this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2024
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Using old filaments (self.3dprinting)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Valmond to c/3dprinting
 

Hello,

I put my homemade 3D printer in the garage when I moved 2 years ago, the filaments I had were maybe 2 years old and worked well.

I bulk bought them on aliexpress or maybe alibaba.

Now, the printer needs a refreshing, a bit of all kind of electrical & mechanical stuff and also figuring out how to run it from my new computer, and I wonder if I should buy some new filament so that I won't have to care about any old filament problems or what do you think? Is my filament dead or maybe ok?

Thanks!

Edit: thank you all!

I'll go with buy a new high quality one to get everything up and running, and then I'll check out the quality of the old spools. Who are stored open, but in a airtight box with a kilo of, now grey, alibaba deciccant pellets.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 17 hours ago

I have tried it and it works. It is not as good as a dedicated drier and not as energy efficient.

The worst filament was some 5 y old pla that was so brittle it snapped when unrolling from the spool, that just couldn't be fixed on the heated bed. I had to dry it at 50°C for 12h to be usable again.