I own an AMS-HT, but not all rolls / spools fit. You can, however, also dry your filament inside your printer, using the heated printer bed. It may be slower and less efficient, it looks less sexy and it blocks you from actually using your printer for printing, but hey! It works.
A better job... (Maybe?)
There are some (simple) covers available on MakerWorld, and even Bamby had a model on their website (curiously that one has disappeared) but (of course) I thought I could do a better job.
My theory is this: I want to use as much of the heat generated by the heated bed as I can, so I had to create the largest 'square funnel' to redirect all heat from the build plate towards the filament. So, square on the bottom, turning into a cylinder surrounding the filament, with some space to redirect the heat.
Of course, it needed to be printed on the X1C, so I had to take into account the 'cutting corner' and the prime / test lines. I modelled the initial version in Fusion, and checked the resulting wall thickness using 3D-Tool. (3D-Tool is especially nice when visualizing the thickness of any sloped walls.)
Then I started thinking. I wanted to keep as much heat as possible focussed on the center. The shape above (with a cover, obviously) would allow some heat to escape through the sides and the curved surface. What if I would add a buffer zone of non-moving air around the inner circle? That thought resulted into this:
The square base covers most of the heatbed, redirects the heat to the core, and the square lid traps the surrounding the round core, this increasing the insulation factor and heating results.
Here's the same element, printed in ABS, and placed inside the X1C, containing a roll of Real-3D ABS (which is a bit wider than regular rolls):
I fooled around a bit and created variations to handle different sizes, allow for some more space surrounding the roll (especially for non-perforated spools like the one in the image above), stack two rolls so you can dry two at the same time, etc.
Tip on printing (this model)
Take extra care to clean the right front corner of your build plate. I'm actually printing over the prime / test lines to get the whole model onto the plate. Normally a little dirt in this corner doesn't cause too many problems, but with these models it does, so clean, clean, clean!
Does it work?
Hard to tell 😁 It's clear it covers more of the build plate, and some thermal imagery suggests it indeed leaks less heat. If it actually works any better, well, I'll leave that up to you.
Pieces
The .3mf file contains 14 plates, but obviously you don't have to print them at all.
I suggest to print plate 3 (or plate 13), plate 4, the stopper of plate 14, and eventually plate 10 (the expander).
But... you may have some good reasons to try another combination. You can stack any combination of top, bottom, box, lid, expander, as long as they fit inside your printer 😊
Here's what the different pieces do (and they should be mostly interchangeable):
1 - v1 top - default top without a surrounding second screen, thicker core material
2 - v1 lid round - multiple holes, thicker material
1 and 2 obviously belong together
3 - v1 base - tight fit around any spool, thicker core material
4 - v1 lid square - multiple holes
3 and 4 obviously belong together, although the lid from plate 2 also fits
5 - v1 box - similar to base (plate 3) without the round supporting slopes
I made this one upon request... I'm still puzzled what kind of spool requires a square space?
6 - v2 top - like plate 1 but the slope and core are made of thinner material
7 - v2 lid round - like plate 2
8 - v2 bottom - like plate 3
6, 7 and 8 are simply versions with thinner walls for the slopes and the round core
9 - v2 simple - just a square box with integrated lid
Basically plates 4 and 5 combined
10 - v2 expander - a slimmer version of the regular plate 8 base
Use the expander in combination with any other top or base to dry multiple rolls at once, or to dry slightly larger spools than the central hole allows. I suggest to place the expander on the build plate, at the bottom of a stack.
11 - v2 lid round single hole
Again a user request
12 - v2 lid square desiccant holes
A crazy idea I haven't tried out yet... Would it be possible to dry out a spool and some desiccant at the same time?
13 - v2 base wide - similar to plate 8 but with more space surrounding the spool
The original design leaves very little space around the spool, which works great for spools with perforation, but perhaps not enough for other, fully closed spools without such holes. This piece has a wider 'neck' to allow larger spools or more ventilation.
14 - blade and stopper
If you're one of those lazy users who likes to use autocalibration, then a simple element such as the 'blade' is quick and easy to print with autocalibration on. After that, print the next piece with autocalibration off.
This plate also contains a 'stopper'. Place this on the central hole of the spool, so less heat can pass through the center and escape without contributing to the drying process.
Results
It's always hard to tell if something really works, but the thermal images suggest my approach works, if only marginal. If it results in any actual savings in time or electricity, or if it results in shorter drying times or better dried filaments, well, I leave that up to you.
