How long do you have filament sitting “in the open”? I mostly print with a single filament roll at a time, and just leave it on the printer. A 1kg roll lasts me several weeks. For long time storage I keep it in an air tight box with disiccant pouches.
But how long can I let it sit before I should start storing it with disiccant and/or drying the filament before use?
I’ve literally never had my filament not just sitting on the spool on my printer, which is just kept on my desk in my living room. Never had any problems with it.
In a high humidity environment (apparently different from most lemmy users, but like where most people live), PLA starts to visibly degrade in a month on 60% humidity, and much quicker when it’s higher. Not enough to destroy your prints, but enough to harm their finish and possibly a bridge here and there.
I don’t see any point on storing them better if you are still printing once in a while. But it may be useful to dry them before a more demanding print or every few months.
So i live in Germany, and i just put a bag with silica over the active roll and call it a day. But it depends very much on the material you print with, i print PLA and that dosn’t pull much moisture out of the air.
I used to just open store, but I live in a desert. I now store and print from cheap cereal container diy dry boxes with desiccant. Prints have gotten much better for me. I almost always print PETG
Depends on the relative humidity in your house and the type of filament you use. I have usually ~30% humidity in my flat.
- PLA reall doesn’t care about humidity. I’ve got some 5yo rolls that still print like new, without storing them air-tight.
- PETG is fussier. After a few days they start to act up. I always have them in the filament dryer while printing.
- Specialist filaments (e.g. Nylon, Carbon, Wood) might be much more hydroscopic, depending on the material.
