Store PLA

I wander,

Some articles state that PLA will attract moisture, kind of hygroscopic material ?

Anyway, I received a number of spools oit of a Swedish factory and all were sealed and included Silicagel
However, when i walk through the Thingiverse library, I see people having multiple spools mounted above their printer.

This seems nice, put 10 colors on the ceiling and choose whichever to start printing from.

Main question than remains: will the PLA degrade over time being just there, doing nothing ?

Rgrds Thomas
Www.3daybreaker.blogspot.com

It depends how humid your room gets. In the UK I have about 50% humidity indoors and I don't have a problem storing PLA for years in open spools. Other people have reported they need to dry it before use, otherwise they get steam bubbles and ooze.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

I get the picture.

So, I will get me a hygroscope in the garage.

How would someone dry the PLA before usage if it had been to moist?

Thomas

Different solutions were experimented :

- put it in an owen for some time :
* fast.
* dangerous for your filament quality (have to experiment with temperature and duration in order to avoid the filament to deform / stick to itself).

- store it in a sealed packaging with some moisture-greedy material.
* slower than the owen (might take weeks).
* possible materials : rice, various dessicants.

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Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

As a manufacturer of Filament I hopefully can throw a little light in here.

PLA is very Hydrscopic it attracts and retains moisture like a sponge (not litterally), we have had to manufacture a very large forced air preheater running the return air throught a box full of Silica Gel.

Store in zip lock bags where possible,
Double bag it if feasable. -- USE Silica Gel Sachets in each Bag the more the better.

If you have to dry the PLA -
1st -- Fan Forced Oven on the coldest setting possible so the oven is JUST running.
2nd option is to make a light box drier, basically a large sealable cardboard box with a standard 60 watt globe set throught a hole in the lid.

you will need to set a decent gap between the light bulb and te PLA as it will get hot under the globe 2 ft or 600 mm minimum.

simply seal the box and switch the light on for a few hours and please check ocassionally as this is a rudimentary oven ( I have seen chickens cooked this way !) See here if you want to cook a turkey using this method

hope this helps

-SNO-

Hi mr Snowman,

Would you confirm that leaving the PLA in the garage, on the spool, no seals, that printing would suffer in the future?

Thomas

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www.3daybreaker.blogspot.com

Orca V4.4 rebuild to Ramps with Mk8 and E3D, as well as a Rostock Delta Mini and an OLO in backorder :-)

I've had PLA sitting out for months with zero problems. I do, however, live in Arizona where the air is quite dry.