Why is Proper 3D Filament Storage and Care Needed?

You can use your ordinary oven to dry filament, although be warned some materials such as ABS can produce carcinogenic fumes, in short not something you want in your oven. When drying filament in an oven the general idea is to heat the filament to its “glass transition temperature” which is when the filament goes from hard to soft like a cooked spaghetti noodle. It is important to not go any hotter than glass transition temperature which can usually be found in the safety data sheet (SDS) on the manufacturer's website, or you can use a general temperature guide.(results may vary)

The variation in the temperatures is due to some manufacturers adding additives to make the material behave differently which is why we recommend looking at the suppliers SDS. When the temperature is reached, place the filament inside the oven and bake it for 5-6 hours and print, repeat if necessary.

In the community many makers have repurposed food dehydrators. To do this you need a food dehydrator with plastic racks. Take the plastic racks and cut out the inner tray portion so you have a hollow stackable ring. Christopher Lum on YouTube made an excellent video explaining this process. Repeat the process for all but one so your filament can be placed on something. If your dehydrator has temperature settings use the glass transition temperature of your material. You should expect to see impressive results overnight, repeat if needed.

There are many companies that make filament dehydrators for easy consumer use. One of these companies is PrintDry they make a product called the “PrintDry Filament Dryer PRO” which is available for purchase on our website here. This dryer has room for 2, 1kg spools. Using the dryers UI, you can set the temperature and runtime of the drying process. A useful feature this dryer has is passthrough holes so you can keep your filament in a dry environment while printing!

There are other filament dryers such as ones sold by SUNLU and ESUN unfortunately some users report great success and some report subpar perfomance- your results may vary. Click the button for more info on Filament Dryers.

The forethought required to select and dry filament for every print is a hassle and it’s why we are a big fan of multi-spool loading systems. One of our favorite filament loading and storage systems is the Material Handling Station from UltiMaker specifically designed for the S5. The Material Handling Station is a seamlessly integrated unit that stores up to 6 spools of filament in a humidity controlled chamber featuring automatic material loading- giving you a more reliable and consistent 3D printing experience.