Alright, alright, yes, we know it isn’t exactly the sexiest topic related to 3D printing, but moisture is pretty important nonetheless. Moisture, much like love, is all around us. You can feel it in your fingers (and in your toes) but the evil vapoury guff can absolutely muck your filament up if you’re not careful.
The Maltese glue enthusiasts over at Thought3D have presumably been keeping an eye on this, because the firm has just announced Drywise, a new filament drying system that it says “…takes out the guesswork when 3D printing hygroscopic materials.” Hygrowhat?
Hygroscopic is a word describing a substance that takes pleasure from absorbing moisture from the air. Many 3D printing filaments have a particular penchant for this, which can be a royal pain in the backside when it comes to printing, as a saturated filament can mess with its properties. That can leave you with awful print quality hosting a set of artifacts even Lara Croft would be proud of – but we’re talking stringing, oozing, and a surface finish rougher than an alligator’s armpit, not the Dagger of Xian.
Thought3D seemingly doesn’t have a particularly high opinion of existing filament drying solutions. In a press release for the new Drywise, the company takes a wee swipe at what it describes as “cumbersome” existing solutions such as “costly commercial products” and “money-saving make-shift boxes with desiccant.” Fair play, neither of those sound good, but what has the Drywise got going for it?
Different it is, that’s for sure: It’s an in-line filament dryer, so you don’t need to contain an entire spool in a heated dry box. Instead, you can leave it where it is and feed the filament through the Drywise prior to it entering the printer. The Drywise treats the filament as it passes through it, so even if your filament has been left out in the inevitably moist conditions we all seem to live in, it’ll still be in, theoretically, tip-top condition when it reaches the hot end.
As such, it doesn’t do the whole spool at once. With the Drywise, only a section of filament is treated at a time, with sensors monitoring that section and ensuring it leaves the machine and enters the printer in the best possible condition for 3D printing. Thought3D says you’ll need to get the Drywise going 40-90 minutes prior to printing kick-off, but once it’s up and running, it’ll continue working on filament as your print goes. It also features exchangeable and rechargeable desiccant cartridges for reduced downtime.
Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? It does, but it’s still early days. You can pre-order a Drywise now by paying $300 upfront and then another $1,399 before delivery, making it $1,699 in total. Acting quickly and ordering now could also net you a 15% discount, at least for the time being. The price might not be something an average hobbyist would probably fork out, but for a business, especially when working with more professional-grade materials, it isn’t a huge ask if it delivers consistent results in printing.
There’s a catch, though. The press release states that you’ll be pre-ordering a “Drywise beta.” This machine will be initially calibrated for Nylon and Nylon composites, with a high-temperature materials upgrade coming in 2022. So, ordering now doesn’t really bag you the full finished product, it seems.
The 2.85 mm filament model is expected to ship from Feb ’22, and the 1.75 mm version following from July ’22. Initially, you’ll only be able to get one of these if you live in the EU, but from July of next year, the machines should have across the pond and into the US market.
What do you think? Is the Drywise a hottie or a nottie? Feel free to leave any thoughts, feelings, or great puns in the comment section below.
License: The text of "Drywise In-line to Heat Up Filament Drying" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.