Thanks! I think I unpacked this filament about a month ago, and it was on open air for about two weeks, in 40-50% humidity. then I put it into a dry box with a box of silica gel, and it stays there at about 20% humidity. Until I take it out for a print. Is silica gel good enough for drying? I don’t have the drying machine.
Comment on Help! What is wrong?
kahjtheundedicated@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Looks like a filament moisture issue to me. PETG can get real weird unless it’s really dry. Temp is also a little low, but drying the filament will also fix the stringing issues you were seeing at 240
pound_heap@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
kahjtheundedicated@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Silica gel has worked pretty well for me to keep a spool dry for a couple months, but I’ve never tried to dry a “wet” spool with it, so no idea. I’ve dried petg spools in the oven before, and it worked out. Can’t remember what temperature, but I’m sure that’s floating around on the internet somewhere.
Also the silica gel only keeps stuff dry if it’s dry itself. You can also heat that in the oven or a microwave to do that.
So yeah I’ve found petg (or at least the cheap stuff I’ve bought) to be kind of a pain. But if you’re almost neurotic about keeping it dry, you can get some super nice results. I only use it if I really want something to be clear
pound_heap@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
In the oven??? But wouldn’t it just melt? I have a gas oven, I don’t think it can go too low. But I will look it up. Maybe microwave is a way to go. Thanks for the tip.
Scubus@sh.itjust.works 15 hours ago
A lot of people use food dehydrators. You can even get a spool holder that feeds the filament to your printer and dries it at the same time.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Microwave will not work. You can use your printer’s heated bed to dry it. Look up how to do it online, but basically you lay it on the bed, put a box over it to enclose it, turn the bed to 55°, and let it dry like that for 10 hours. That’s for PLA though, so you may have to go hotter for PETG.
kahjtheundedicated@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah, my oven is electric. Internet says 65C, which is conveniently as low as my oven goes
Midnattssol@feddit.nu 1 day ago
Yes, I second making sure the filament is well dried before printing. It usually fixes issues like this for me.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Yes. This absolutely looks like a moisture issue. Drying the filament will almost definitely help.