The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Polydryer Humidity: October

Another month of data from all those Polydryer boxes:

7 Oct 20258 Oct
Filament%RHWeight – gWt gain – g%RH
PETG White2826.61.619
PETG Black2526.61.620
PETG Orange2926.61.621
PETG Blue2326.71.715
PETG-CF Blue2626.61.623
PETG-CF Black2326.41.420
PETG-CF Gray3026.51.526
TPU2826.31.327
Empty 1 → White3526.71.737
Empty 23627.12.124

The “PETG White” spool in the top line is nearly empty, so I loaded a new spool into the “Empty 1” box.

The “Empty 1” 35% value on 7 Oct matches the other empty box, the desiccant having pulled the humidity down from the 51% basement level. The weight of the water pulled out seems low compared to “Empty 2”, as they both started with a fresh batch of basement air while changing the desiccant in September.

They’re again filled with 25 g of alumina beads, although I’m beginning to think silica gel does a better job.

A picture of the boxes, thus avoiding WordPress reminding me pictures improve SEO:

PolyDryer PC4 Fitting - Prusa MMU3 setup
PolyDryer PC4 Fitting – Prusa MMU3 setup

Comments

3 responses to “Polydryer Humidity: October”

  1. Joules Avatar
    Joules

    I’ve found that silica beads are more thirsty for a larger volume of water, while zeolite molecular sieve beads are more reusable and drop %RH lower (single digits). I use a bigger volume of zeolite in a mason jar with a perforated lid in my filament dry chamber. I also have a couple of disposable silica bead containers from the dollar tree to soak up the majority of the water. I’ve been using the same zeolite beads from amazon for a couple of years now

    1. Ed Avatar

      Zeolite will definitely be the next step; right now I have way too many beads rolling around. :grin:

  2. PolyDryer Humidity: November – The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning Avatar

    […] PETG White in the first row is the new spool loaded last month. I think the 39 %RH indicates the spools do not necessarily arrive bone-dry in their vacuum-sealed […]

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