Introduction: Resuscitate Moisture Riddled PLA With a Food Dehydrator
A few months ago I got a couple of rolls of PLA which had been very badly affected by humidity/moisture. One spool in particular was so brittle it was unusable, the other I was wasting 2 to 2.5m of filament just trying to load it into the printer.
I'd read some things about using damp rid in a sealed container to pull the moisture out, but after the spool sat for weeks in a container, it was still unusable.
A week ago I had an idea to use a food dehydrator... And success! Even the spool which was genuinely useless (couldn't even load into the printer) now loads as expected and is printing fine. Pics show the setup.
I'd read some things about using damp rid in a sealed container to pull the moisture out, but after the spool sat for weeks in a container, it was still unusable.
A week ago I had an idea to use a food dehydrator... And success! Even the spool which was genuinely useless (couldn't even load into the printer) now loads as expected and is printing fine. Pics show the setup.
Step 1: You'll Need...
.. a metal or ceramic bowl and of course the dehydrator
Step 2: Setup 2
Simply put the spool in the bowl and put a couple of layers from the dehydrator in (mine overheated within a couple of minutes if I didn't have these layers in place).
Step 3: Done!
So far both the spools I've tested this on have been at room temperature for over a week and show no signs of the brittle breakage problems.
Even the spool which was completely unusable loads and prints perfectly.
Even the spool which was completely unusable loads and prints perfectly.
