How To Dry Out Wet Filament Using a Dehydrator or Oven
When you purchase new filament, you (hopefully) will receive it in a vacuum sealed bag. This prevents moisture from ruining the filament. Once you remove it from the bag, assuming it was dry, you'll want to keep it dry and also print it in a reasonable period of time.
If you're here though, it means you suspect your filament has moisture in it. Some common problems you may see if there is moisture in your filament include:
- Filament that is brittle and breaks easily, rather than bending.
- Hearing hissing and pops while printing
- Seeing weird issues that appear to be under extrusion, even though you have calibrated you printer
- Filament that turns up at the nozzle and doesn't stick to your bed easily
- Oozing, bubbling and stringing causing imperfections in your prints. Note that this could also be retraction settings for stringing.
To keep filament dry, you can invest in vacuum sealed bags, dry boxes and desiccants like silica gel. Nonetheless, if you buy enough filament and print long enough, you are bound to either come across filament that has moisture in it already (for example, a small hole in the vacuum sealed bag) or that collects moisture over time. The more humid your room or where you live, the faster this will happen
How to Dry Filament In an Oven, Dehydrator or Dedicated Filament Dryer
So I've only used a food dehydrator myself (the link is to the specific one I bought - you can see in the reviews lots of folks comment on using it for filament drying), but the general concept is the same regardless of what method you use.
You want to have enough heat to cause the moisture to evaporate, but not so hot the filament melts. You want the humid air to be able to escape, so you'll want to have some solution for airflow around the filament as well.
CAUTION: Your oven and dehydrator may not be precise. Even if they state a temperature on a dial, there is no guarantee that temperature is accurate. Also, depending on your appliance, it may be significantly hotter close to the heating element. So, you will want to use a thermometer or some sensor to gauge how hot it is getting, and you may want to err on the side of starting the temperature lower, confirming it is correct, and then increasing it. Otherwise instead of dry filament, you will end up with a single, melted filament blob - or melted filament all over your oven or dehydrator.
With that, here are the temperatures. For all of them, I would recommend starting around 2-3 hours and then checking on the filament.
|
Material |
Temperature |
|---|---|
| PLA | 40-45°C |
| ABS | 65-70°C |
| PETG | 65-70°C |
| TPU | 45-60°C |