Many 3D printing manufacturers are producing not only printers but also 3D printing accessories. One of the accessories that the companies produce is known as filament dry box.
Does PLA Need to be Kept Dry?
When you remove PLV filament from the sealed package, it can start absorbing moisture in the air. This is especially the case during the humid months. When the material absorbs moisture, the result can be clogged nozzles and failed prints.
A 3D printing filament drying box protects PLA filament from absorbing moisture from the air. The dry box, also known as an eBox, also stores and dispenses the filament to the 3D printer.
One of the best filament dryer boxes on the market is the eSUN eBox Lite Dryer.
AVAILABLE ON ESUN
In this eSUN eBox Lite review, we’ll go through an overview of the filament storage box, how it works, and whether you it will be a good 3D printer accessory to buy.
Before we get started, let’s go through an overview of the company.
What is eSUN?
eSUN is a high-tech Chinese enterprise specializing in the research, development and production of degradable polymer materials such as PLA and other types of plastics. The company also develops a wide range of 3D printing materials.
eSUN eBOX Lite Review
The eSUN eBOX Lite is a PLA dryer box designed to make it easy to print various types of plastics, especially those that absorb moisture.
The main function of the eBOX is to ensure that the temperature is consistent during printing and that the plastic dries well. Apart from this, the eSUN dryer box can weigh the plastic coil and show how many grams of plastic you have left, and also protects it from dust and moisture.
The dryer box is designed to hold the reel on rotating shafts rather than hanging on the holder. Therefore, the box can be used to store almost any type of plastic reel.
There is a long and wide guide tube that runs from the dryer box to the printer. This guide tube offers prevents the dust from settling on the plastic during printing.
The eSUN filament dryer box has a small display through which you can set the required temperature, adjust the weight of the coil, and set a timer.
You can set the eBOX operating time (up to 10 hours) through the timer.
The dryer box protects the filament from absorbing moisture by decreasing humidity in the surrounding environment. This is made possible thanks to a small compartment, where you need to put a bag of silica gel and a small fan that drives air through the bag.
For best results, you should dry the coils for about 10 hours for best results.
After getting our eSUN eBox Lite dryer box from Esun, we decided to test its efficiency by measuring the difference in temperature and humidity using a weather station with a small external unit. We placed the outdoor unit in the eBOX, and left the main unit in the room.
From our observations, we realized that a gradual decrease in humidity occurs in the first 2-3 hours of box operation. After 10 hours of operation, the difference in humidity reached 10-12%.
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On a rainy day, when the indoor humidity is higher, the difference would be even greater.
ESUN has conducted printed tests to determine the optimum drying time for the plastic. For the tests, PVA and ePA (nylon) were used due to their unpredictable properties.
PVA Plastics
When PVA absorbs moisture, it starts to bubble and prints very unevenly.
ePA (nylon)
The drier the nylon, the more transparent the model becomes. Printing with raw nylon is very problematic as the material does not adhere well to the print bed and shrinks very much.
eSUN eBOX Lite Manual (PDF)
If you’d like to learn more about this 3D printer filament box, check download the manual below.
[std alias=”esun_ebox_manual_download”]eSUN eBox Lite Filament Dryer Review
After opening the sealed package of your PLA filaments or other plastics, the materials begin to absorb moisture almost immediately. There is almost nothing you can do about it. And we know that the materials do not print well when they have absorbed moisture.
To avoid failed prints, you can store the filaments in a sealed container filled with silica gel.
If you usually print plastics with unpredictable properties and do not want to figure out how to urgently dry the plastic using the oven or other method, get the eSUN filament drying box.
The other option is to store the plastics in an oven or silica gel container.
The eSUN eBOX dryer is an excellent accessory for printers with an external container for small spool volumes. For example, with UP Mini 2, only coils with plastic up to 0.5 – 0.75 kg are placed in the outer container. This dryer box will ensure your filaments do not absorb moisture, which can make them print unevenly.
The eSUN eBOX dryer is available on Esun.
