Thanks guys for the lovely comments, i guess ill have to make V2...

The “You are a genius”… “Thank you hunny” is so sweet ❤❤❤

I would 100% love to see a version 2 of this inline filament dryer system, especially one that can do 4+ filaments at a time. I've been needing to print TPU, and something like this will be super cool!

The best way to remove surface moisture from the filament is to create a vacuum, use a vacuum pump in a container and remove the atmosphere, the moisture will sublimate off the filament. You don't have to unwind and rewind the filament. you can cycle the process once or twice. I am buying a vacuum pump for chemistry experiments to change the boiling points of whatever fluid I am working with.

"Then I did what I needed to do in the first place, research" - me, every time I start a new project haha. Great video, insane drying set up, and really interesting results!

"I want to print now" Love this. Keep up the good work!

100% yes, I would love to see a version 2! This is a MUCH better solution than filament dryers!

I would like to see a version 2 of this. One idea I had was to make your "in line" drier into the shape of a toroid so you could loop the same section of filament another time or more. Kind of like how a beer line chiller system works. just a quick idea. not fully thought out. Thanks for the great vid. subscribed!

YES, we're all interested in it, please do a follow up!

No idea how well this translates but I’ll share anyway. I used to work with giant coils of steel wire. When prepping it to go into the machine it was wrapped onto a a second drum a few times to help with feeding and getting it all lined up. Something like that inside the cans would add a lot of surface area without needing to double back via pulls or something else as other have suggested. My thought is another tube inside you can corkscrew the filament on giving a much more even and long drying time.

This is related to a classic problem given in thermodynamics classes. The question is how hot does the oven need to be to cook the potato in ten minutes. The answer is that it can’t be done because you’d set the potato on fire at the needed temperature. With filament it’s probably the glass transition temperature that puts a limit on how fast you can dry it out.

Retired now, I spent 2 years developing dehydration test system for our motor Stators, moisture in stators in AC not good. our measuring system used DC heat on the stator wires, and a vacuum and dry nitrogen purge. the real good part was the dry Nitrogen purge, i would apply about 15psi dry nitrogen to the stator holding cavity, pull vacuum, the nitrogen would absorb moisture and became the medium for me to capture it in a Liquid nitrogen bath. we would weigh test tube before and after to get the weight of the water pulled from stators. this was a 4 hr test cycle, not piratical for 3d printing. Just letting you know how a measuring system works... perhaps it might trigger a thought for you. Me i keep all my filament in dehydration containers all time. just because i know how hard it is to dehydrate. your idea super good - should help lots of us.

The filament needs a lot more time in the drying zone. I was going to do this but set the project aside a year or two ago. Unless you want a super long tube, you need a system of pulleys so the filament can run back and forth across the hot dry air zone several times. You probably also need active drive for the pulleys to avoid overloading the extruder.

What would be cool is a drybox with dedicated "in-line" dryer section. Basically use one heater and fan to pre-dry the complete spool, but have the end of the filament moved over some rollers inside the box before it leaves for the printer/extruder to improve drying of the filament from all sides. What i see a bit of a challenge with all the longer in-line dryer options is, that it should still be easy and fast to change the filament spools. So you would have to design it in a way that gives you good access to the full filament path. I'd love you to explore this topic more for sure!

I also live in an area with around 65% humidity basically all the time and would love to see this continue development. Subscribed!

Would love to see v2! Could so get behind a printable system. Maybe using standard PVC piping instead of the cans for more safety and less jank.

Kudos! You hit the nail on the head. Just like you, I hate drying a whole roll of filament for umpteen hours only to forget what it was that I needed the filament for when the cycle is done. 🥴 Keep up the research and development and I’ll keep watching. Good luck! 👍

This looks very interesting. I wouldn't necessarily go with tin cans, but rather a tube with relative big diameter (>6mm) and blow hot (60c-70c) air into this tube, either from the printer side, or from the dry box side. Allowing the tube to be open at the other end so the hot air and the humidity are free to egress the tube after drying the filament. There are plenty of PTFE tubes that can do this which are easy to buy from China, or you can use a PVC pipe, it might even work with your local garden hose as well - depending on the material it is made of.

This is a great idea! This is my first video I've found of yours. Excited to see more!

This is brilliant. I would try using copper pipes which can be bent into a spiral shape to have a much longer length for faster printing while taking up less space

In Poland we make filament dryers from cheap vegetable/fruit/mushroom dryers, since first printers became popular, as drying the forest mushrooms is very popular here. They have airflow, 250W heater driven by thermostat and only need replacement of drying sieves with spool holder.

I think this is REALLY interesting, and it seems you have proven it really hasn't been done in a feasible manner. I think there is a product here, just waiting to be invented and marketed. You got this, man! DO IT!

