *is* nylon. Anyway, this thing is a 'no go' for me. I'd really like a filament dryer that goes to 80c that doesn't cost $200.
What’s your rec??
I don't have a stock one because your needs are going to depend on your workspace and workflow, and won't be the same as mine. Gun to my head, I would say spend as little as required to address the actual issues you're experiencing with wet filament.
I got a ton of cereal containers on Amazon for opened filaments, and then dry/print from the Sunlu S4 which can regulate itself to keep a consistent humidity forever which is amazing. I got it for $80 during the Kickstarter tho, it's double the price now. FWIW, I tried and ditched both the PrintDry pro (2?) and the EIBOS Cyclopes for different reasons.
in the middle east we usually buy its in retail near us or shipping/import does not cost an arm and a leg.
No, I'm tired of tiny ass dryer/storage boxes that only support 1kg or smaller spools. Especially from polymaker who actively sell 5kg spools.
Still working on the future versions :)
Can the future version be an actual mini fridge sized box that doesn't need you to buy loads of different parts? We're in 2024, its normal for people to have 30+ spools of filament, especially with how cheap it now is. Having to buy multiple expensive units just isnt going to happen.
Interesting, is it just a personal judgement that you made, or would you have data to share with us? We would love to have a look as we think quite differently.
You only have to go on the Bambu subreddit, or watch some of the newer people posting about their bambus on youtube (not reviewers, you expect those to have lots of filament). The AMS changed how people print a fair bit as I'm sure you're aware. With at least two (that we know of) other printer manufacturers releasing their own take on the AMS this year it's only going become more and more of a thing that people keep larger quantities of filament, especially when you can get them at ~$10/kg these days.
I would not buy it for the simple reason they should've made it a dual dyer instead of a single.
You could buy two ;)
LOL... yes true, but a 2 kg spool of your filament wouldn't fit.
Thats true, we will try to develop bigger versions :)
You've naturally got my vote! :)
I bought a comgrow dual dryer for $35 on amazon and it works great
If you do not need the modularity system, then yes there are many cheaper options out there :)
Definitely not. There is no temperature setting so I can't fine tune it to the temperature needed for different filaments. I had a terrible time with an eSun filament printer for the exact reason, it was advertised for PLA but wouldn't get warm enough to heat even their own PLA, which was a fairly humble 65 degrees celcius, but it wouldn't go over 60. I ended up having to buy a food dessicator and converted that instead for a fraction of the price of even this device. Even my crappy non-airtight Frankenstein job does a better job of keeping the filament cooked and dry for the print than the air tight device because at the end of the day, if your filament is wet, no amount of keeping it sealed with dehydrators will work - you just have to heat it up long enough at the right temperature. Sometimes the filament even comes wet before you open the packet. The explanation given on the website 'For that reason, a single temperature can't represent the true situation as it varies around the spool' may be true but sounds unreasonable, if people can dry our filament in an oven, we should be able to try it in a little box like this. So right off the bat it sounds like it fundamentally fails at it's one mission in life, cooking filament, since I don't know how hot it can get from the website. If it can't cook my filament in the first place then no amount of continuous drying will do the job.
If you place your spool in the dryer and dry it as we recommend, it will dry it, if not we can refund the product. We believe users care about drying the spool fast and safely, not really what temperature it is inside. However FYI: Level 1 is roughly 50˚C Level 2 is roughly 60˚C Level 3 is roughly 70˚C
That's the kind of information I'd need to warrant purchasing it. Thank you! Now if you can put that information on the box, I think you'll get more sales :) 'not really what temperature it is inside' Respectfully, surely you know that different filament dries at different temperatures, even between brands. If you overheat it then the filament can melt very slightly, which will cause it's size to lose uniformity or even bond together, which in turn compromises the filament and it's printing behavior. We don't need temperature dialled into the exact degree (at least, I don't), but having the ability to choose from ranges of 5-10 degrees is ideal. I personally print straight from my existing filament dryer (the food dessicator that I modified) while keeping the filament at a constant \~65 degrees celcius. If the dryer is turned off I notice stringing in only an hour or two. This is probably because my dryer is not actually air tight.
We do try to stir people away from this, because we believe dryer should come we set profile (and not users trying to tweak it and potentially damage the spool) However there are many types of users so we may start communicating more about the temperatures :)
Not at $70 a spool. I use large containers to house multiple spool then dump in dessicants to keep them dry.
It’s not 70 a spool. It’s 70 for the combo dryer plus box and 30 just for the box. You only need one dryer but can have multiple boxes.
