Comment on Want some advice on which filaments to use
lemmyman@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Petg is the best all-around choice for structural applications that is easy out of the box.
I wouldn’t worry about chemical compatibility with laundry detergent, but if you can find the relevant ingredients there are many compatibility charts you can look for. It’s not straightforward for most common filaments though.
For the first case, if you want to push a little deeper I’d suggest carbon-filled petg. You would need to buy a hardened nozzle for it.
For outdoor applications, you could look into Asa.
idunnololz@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I’ve read that PETG is susceptible to moisture. If I plan to get PETG, do I need to vacuum seal the filament after use or a filament dryer?
lemmyman@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Every filament - literally 100% of them - will print better when dry. Brand new filament can be wet. PLA, sitting in my printer for a couple weeks, can get brittle enough from absorbed moisture to crack in a dozen places in the ptfe feed tube. So yeah I guess petg is moisture sensitive, but my take is that everything is. So I would recommend a filament dryer, and using it on new spools and spools that haven’t been used in a while.
Vacuum sealing will help, but I still dry filament after storing in vacuum sealed containers.
That said, you could also just wait until you see signs of wet filament before drying (stringing, bad surface finish, etc).
idunnololz@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I saw some debunking videos that said the opposite unless you live somewhere extremely humid. But I do remember there are certain filament types that benefit greatly from being dry and IIRC PETG was one of them.
Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 4 days ago
Store filament in a big plastic tub with a kg of colour change silica. But yes a filament dryer is a good investment too. Just a single roll one will do.
idunnololz@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Is that better than vacuum sealing them? Vacuum sealers are pretty cheap IIRC.
Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 4 days ago
Your best hope for storage is it not getting much wetter, ziploc bags with silica are fine, a tub is easier to paw through and grab what you need quickly.
A drier will actually refresh a roll and get it printing close to new again. Look for excess stringing for the early signs, and the filament bubbling and/or popping as it comes out of the nozzle for extreme signs of wetness.
I’m in a fairly dry environment, I’ll happily leave a roll on the printer for a week without adverse effects. But always store an opened roll off the printer in the tub. 3d printer filament storage