this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2025
25 points (96.3% liked)

3DPrinting

16323 readers
140 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or [email protected]

There are CAD communities available at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
j4k3
andypiper
henry_rowengartner
[email protected]
25
What is your ideal ambient humidity? (self.3dprinting)
submitted 1 day ago by Lexam to c/3dprinting
7 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I print in my basement and keep a dehumidifier on 35%. Right now it's down to 20% because winter. I have a dryer and will usually dry out a new roll. But many times I'm lazy and leave them on the spool and they usually print just fine.

top 7 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Stuff that's in use I try to keep inside the enclosure, no humidity control in my garage so at the whims of humid continental climate, gets nasty in the summer. I keep things vac sealed with silca gel for long periods and print from dry boxes or enclosure mounts to take advantage of the lower humidity while printing.

Working on a powered dry box using solid state dehumidifiers like used in this, hope that'll help with humidity issues.

Some filament isn't super sensitive, my experience pa6>petg>abs=pla.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah, it's -11F/-24C right now and the humidistat is saying it's 22% right now. Usually, in the summer time humidity ranges from 50% to 75%. But I have stored filaments like PLA and even PETG open on a shelf without care for over a year. Even now, the boxes they are stored in are not air tight.

I have never need to dry PLA and I do dry PETG occasionally if I really need that super clean print. Otherwise I just either manually remove the slight stringing of the PETG or I totally ignore it. I do keep a spool of TPU around and I do dry that before use. But it seems to holds up well for several weeks just hanging on the printer.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

It heavily depends on the material if it will print fine at higher humidity, but having around 20-35 seems good afaik. I printed PLA successfully at around 55% for a long period before switching rooms and never had problems, but I wouldnt store PETG/TPU there without a sealed box

[–] IMALlama 2 points 1 day ago

My printer and filament live in my basement. We have a dehumidifier down there set to 55%. Some filament spools take a year plus for me to go through and I've never dried any of them. I have not noticed a meaningful change in print quality, but I also rarely go from an old to a new spool of the same material back to back.

I printed mostly PETG and ASA with some PLA thrown in.

[–] tty5 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I store all my filament in ziplock bags with some 3a molecular sieve - even after 2 years in 45-65% humidity at 21C room I don't have to dry PETG.

[–] Lexam 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I do about the same. Usually I'll throw the silica packets that come with the roll in my filament dryer and then in the bag.

[–] tty5 3 points 1 day ago

Check silica packet effectiveness below 50% humidity... It's not great. Molecular sieve on the other hand has no problem getting humidity below 5%. I managed to buy a 10kg bucket of 3A sieve for about $120 and it's going to be enough for many years.