As you may know and as I’ve commented before; we’ve been experiencing a heat wave here in the UK. It’s also been a very dry spell which although being uncomfortable for us humans, is ideal conditions for 3D printing.

But, what’s this? Water falling from the sky? Could it actually be raining? Indeed, the dry spell has finally broken and we now have intermittent rain showers. Lovely for the plant life but not do for the plant based PLA!

With the rain, the heat has only dropped a few degrees making humidity higher; not what we need for our filament. This is where prints start to fail.

This got me thinking as to how to keep your filament dry or how to dry it if it’s become moist. I personally use purpose made filament dryers to keep mine moisture free and they work pretty well.

It’s not easy to tell if your roll of filament is moist but you’ll soon see once you start printing. Print quality will be terrible and you may even hear popping noises as the filament extrudes through the hotend.

My advice then would simply be to either invest in a purpose made, electronic dryer or there are a number of tutorials on line for making one of your own.

Have a look and see what’s best for you.

Keeping Your Filament Dry