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eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)  

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jmone
(@jmone)
Reputable Member
eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)

I need to control the humidity for storage of printing of my filament as the room I print in is normally between 60-80%RH for much of the year. Like many I tried various combinations of plastic boxes & bags with desiccant and chucking sensitive filament in the oven for a few hours. Works OK I guess but it is really not idea. For me it is was kind of awkward, I still had popping and hissing on some roles and at the end of the day it is really not that cost effective either.

So I spoke with a local Sydney supplier of professional Dry Cabinets and after much discussion on what might work, Mathew from Photo Equipment Store let me test out a couple of models from eDry.

- First up with the eDry 243L Dry Cabinet Model D-206C. It held all my spools (about 40) but did not really get dry enough for me (about 30-40% RH) and was slow to bring it down to this level after opening the door. So back it went after a week or so.

- Second up I tried the eDry Ultra Low Humidity 128L Dry Cabinet Model SL-128CA (see pic). It can be programmed to any desired RH % and I set it 0% RH. This one works well not only in getting down to 0-1% RH but quickly restoring down to these levels after the door is open. I had no real way of testing how it would work in drying filament vs maintaining it, so I added some colour changing silica gel that was fully saturated (black) and watched as it slowly dried it out back to Orange. Not that I will need desiccant again, as these cabinets are solid state dehumidifiers! They are also quiet, and consume very little power (some 8w which beats putting spools in the oven!!). This tech is a keeper but a bit small for my needs.

- Next up will be the (on order) eDry Ultra Low Humidity 250L Dry Cabinet Model SL-206CA. It is being custom modified with with 5 x Print Ports and seals so I can print directly from the Cabinet (to my yet to be delivered MMU2s) as well as using it for storage. Unfortunately it will be another month or so before I get my hands on it as it is coming by sea from Taiwan to Sydney. I'll post an update when it arrives. The downside is these Ultra Dry Cabinets are an expensive up front purchase but work out to be under $50 per filament reel of storage space.

- Another option that might work for many is a their better value for money cabinet, the Model 3D-90CA which already includes 4 x Print from Dry Cabinet ports and apparently will get down to under 20%RH. I've not tested it as it was not available at the time, so I can not comment on the claims or how well it works.

I'm happy to answer any questions and thanks again to Mathew for letting me test (note: I'm not involved with his business or get any rewards, just wanted to give him a plug for letting me test the equipment out). I've had no issue printing humidity sensitive filament stored in the cabinet including Nylon, TPU, and Hytrel but it is also early days.

Thanks
Nathan

Note: Cross posted to the Simplify3D Forum

Posted : 18/03/2019 6:26 am
cwbullet
(@cwbullet)
Member
Re: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)

Good idea. No sure of storing filament in the box. They should already be sealed.

--------------------
Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog

Posted : 18/03/2019 1:05 pm
jmone
(@jmone)
Reputable Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)

These are all opened and part used. I keep them in the box for identification.

Posted : 18/03/2019 7:22 pm
Chocki
(@chocki)
Prominent Member
Re: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)

Dare I ask what the price is on one of these?

Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.

Posted : 18/03/2019 8:18 pm
jmone
(@jmone)
Reputable Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)

They range from about US$500 up pending on size and the dehydration capability. The one I've shown in the pic is about $1k

Posted : 18/03/2019 8:32 pm
jmone
(@jmone)
Reputable Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: eDry Cabinet (testing and thoughts)

Thoughts after using these "eDry Ultra Low Humidity 250L Dry Cabinet Model SL-206CA" after 18mths:

- They are quiet, efficient, and work really well at keeping all my spools dry including ePA / ePA6 (Nylons) for good straight from Cabinet printing results (I still print from a modified food dehydrator but no longer need to "pre-dry" my Nylons) 

- It not only keep filaments dry but will also dry out "Wet" filaments.  In my testing in an 80% RH environment, PLA gained 0.53% in weight, PETG 0.40%, and ePA-CF 4.88%.  These samples then took 48h for PLA, and 1 week for PETG to return to their "Dry" state in these Cabinets.  ePA-CF took 11 weeks to get down to 0.14% which seems to be about the limit in these Cabinets.  In Comparison, in Freezer Bags with Desiccant were much less effective and far slower.  Here is a table below showing how long it took each filament type to become "wet", then how long it took for them to "dry"

- Expensive:  This is the big downside.  These cabinets are very expensive and I'd say also overkill for PLA and PETG in most environments where just using desiccant should work fine.  They really do come into their own for hassle free storage with very Hydroscopic Filament like ePA.

- Tinting:  The cabinets also came with clear glass, so I added some tinting to cut down on the UV.  

Posted : 23/10/2020 9:22 pm
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