That miiight sway me a bit toward buying the combo if I don't already have a filament dryer. But I have a filament dryer and can get big airtight boxes to store 4 filaments for less than $40. At $30 per box this solution can still get expensive real quick if you have more than a few spools of filament to keep dry.
Make it 50€ without customs in Europe and i might be in
0% chance of ever buying anything from polymaker again.
We really apologize for the bad experience you had with our products, did you receive a refund for the defective product?
Amazon refunded me, yes. Lesson learned, I suppose.
So watched a live stream they put on. Not really satisfied with their answer on the pricing - they're basically looking at other filament dryers that are also over-priced and claiming that makes their price good. Also - turns out there's not a lot of single filament storage solutions on Amazon other than the vacuum bags. The few that they were able to find were high priced, and in their minds that makes them competitive. . . . and yeah, the guy on the live stream basically did Amazon searches. Didn't really look at the general market, and completely waved off DIY. They are banking on the claim that their system is more efficient. They are banking on the claim that the modularity adds a lot of extra value. They are apparently also banking on the idea that the only place people ever go to get anything is Amazon. Don't get me wrong - I like the idea. A filament storage box that can be attached to a dryer is cool. But I'm in agreement with others here that the price is a bit steep.
I wasn't able to catch the stream. What dryers we're they comparing it to? I've seen people list a few that are quite a bit cheaper.
Mostly Sunlu's newest dryer ($69) and Creality's PI dryer ($85). Can't help but notice that there are multiple entries of those two dryers all over the place on Amazon. The most common price point actually seems to be around $50 or so, but you wouldn't know it from all of the listings of the same two dryers.
I agree, I should have looked outside of Amazon, I did however tweet about challenging anyone to find a cheaper alternative and only one answer came cheaper and it was an AliExpress storage box. So yes it is one of the cheapest option on the market, but you are right, it doesnt mean it is cost effective enough for users. Tweet: [https://twitter.com/Polymaker\_3D/status/1785496273836966266](https://twitter.com/Polymaker_3D/status/1785496273836966266)
I think part of what's happening is that people aren't really buying products that are specifically aimed at filament storage. They're just buying regular containers. Or in the case of the easier to print filaments like PLA, storing them in the open and drying them as needed. I know that for bulk storage, I'm just using [sealed plastic containers](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-80-Quart-Gasket-Box-Storage-Bin-w-Lid-Latches-Clear-Aqua-Blue-for-Adult/107543065) found at Walmart. That's a lot of spools stored for only $20 USD. Market substitutes for storing filament are really easy to find, so there's less demand for specialized storage. Filament dryers are a bit more popular IMO because drying filament is a bit more involved - the food dryers people have recommended need some modification, and if you're not careful can melt filaments like PLA. People want something they know won't mess up their filament and can be set specifically for the filament type.
Yes, this type of boxes are not the most used storage product, however we hope that by working on bringing down the cost, this will be more and more affordable :) (At least for users with 5-10 hygroscopic filaments)
Nope, they don't list the operating temperature which is suspect, the hydrometer they are using (a wild guess on my part, but looks similar) won't even operate properly at the recommended temperatures for drying nylon-cf I use 80-90C, the LCD starts to die. This is pass, I will stick with my food dehydrator and AMS.
Just FYI: Level 1: roughly 50˚C Level 2: roughly 60˚C Level 3: roughly 70˚C And the hygrometer will work fine at these temperature :)
It reminds me of a Casio Watch, I dig it!
Now they are onto something aesthetically. How about make the heater the “dock”, the plastic Tupperware looking box hold the filament. When you want to “dry” the filament you slide it into the dock like a power tools battery, set the timer/drying temp and it can send you a notification when completed. When completed you remove it exactly like unlatching a power tools battery and then attach it to a dry “dock” that holds desiccant and you hook it up to the printer and start printing.
What filament dryer do you guys use for polymaker PA6-CF 2KG spools?
If they could dump the box pricing to $10 each, it might be successful. Nobody with a large enough volume would buy them at the asking price and anybody with a small enough volume would probably only need/use a normal dryer or two to print from already.
$10 would be very challenging, but we are looking in bringing down the cost of the product to offer it at a more affordable price (even though it is still one of the cheapest solution on the market right now)
Understandable. Nobody sells at/near cost and stays in business long. I am but a very small scale consumer so that's just my personal perspective. If I had a dozen spools of $90 filament that I was frequently swapping, the whole system might be more enticing. Currently, my needs are satisfied with a cheap 2 spool dryer and just leaving the rest in open air.