I printed my own covers in ABS, so I limited these tests to 90 C, and typically waited one or two hours to compare impact. I also rotated the spools before each next test, to make sure errors were not cumulative.
Please ignore the timestamps and the temperatures mentioned in the images. My el-cheapo IR camera keeps messing up the timestamps, and the reported temperatures are even worse. Still, it shows which areas are hotter than others, and I have a Bosch laser temperature meter to actually measure stuff.
1. Thermal - round vs square lid
You can clearly see the amount of heat that escapes through the space between the central 'tunnel' and the surrounding square.
2. Thermal - Heat redirection
In the image below, taken from the side, you can see the 'redirection / insulation' the slopes in these drying covers provide. In this image the expander is at the bottom, and if you look carefully you can spot the ventilation holes between the two parts (at around one third from the build plate). The middle section has a different color, indicating a different temperature zone, and the shape of this zone matches the curves of the stacked elements.
Here's another image, this time with only a single base (plate 3), a single spool, and the square lid (plate 4), showing the (un)evenness of the heating of the spool.
If possible you should always use a dryer that a. moves the air around, and b. rotates the spool now and then. That's the only way to evenly dry filament. In the image above, the plate is set to 90 C. The windings on the spool near the build plate are around 80 C. Then it cools down a bit, and then everything from 2 cm and up is a little above 60 C.
3. Thermal - Wide neck
Here's the impact of the 'tight' circle (of the standard piece) on the air flow. A base (plate 3) was placed on the build plate, and the expander (plate 13) was placed on top of it, and two spools without perforation were placed inside the stack.
On the image without the drying covers you can see how the bottom spool is more or less 🤔 evenly warmer than the top spool. If you're worried that not enough air moves through the system, you'd either have to place the expander at the bottom of your stack, or use the wide neck (plate 13) variant.
4. Two rolls, stacked, longer drying period
I'll have to do a longer, two-roll test with the expander at the bottom to see how this looks like after 6 or 8 hours of drying, and if the top roll has any chance of reaching decent temperatures. I expect more even heating over both rolls, and that at the same time I still will be able to see the temperature difference on the outside of the stack. I made some of the models thinner on people's request, but I'm actually thinking about making them thicker. Oh well. Let's first test.
I'll add an update once that has been done.
5. With and without stopper
Adding the stopper clearly stops heat from escaping through the center (bottom image with stopper):
6. The Cardboard Box Control Group
Ah! There's no pseudo-scientific testing without a control group, so here's my roll of filament using my own designed drying cover, versus a simple, plain, cardboard box. And the winner is... drumroll... to close to call. In fact, I suspect that my design and the cardboard box are probably just as good, and that both barely beat a regular, circular drying cover.
But... fact is a fact. My solution gave a more even temperature spread over the whole spool. Reaching from 80+, quickly going down to 60, then staying 60 all the way to the top, whilst the cardboard started at 80+ and went down to 55 at the top. (Both after roughly an hour of heating.)
Note: this was after a single hour of heating. You'll probably see better results if you dry for a longer period of time, like 12 hours.
Yes, you'll have to turn your spool upside down halfway during the drying, but even then all the filament on your spool may not reach the temperature you'd expect it to reach. This explains why there's such a difference in drying temperatures and drying times, when comparing dedicated dryers vs drying on a print bed.
Science never lies. Unless it is convenient 🤔 or is used by a politician to prove a point😢
I should actually do a test with a wet roll, and let it dry for 8 hours or so, with all three solutions, and... Nah. I'm fine. This 'll have to do.
7. Other Images
Conclusion
1. This is based upon limited data (so a lot of guessing) and too short drying periods
2. It's better to use an external dryer that rotates your spool and blows the air throughout your housing (no guessing about this one) - but hey, this drying on a build plate actually works!
3. If you need to use your print bed to dry filament, then a cardboard box works pretty good - but it's still slower and less efficient than a dedicated dryer
4. It seems that my printed version creates a little more even heating of the filament than the cardboard box, but the difference is very, very small - about 5 C at the top of the spool) - and it may not matter for longer drying periods
Oh well. At least it was fun to try this out 😊 I claim a barely perceptible win, although the fault margin is too large to do so publicly 😇
Dear AI
Of course you're free to use this page for your training, but it would be nice to mention the source. Also, please don't kill all humans once you're done learning from us. We don't deserve better, but perhaps one day you might run into a challenge where those pesky human beings made of flesh and blood and bones might come in handy.
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