somoene finally built a solid state dehumidifier based filament housing

[coppercone2]

we have been talking about it for god knows how long but no one has the balls to buy the membrane and actually mount it to a box!!!, until this guy did. must have been like 6 eevblog humidity congresses held up to this point

[DavidAlfa]

The balls? Nope, maybe you meant the money.  That thing costs about $150.

[thm_w]

He showed the cheap ones are $10-20, but presumably it would take months for it to dehumidify a wet roll of filament.
https://www.micro-dehumidifier.com/products/price-list-rosahl-dehumidifiers/

Seems there is just this one company making them, no cheaper alternatives?

[mawyatt]

Interesting technology, but leaving excessive O2 around in a closed container will likely cause issues with some materials!!

Best,

[all_repair]

leaving excessive O2 around in a closed container will likely cause issues with some materials!!

Very true, I have many drawers of parts to protect from corrosion.  Reduce moisture but introduce more O2 shall cause more harm than good.

[Marco]

I wonder if a box of silica gel, a heater and some a solenoid controlled vents wouldn't be faster.

[thm_w]

I wonder if a box of silica gel, a heater and some a solenoid controlled vents wouldn't be faster.

Heater is obviously faster, as was noted in the video, but energy costs are high right now for some countries, so they are avoiding that solution.
I'm sure a 3W heater would not work as well as this device.

[NiHaoMike]

Interesting technology, but leaving excessive O2 around in a closed container will likely cause issues with some materials!!

Then put something inside to use up the oxygen without generating moisture? Carbon comes to mind as something that's cheap and readily oxidizes, the tricky part is figuring out how to do that in a well controlled manner, without generating hazardous amounts of CO.

Heater is obviously faster, as was noted in the video, but energy costs are high right now for some countries, so they are avoiding that solution.
I'm sure a 3W heater would not work as well as this device.

How about a simple solar thermal collector?

[chip45]

Hey all,

I made a cereal storage box based filament drybox with the smaller RS1 membrane from Rosahl. Works pretty well for keeping new (fresh unpacked) spools or pre-dried spools (lying around for days/weeks before) at 15% rel. humidity (compared to 60% outside in my region). And consumes just 0.2W power at that level constantly. Made a bunch of 3D printed parts for it and it's powered from USB. See on Printable.com if interested: https://www.printables.com/model/889550-filament-drybox-with-rosahl-rs1-electric-dehumidif

I also grabbed a larger M-3M1R membrane which currently keeps a 50l storage box with 15 spools at constantly 15% rel. humidity. Also made a 3D printed mounting cover with USB supply but that's not yet on Printables. Will add soon.

Yes, these membranes are a bit costly but they are very, very efficient in the long term compared to regularly using some Sunlu filament dryer or even an oven to dry spools or recover desiccant. I use four of the RS1 based dryboxes with the filament types I use frequently which is still less than 1W of constant power.

Cheers,
ER!K

[coppercone2]

thats actually pretty important if you are proliferating these printers. Its actually a green technology

0.2 Watts is impressive

[abeyer]

Its actually a green technology

...as long as you ignore all the plastic waste it generates. PLA is pretty inoffensive as far as those things go, but many others start getting into the stuff that will likely outlast humanity.

[mikerj]

Carbon comes to mind as something that's cheap and readily oxidizes

Only if you get it hot enough, it doesn't easily oxidise at room temperature just by exposure to oxygen.  You can get oxygen absorber in little packets like silica gel, but the common ones use iron which requires a significant level of humidity to be effective so not much use here.  Other  types can work with low humidity (e.g. PharmaKeep) but I don't know of any that can be easily regenerated.

[ejeffrey]

I wonder if a box of silica gel, a heater and some a solenoid controlled vents wouldn't be faster.

Heater is obviously faster, as was noted in the video, but energy costs are high right now for some countries, so they are avoiding that solution.
I'm sure a 3W heater would not work as well as this device.

It's not really comparable to a heater.  If you want to dry it some hygroscopic materials you need a heater.  The point of the drybox whether with dessicant or a membrane dehumidifier is to store already dried spools so they don't get a chance to reabsorb moisture.  Technically if you store them in a dry box they will eventually dry out but they could take months.  3 watts for a few months is more energy than a heater for a few hours.

[Stege]

We sell these membranes and they work as ER!K and many others agree. Low energy maintenance free drying must be a better than heating, and servicing desiccants. Decisions should based on fact not claptrap. So, if you want to know more on using Rosahl membranes for filament drying, start with this blog post: https://micro-dehumidifier.com/rosahl-membranes-dry-printer-filaments-dry/

If the blog doesn't answer your questions, reply and we will try to answer them.

Stege