Very interested please keep it up! Looking forward to all your work regarding filament drying.

I'm very excited to see you explore this idea further. I understand that your goal is speed, but I have concerns about adding a possible point of failure to the printing loop. What i might propose as an in-between step is a reel to reel system: two dry boxes connected by the wind tunnel, a motor turns one spool and pulls the filament along, even if it only matched the current 40mm/sec speed you could dry a full spool in about two and a half hours, and by separating the drying from the printing I'd bet the speed could be dramatically increased.

I been thinking about this for ages, just never have time! Glad someone picked this up.

4:30 i think they might be using molecular sieves just based on appearance, but i’ve got no idea what else they’re using in the machine in order for them to justify that $2000 price tag

This is a great idea! Can’t wait to see how you continue to develop it. Great job on the video.

Five meters of 5mm ID tubing (like what you'd use for a bowdon tube, only larger) with a tee fitting at one end blowing hot dry air into it. The filament goes into the other end of the tube, against the flow of hot dry air, and comes through a seal on the other side of the tee and into the printer. The only issue is you'd need somewhat higher static pressure, maybe 1bar or so. Moisture migrating through a material pretty much acts like heat and can be fairly well modeled with thermodynamic equations. To get maximum moisture out of the material you want the highest possible difference in moisture content, highest possible temperature without damaging the filament, and the longest possible contact time. It's a heat exchanger except you're exchanging water instead of heat. Turn it into a very long and narrow counterflow unit and you'll probably get excellent results.

This is amazing. I would greatly appreciate seeing this turned into a finished project. Maintaining correct filament moisture levels is critical to good quality 3d printing. An inline filament dryer that has a reasonable cost and is effective would be a significant improvement.

The Sunlu S4 you showed has fans and vents. Airflow. It also has humidity sensors that will keep drying as the humidity rises. Also most dryers allow you to print directly from the machine, while it's drying.

Huge HUGE props to whoever is doing this editing. 👏👏👏

Thanks for giving me some motivation to get back to printing!

Extremely interested in this. Thanks for your effort already.

This looks promising! can't wait to see more details.

I really like this project. I think you have the starts of a really good idea and I think you are more than capable of making something that performs at least 80% of what the $2000 dryer would at a fraction of the cost.

Great idea and implementation!

Excellent work! A great pragmatic approach that deserves much credit. I'm very interested

Excellent work and video! Subscribed !✊

Your video confirms that behind every great man there is a great woman.

Really cool project! I'd love to see a version 2

I LOVE the editing!

YES! Well Done!!! This entire past year, I have been shouting from the hilltops that filament drying is THE most important next place to put our collective energies! Sorting out this challenge for pro users and major hurdle for those new to the hobby before the constant epic print failures frustrate them away is vital for the future of 3d printing!!! Try Activated Alumina granules next .... they can absorb Wayyyyyy more water and have a healthier lifespan than silica gel beads and the color changing dye used in them. You do need a higher temp to drive off the moisture and "recharge" the granules but this ensures even better performance over a longer span of time .... depending on your humidity level. I also recommend getting a dehumidifier for any closed room that you have your printers in.... so other off-the shelf technologies can easily be added right now for home users. I know dehumidifiers aren't cheap... but compared to destroying and wasting 2 rolls of filament in cost they are worth it..... get the biggest one you can so you don't have to empty it as often.... set a phone reminder as often as it takes to go empty it. ....and if you don't have dry boxes, or a dry room, enclose everything you can (entire printer and at the very least your filament, and add a cheap house fan for PLA cooling inside the enclosure ( so get/build the biggest one you can or get the smallest fan you can fit).....this will avoid the Creality X1 problems seen with excessive heat requiring the top be taken off to vent. 👍👍

I usually don't comment on videos, but this one deserves! Great video! Cheers from Brasil!

Love this innovative solution!

One thing that I have learned about TPU is that slower print speeds will exacerbate moisture issues. I used to have really bad surface finish with my TPU prints until I upped the print speed significantly.

I would definitely like to see version 2, I live in a very humid part of the country and if some cans and a little extra electricity can fix the issue without waiting for the dry box to work I am all for it!!! as for multiple drying, I think you would still only need to really dry one at a time since you only print with one filament at a time..

I would really like to see version 2. Great work and funny!

Very cool. Would love to see more of this.

You are definitely on the path to more success. I would like to see version 2.

Ace editing, best fillament thriller in a long time!

Super interesting stuff! Love the idea of a more effective filament drying method, thanks for your research towards this goal!