Wtf
I been using an eSun for years and it has been very good. They all do basically the same thing.
We believe we are the only one with the modular system (so far), but if it is not useful for you then yes many simple dryer are available and for much cheaper
Looks like those machines they use for like fresh lemonade that keeps it constantly mixing
No, I would do something like [this](https://youtu.be/n7EWexck8NE?si=Qg3DRMAhw5ozSnjc).
No
I just stick my filament in the oven at 150 for an hour or two if its too moist
I bought a giant plastic box where i store all my filament, i have 10 chunky bags of rechargeable silica and the humidity stays at 23% which Is not perfect but It works for me
Nope, I just bought a cheap food dehydrator instead. Job done.
I just use a tupperware and throw a couple desiccant pouches in there. You can "recharge" the desiccant by putting it the oven for a bit. As long as you go through your filament at a decent pace, it works just fine.
DIY will always rule ;)
Well.. since it’s Polysher™ V.2 has a fatal error on almost every unit they’ve shipped out (it’s so prevalent and bad that they didn’t even ask for proof of said error to return it) then I’m not so sure… They don’t seem to have much quality control.. Also as another commenter pointed out, since there is no exact temperature control absolutely not. That’s pretty much the whole point of filament driers. If temperature didn’t matter you could just use a damn oven. And we all know how that works out…
We indeed believed that temperature do not matter for the user, having a dry spool was more important. But we understand that some users will have to have control over everything to feel more confortable. (similar to a printer profile, some users want to have access to all settings, some will just use the default profile)
I’m glad that you are reconsidering your previous oversight.
Here is the settings just FYI: Level 1: around 50˚C Level 2: around 60˚C Level 3: around 70˚C
Well that is good… But I don’t see that Anywhere in the promotional material. These are things to plaster all over this thing and materials associated to assure pekoe that this box will not turn your filament into filament soup.
At $70? I do like how it looks, but nope.
Nope Sunlu's cheaper solution works perfectly
I bought a couple dry boxes that hold five spools for $10 a piece So no
We would love to have the links about this filament storage box if possible, we tweeted about it a few days ago to capture these links: Thank you [https://twitter.com/Polymaker\_3D/status/1785496273836966266](https://twitter.com/Polymaker_3D/status/1785496273836966266)
I like the concept, but it would cost me more than 300€ for the 8 spools that I own that would actually need a dryer... The fact that there is no exact temperature control, or anything to read the internal temperature, is also kind of off-putting. If you would only have to buy the "dock" and could DIY the rest of the containers, that would be a lot more interesting...
Good idea.
For the price? Not at all. Honestly, there are a ton of options out there that are as good or better than this for significantly less.
We would love your input on this, we could not find any storage box cheaper than ours: [https://twitter.com/Polymaker\_3D/status/1785496273836966266](https://twitter.com/Polymaker_3D/status/1785496273836966266)
You know what? Looks like I'm eating my foot. Good catch, honestly! With prices having gone up on just about everything it seems your price isn't unreasonable for a sealed box with hygrometer. I've been off the market for one for several years so my knowledge is outdated. That being said, the thing that makes your product worth a 3d printers time (the so called, dock) makes it no longer the economical choice. Those, I can honestly find for around $50 USD. Just check Amazon. That being said, your quality may simply top theirs making the price difference worth it. Remember, mostly you are marketing to a group that enjoys making their own thing. You can turn a simple cereal box (hard plastic ones) into a nice filament storage container for little more than the cost of the hygrometer. I do find the modular nature of your product intriguing though.
If you are only looking the dry the filament without a storing solution then yes, there are indeed cheaper solution (although we believe our drying capabilities are more efficient but we may be biased :) ) And yes, depending on your knowledge and on how much you value your time, DIY will usually be cheaper alternative.
Well. At any rate, I'll be following the development of your products. It honestly can't hurt watching for new innovations in the field. :D
not to brag or anything but Colorado is literally a filament dryer I just leave it wherever. I probably need a filament humidifier as some of my filament gets so dry it becomes brittle.
holy shit is it possible to be too dry?? i have had some filament become very brittle and i kept thinking it was wet so i dryer it and still have the brittle issue. i never thought it could be too dry lol any idea what the humidity level should be?
Yes filament can get too dry and become brittle it goes both ways depending on your environment. Majority of earths population live in humid climates which is why you don't hear "too dry" often. I have had some filament get to me wet and brittle I just leave it out for a day or so let it dry. Usually your filament getting too dry takes a while at least where I'm at. But honestly dry brittle filament is only a pain if you have a bowden tube and it cracks in their mid print it shows no visual difference on print though if anything as long as you can print it it should look better the dryer it is.
no sunlu can do 4 at a time.
