How to have a high-quality 3D printer filament storage?

How to have a high-quality 3D printer filament storage?

Published May 10th, 2022 04:18

Filament is the most important component in 3D printing. It is easily affected by the environment. Therefore, 3D printers need to use 3D printer filament storage to protect and prevent filament damage. If you find it difficult to figure out how to protect it, this article will show you how to own the best 3D printer filament storage in 2022.

I. Why do you need a 3D printer filament storage?

3D printer filament is sensitive to moisture. With fibers made of nylon, TPU and PETG will not be suitable for wet environments. When wet, the filament interferes with the printing process and makes the product unsightly. Besides, it is also dangerous to the printer.

The telltale sign of the filament being soaked in water is the noise when printing, the wire size is bigger. When printing is successful, the damp filaments will not have the adhesion and connection with other parts.

3D printer filament storage

The dryness of the filament greatly affects the print quality. Good filaments result in a product with a stable texture. Therefore, you need to use a 3D printer filament storage to better preserve it. Below are the best products on the market in 2022. You can refer to them to choose the most suitable storage

II. Filament storage to buy

You can look into 3D printer filament storage for filament storages. These containers have many features that keep the material inside at all times dry. You can find these products in the Amazon.com store to get the best products.

1. Polymaker PolyBox

Polymaker PolyBox is a 3D printer filament storage for comprehensive material storage. The box can show indications of the temperature and humidity inside. It helps users to review the status of the match and make reasonable adjustments to these indicators. This is a product that allows storing 2 spools for different sizes in terms of volume. It features ball-bearing rollers that make it easy to get the filament directly from the box to the printer.

3D printer filament storage

The box is attached with two desiccant bags at the bottom for drying. Therefore, it has no role to completely dehydrate inside the PolyBox. If dehydration is required, a 3D printer filament storage with a heating element is recommended.

2. Sunlu drybox

Sunlu drybox is a 3D filament storage similar to other models. However it has a feature that other types do not have - the heating element. Users can set the drying process for the amount of water and the internal environment. The box will heat up the filament and remove the steam inside.

3D printer filament storage

This dry box can only store 1 coil of 1 kg filament. However, it is more expensive than the PolyBox because of the heating element. It is recommended to use this box for materials that are easily absorbed by water and need to be stored for printing for the next few days.

3. ESun eBox

Esun eBox is used by many people as a traditional filament dryer. It is equipped with a display showing the weight index of the filament tube. You can therefore check the state of the filament before printing.

This product uses household power to operate. So you can not preserve for a long time. You should use this 3D printed dry box for temporary storage and quality assurance before printing. Normally, people usually use this box and other 3D printer filament storage box to preserve the filament.

3D-printer-filament-storage

4. Sovol Filament Dryer Box

Sovol Filament Dryer Box is a product that helps dry fibrils effectively. This 3D printer storage shares many features from other products but at a lower pricing. Therefore, it is preferred by many 3D printers to store filament for a long time.

This dry box can hold one 150 mm wide filament tube or two 70 mm tubes. The drying temperature of the dry box is between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius. This temperature is suitable for materials such as PETG, PLA and ABS.

3D-printer-filament-storage

The locking system of this dry box is very secure by the silicone pad and the closing latch. Thus, it ensures that the environment remains suitable for storing the filament even when the heating system is off.

5. Dry Cabinet

Dry Cabinet is a new product line for storing filament in the market. Usually, Dry Cabinet is used to protect cameras from moisture. Recently, it has been noticed that it is capable of storing 3D filaments in bulk. One cabinet can hold up to 120 liters of filament. This cabinet is sleek and resembles a wine cabinet.

3D-printer-filament-storage

The cabinet is equipped with screens showing indicators of temperature and humidity inside.However, because of its good storage capacity, its price is quite high compared to other products.

6. Yodelbox

Yodelbox is an inexpensive and simple 3D filament storage. It can only store one filament at a time. It has a temperature and humidity sensor system that is displayed by an LCD screen. The system runs on batteries so you can easily replace them. However, the use of batteries to operate causes great waste.

Yodelbox has a convenient design for you to 3D print easily. If you need to print, simply remove the box from the rack and hook it up. This prevents the filament from being exposed to much air and greatly affects print quality.

3D-printer-filament-storage

7. Bigtreetech 3D printer filament storage

This is a 3D printer filament storage with simple equipment. It prevents the filament from soaking in water with its reusable desiccant packs. It has many different versions. Users can choose to fit their needs.

The first, simplest version only shows the humidity. The second version has two filament tubes and comes with 4 extra connections. The final version is the same as the second version but with the addition of a thermometer.

This 3D printer filament storage uses CR2032 battery and can connect to mobile phone wirelessly. Users can monitor these indicators regularly through the application dedicated to the Bigtreetech brand.

3D-printer-filament-storage

8. PrintDry container

PrintDry container is a good 3D printed dry box that can keep the filament safe. It prioritizes preservation over adjustment of the internal environmental indicators of the box. The special feature of this product is four solid locking pins and the valve in the middle of the lid. It is equipped with a pump. Users can use their hands to press the valve a lot to push all the high-humidity air inside to the outside environment.

This is a manual solution that saves on energy costs. You can choose when to dry manually. In addition, you can use an additional desiccant package to improve the efficiency of the box. Because it is convenient, the cost of this product will be more expensive than other dry boxes.

3D-printer-filament-storage

9. Heated Dry Box

The design of this 3D printer filament storage is similar to PolyBox, eBox, and Yodelbox. This dry box uses a specialized reptile heating pad to warm the filament. The maximum filament volume the box can hold is 11 liters. In addition to the lining, the box is also equipped with a desiccant pack to remove water vapor. Users can monitor the environmental indicators inside the box thanks to the temperature and humidity sensors.

3D-printer-filament-storage

10. Airtight Roller Bin

This is a popular 3D printer filament storage for those who need to store large amounts of filaments. Airtight Roller Bin is said to be one of the cheapest dry boxes with the largest capacity. It holds up to 17 kg of filament in each carton. You should arrange these rolls to make the most of the volume.

Originally, the Airtight Roller Bin was a pet food container. It was found that pet food and 3D filament have many similarities, so it was used to preserve the filament. The lid of the container is very tight, so air circulation is limited.

3D-printer-filament-storage

In addition, you can use a desiccant to prevent the filament from soaking up moisture. The fibers on the bottom will be the driest ones. The downside of this approach is that you need to get all of the top reels to be able to use the bottom dry roll.

III. Steps to make a 3D printer filament storage yourself

In addition to the option to buy 3D printer filament storage models above, you can design yourself the dry box as you like. Here are the steps to make a long-term filament storage box for beginners. You can modify these steps to suit your purposes. However, you need to make sure they still keep the filament safe.

Step 1. Obtain a storage box.

Step 2. Fill the storage with silica desiccant.

Step 3. Install a hygrometer.

Step 4. Place your spool holders in the 3D printer filament storage (optional).

Step 5. Install coupler and PTFE tubing (optional).

Step 6. Load up your dry box with filament.

Step 7. Recharge your spent silica gel (a few months later).

Through the article, we introduced you to the top 10 best 3D printer filament storage. If you don't have the funds or their features don't work for you, you can follow the steps in the article to create your own filament storage box. Hope you will find a solution to preserve your filament best and most suitable for you.

See more: 11 3D PRINTING TIPS TO MAKE PERFECT PRINT QUALITY FOR BEGINNER