I've used the Thordsen. It works well enough after a sunlu dry box but lacks performance on fully saturated nylons. It would benefit from having actual airflow to improve the release of water. If you can make something a little better than the Thordsen then you would be doing good things for the community. The heater control element for their unit can be used with virtually anything else. When purchased from Aliexpress it ends up costing about 40 USD for just the control unit. So potentially you could take the Thordsen and reassemble it into something better.

She's right, you are a genius. This is awesome and I'd love to see more. Thanks for sharing.

thats what i do with my sunlu 4s, i'll dry it a few hours before i start printing & leave it on during printing. that way it is contantly preheating & drying the filiment while printing. it helps a lot with ABS i seemed to get less warping. this seems like a DIY version that would probably work pretty well. Keep it up Brother!

Very interested in a fast inline dryer. Great work on the video, loved it.

This is very interesting! i've been using silica for years, but kept them in a sealed box with the filaments in it. Never thought about "in-line" drying, i'll definitely try it

Very cool stuff definitely want to see more

Really interesting, thanks for your video

Cool idea, would like to see more!

Awesome idea. I would love to see this developed into a reliable open source solution. I can see this becoming the standard in filament drying. Perhaps it could be made physically smaller by coiling some filament inside the dryer, perhaps around a small wheel/which like thing.

I like your idea. I was going to make a big box dryer that would keep all my filament dry all the time using a 200 watt electric heater and a PID controler to control the temperature. The PID controler comes with a SSR and a K coupler and I also ordered a panel mount 5 amp circuit breaker to maker sure it was a good setup. Now, I think I'm going to use some EMT conduit and two rubber stoppers available from Home Depot to make a dryer like yours. Excellent idea.

Very interested to know the future of this!

As a guy that's worked in plastic injection molding for several years we have high speed drivers but with the speed of the drying process you risk calcifying the plastic which would give the plastic a very filmy appearance. It might even splay out of the nozzle of the printer. Since when most plastics catching they tend to get extra gassy when you melt them (yes all plastics gas it's just a matter of how much they release). This is why the dry boxes are the standard since it's a completely controlled environment. The air flow actually doesn't matter as much as you think since the temperature alone should cause the moisture in the plastic to steam. This is why often you'll either only have airflow going over the top of the dryers cabinet or even just a vent up top. Your solution is mostly fine since TPU is more or less a pretty forgiving material. But ABS you'll have nothing but problems.

This is amazing! Keep going

great video, version 2 would be amazing!

bro, it's a great approach!

Very good! With a PTC heater and the same material I'm making a chamber heater. I Have no needs in instant dehydrator, for the moment (I have a chamber for the mounted filament, so when I become to design I chose the filament and meanwhile it dehydrate, and the for the others I use vacuum bags) but I have a suggestion for you: if you give a longer path to the filament with a pulley system (like the grouped ones for sails, for example), you can optimise your idea, but only for flexible, obviously, or if you use a flexible extensible exhaust tube, you can achieve larger radius curve so you can work with non flexible too. For silcagel: with a little precision scale (0.01g) you can make bags with fine mesh tissue (new silcagel pre-weighted), and with a microwave oven you (250g=max 450w) you can renew perfectly the silcagel in about 15 minutes, checking the bags original weight. Is important to cut the session in parts (I use 5/10min) and in between, you take off the bag and moving it, you leave evaporate the moisture and cool the silcagel, until you can hold it in your hand. Is important that the power of microwave never can make the bag so hot that you can't hod it in your hand for less than one/two seconds: going over the 100C° degrees can only degrade the silcagel.

I think this concept has a lot of potential! I think the easiest way to go about it is by using a slightly leaky system. This would let dry, hot air suck the moisture out of the filament and transfer it to the environment. Ideally you'd have a heating element at the bottom so the hot air goes up, and the filament going down. You could have a bunch of 2-5mm holes in the system that double as entry holes for the system, and a separate cap for the exit that does not let much air through past the filament (to reduce condensation there). The side would be a good place for something like a hair dryer to push air into the system. Having the heating be outside of the container would also reduce issues with heat creep and filament softening along the path. Coincidentally, I think increased heat creep and jams due to filament arriving at the extruder pre heated might be why this hasn't taken off yet. I have to say though, your tpu looks like it is stored in a shower or something. Mine only gets that bad if I leave it out of its box for months. Do you live in a very humid climate?

I really like this idea.. Keep it up!

A quick search into this and there's two approaches that seem common. One is vacuum which was mentioned by other people. However, microwave drying is also apparently a good method to remove water from plastic since microwaves are tuned well to excite water molecules specifically. The main need of any method is to not introduce too much heat or you can degrade the plastic. We microwave plastic containers all the time, but we never really think about moisture content in the plastics. We also use many plastics in food use that don't really absorb any moisture. One would need to test if there is sufficient moisture in a filament spool to cause heat problems, aka melting or degradation of the plastic molecules where we might see a much weaker part.