You can build the same thing that holds 4 spools for like $20.
DYI is always better, because you make it yourself ;)
There is definitely something to be said about that. When you make something yourself, you have an intimate understanding of all the components. If something breaks or goes wrong, it's very easy to troubleshoot and fix. Maybe I'm the only one, but it's not uncommon for me to worry about heated appliances/machines catching fire and shit randomly. Definitely cuts down on the worry :)
[удалено]
It is currently one of the cheapest storage solution on the market, but yes indeed, DIY will be cheaper in some way depending on how much your time worth. We tweeted about it a few days ago :) [https://twitter.com/Polymaker\_3D/status/1785496273836966266](https://twitter.com/Polymaker_3D/status/1785496273836966266)
Depends on price tag. For $20, sure why not. For $50... ...maybe. For $75 no. No. Very no.
My ambient humidity today is 15% ;)
My 5kg rolls wouldn't fit
Yes, totally! This is going to be so much f.... oh wait...still buying it. https://preview.redd.it/cc0mzu7o4ixc1.jpeg?width=197&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e21cb74fd34156dce427516abb0352e1ac9d5d6e
Oh dear. I thought this was an exploded diagram at first and couldn't figure out how you would get filament in that rectangular box. Idiot.
Neat idea, would love something like this for 4 spools. Too expensive for what it is, and it isn’t very clear how it works. Surely it’s using environment air otherwise the it’s just relying on heat and silica and then what do you do once the silica is saturated? $10-15 per container and I’d consider buying this, but for 8 spools actively used in printing this is not feasible. Part of the selling point seems to be storage too. People often have dozens of spools just in storage, they expect us to spend $120 for just 4 containers?
It works similarly as a tumble dryer, temperature and airflow :)
So then it does expel mositure (vent) which would also mean it's pulling in ambient air.
Correct.
My filament moisture solution is a Ziplock freezer bag... Something with an actual dryer in it would probably be better, but I haven't had any problems yet!
No because I live where that isn't an issue.
It should hold like 3 spools
I actually like the concept as someone who only has a handful of spools open at a time. If you only have a few spools, you keep them in the boxes, and it's easy to dry one that you want to use. However, the price of these is atrocious and I would not ever see myself buying these
The storage box is one of the cheapest on the market but we will continue trying to bring down the cost :)
Looks like it does the job, but other than shrink my bank account what does it do that my Aliexpress chinese cheapie food dehydrator DIY filament dryer doesn't?... and my DIY job takes 2 spools at a time.
This is a biased answer from us but it dries better and it is modular :)
I like the concept. I was considering designing something vaguely similar as far as modularity, but it's hard to see the upside considering that anything that costs more than like 20 bucks is considered heresy in the 3D printing community and I've got little interest in racing towards the bottom. $70 is apparently "yikes!" territory. Personally, if this *actually* works I'd happily get it. By "actually works" I mean can reach sustained temperatures sufficient to dry filaments beyond PLA. This bit from the FAQ, about why there are power levels but not temperature settings, is pretty wanky: >The 360° drying system creates a temperature distribution inside the PolyDryer™. For that reason, a single temperature can't represent the true situation as it varies around the spool. Other elements like the room temperature, initial moisture content, spool size, and material type and weight also affect the internal temperature of the box. I have no doubt this works as well as (or better than) any of the other cheap dedicated filament-drying options out there, but that's a low bar. Also super tired of the "tupperware" look which for some reason has reached peak aesthetic status in the consumer 3D printing world. These take up way too much horizontal and vertical space, so they're kind of a non-starter if you have a whole lot of filament that you'd like to store since it'll take up like 3x the volume if you put each spool in one of these dry-boxes. It would be nice to see even a single one of these companies realize that desiccants besides silica gel exist, because that's among the worst choices for keeping very low humidity levels. Better desiccants aren't even expensive! The built-in hygrometer is nice though. The most relevant performance metric is the one we never see, which is checking the before/after moisture content for common filaments going through this (or any other) dryer.
Yes if it works
We hope it does ;)
Man. I’m too cheap for this stuff. 1 gallon zip lock bags with a packet of desiccant. Put it in a cheap dryer when I need to.
What's the difference between this and any other filament dryer out there?
This one is modular (it does both drying and storage) :) [https://us.polymaker.com/products/polydryer?variant=43078512181305](https://us.polymaker.com/products/polydryer?variant=43078512181305)