Made a filament storage box

[TeeJayHoward]

Requirements:

• Store 6x 1kg spools in an environmentally protected 500mm x 250mm area
• Dehumidifer / Silica Gel
• Cheap
• Able to pop open a lid and grab a spool without removing other spools

Problem: It doesn't exist. (Although a plain ol' RubberMaid container is darn close!)
Solution: 3-D print a box. (Well, two of them)

The largest thing I've ever printed at 250mm x 210mm. It's literally the entire size of my print bed, and uses (almost) a full 1kg (300m) spool! Still need to design a handle/lock for the front. I considered printing 6x individual spool boxes. I think I could have made them fit, but the larger box is more stable. The typical filament dryer boxes were too wide. The fancy dryer boxes didn't hold enough spools. Total cost for my custom solution was about $20 per box, including the metal rod for the hinge, the hygrometer, the filament, heat-set inserts (not yet used), silica gel, bolts... Everything. One down, one left to print. Of course, I'm tweaking the design as I go, so who knows where it'll end up...

 

[HeavensCloud]

That's cool, looks much nicer than a big box. I'm still gonna stick with my Rubbermaid tote and Damp-Rid though, I have one of those Sun-Lu or whatever driers on my active spool.

 

[Snappshoota]

Nice! I just got my first 3D printer. (Ender 3 v2)

Question, is it really necessary to keep them enclosed? I bought the printer used, and it came with 2 spools, 1 sealed in bag, and 1 opened. Ive used both and havent had any issues.

Also is that orange pretty bright when its printed? Got a buddy that wants some things done in the brightest orange I can find.

 

[HeavensCloud]

Got a buddy that wants some things done in the brightest orange I can find.

PLA? Look for neon, electric, or fluorescent in the name of the orange. It will be pretty bright. Or you could go with something opaque and incorporate some form of lighting.

 

[Nobu]

Wouldn't this have been less expensive to make out of 1/4" plywood? I mean it's cool, but seems a bit much for something so simple. Otoh, there's no kill like overkill.

 

[TeeJayHoward]

Nice! I just got my first 3D printer. (Ender 3 v2)

Question, is it really necessary to keep them enclosed? I bought the printer used, and it came with 2 spools, 1 sealed in bag, and 1 opened. Ive used both and havent had any issues.

Also is that orange pretty bright when its printed? Got a buddy that wants some things done in the brightest orange I can find.

Depends on your ambient humidity and the types of filament you use. I wouldn't say it's absolutely necessary - I've had cardboard spools sitting in cardboard boxes for years that still print just fine. But when you're going to print something that'll take a day (or 10), it's nice to remove any variables.

It's actually red, my camera just doesn't show it correctly thanks to the terribad overhead light I've got downstairs.

Wouldn't this have been less expensive to make out of 1/4" plywood?

Seen the cost of plywood lately? Sheesh. But yeah, it's overkill.

 

[Nobu]

$26 for 4ft x 8ft (32 sqft) BCX Sanded pine

So you could make 2 x ~2.5ft cubes out of pine for $26, or $13 each. Of course you could stretch the pine a bit by making a wider rectangular box.

That said, lowes materials (whose prices I quoted) are very much meh at best, and maybe the prices reflect that (besides they might be higher where you are). So I understand it might be prohibitive where you are, besides the tooling needed to work with materials of that size...and the pine wouldn't look great even painted. But if you have the tools already and a good supplier, it can be much cheaper.

 

[NattyKathy]

Ey great build, OP!

Fortunately for me I live in a very dry climate so I've been good with just reusing the retail spool packaging tossing a dessicant bag in. Only problem I've had is when I accidentally left the printer loaded with PLA for a couple months (oops).

If I was still in the south I'd be all about a solution like this tho. Well done!

 

[MooCow]

Very nice. I have the EIBOS filament dryer box and I want to print a side extension for it so I can hold two or three spools in it and dry all of them all at once. I print mostly with PETG, so I want to keep my filament as dry as possible. PETG is around $10 per Kilogram spool, if you buy 4 spools at a time (Elegoo Rapid PETG black x 4 pack that regularly goes on sale for $40). I keep my filament bagged with new silica gel packets quite religiously. Drying your filament can be risky - if you use too high of a temperature you can risk losing dimensional accuracy or solidifying the filament around the spool. So it's important to try your best to keep everything dry and it can be a real pain playing with vacuum seal bags.

In the winter, the average humidity indoors was 10 to 15%, but summer is here and it's 80% outside, 45% inside and I expect it to get worse.

Are you going to screw in some pneumatic PTFE tube couplers on the outside and feed the filament out through a tube to the printer? Or use a rubber grommet to hold the PTFE tube?

 

[TeeJayHoward]

Are you going to screw in some pneumatic PTFE tube couplers on the outside and feed the filament out through a tube to the printer? Or use a rubber grommet to hold the PTFE tube?

Nope. Don't wanna feed from the box itself - it doesn't take long to swap.