In my mind, I envision a single piece copper tube with a diameter close 2-3mm in which the filament goes through. A 3d printed adaptar is printed at the end that makes a Y, one side of the Y allows the filament to go outside to the printer, the other end goes to a much bigger opening that connects to a 120mm fan that creates a vacuum. . On the other side of the tube, you have the same Y: Just that instead of a connection to a fan, you're breathing dry air from a box full of silica gel (Similar to the first commercial product that you showed. . Then, you can wrap heating elements around the copper tube (Like the ones used in motorcycle handle grips) and finally and insulation around all of that that would keep the copper tube heated at a reasonable 60-70 degrees without too much use of energy. This feels like such a cool project!

What an interesting and genius idea!

I love this idea!

Interested for sure, keep at it!

Awesome idea!

Excited to see v2!

Definitely interested in part 2. ypu earned another subscriber

That's very promising, dude. This is very insightful. An out-of-the-box idea on how to dry desiccant and filaments more efficiently and conveniently. Yes, fine tune it and post another video(s).

The KZfaq Gods blessed you my man, congrats on getting 80k views in 24hrs.

Filament drying has never been this epic. Luvit

I would love to see more! Also you video and editing is very funny!

There are a few ceramic heater cores that are in a cylinder shape for 3d printing. A few could be added in series. It's might be better because you could more precisely control temperature and be way closer to the filament, but you would need some electronics. Something like the CHC kit 24v

I wonder if you could take a piece of spiral-cut PTFE and run that down the length of the can, then use some sort of funnel to ensure most of the air gets directed into the PTFE spiral alongside the filament, so it's guided down the center but can breath outwards all around it. Also you might be interested in the membrane based electric dehumidifiers. "mdl series dehumidifier" is a good example you can search.

I would love to see a version 2. Thank you for sharing

Cool concept! There are some things you could do to make it work more efficiently. First, increase the time of contact with the air. I think the cans are a good prototype, but maybe a coil of tubes or hose would make it more space-efficient. Also, it would be best if you tried to blow hot air in the opposite direction of the filament movement because that maximizes the moisture gradient between air and filament (it is called counter-current flow).

I have a $39 stack dehydrator with a cardboard outer sleeve. I do a few spools at a time then store them in sealed containers with moisture capture sachets. Works perfectly. I do like your novel approach. 👍🏻

Same here, definitely a great ideal

I have an idea to further your research. How about making a heated container box for several filament spools. That box would allow output for whatever filament is chosen. It would feature a little fan and a heater. Both heater and fan would run 24/7. The chosen filament would slowly exit the box toward the printer, guaranteeing an always present dry material. The fan would only supply a very little flow, just enough to slowly renew the air via some small opening, but not enough to bring an undesired extra humidity. The temperature could reach well over 70C, making sure that the relative humidity becomes very low. The box could easily contain many spools, like 5 or 6. It could be made out of plywood, an easily available material that exhibits decent heat insulation characteristics. The inside could be lined up with an insulation lining. Just a thought.

Subscribed. I am 100% on board for this..

This is super interesting would love to see a follow up!

Store your filaments in a pumped out vacuum bag with indicator silica. Don't leave filament in an environment with a RH% higher than you want your filament to absorb. There are many mods that can be done to the basic Sunlu dryer to recirculate the heated through indicator silica. If your're printing in an environment with a high RH%, stick the filament in a filament dryer while your printing, or at least on a roller in a food box containing indicator silica with the outlet hole just large enough for the filament to pass through, and keep the device you're using close to the 3D printer while you print.

Yes, this makes so much more sense than drying the entire roll of filament... I never understood who dries an entire roll of filament for 8 hours. In the US, sure, electricity is basically free over there for some reason, but in most other countries it's just crazy to run an oven for 8 hours just to dry some filament... Would love to see a more "proper" V2.

this is an awesome idea. makes sense to be able to do a flash dryer but id think it would take more then this short of a run.

neat...really neat job!

Great job, Bravo!

I like your wife, she is keeping you humble. My lovely wife is the same, she makes me sufferable, God bless her.

I am very interested in this experiment. Please continue testing this! Sub gained.

I have a similar setip to this but a bit more over the top perhaps. I run filament through a relatively long tube that passes hot dry air over it, the air is dried by first passing over molecular sieves and since it's almost an entirely closed loops the molecular sieves don't have to be dried very often. Only downside I've found with this other than the initial cost of the dessicant is that it can work too well for nylon, if you remove all the moisture from it, it becomes brittle it turns out.

I am very interested to see this idea explored further. Inline filament drying seems like a no brainer compared with the other solutions on the market!

Would love to see V2!! 2k+ seems pretty wild for something like that when your at home so love to see projects like this.