Mass Portal filament dryer FD1

Humidity is one of the biggest filament enemies as it leads to the breakup of polymer molecules and causes numerous extrusion and quality problems such as foaming, bubble formation, oozing, stringing, color changes, poor interlayer adhesion and warping. Among the countless solutions for keeping filament dry there are filament dryers, such as the Mass Portal FD1 filament dryer.

Image 1: An FD1 filament dryer and 3D printer setup. Source: Mass Portal.

The FD1 filament dryer is manufactured by Mass Portal SIA, a Latvian designer and manufacturer of high quality open material desktop and industrial 3D printers and 3D printing peripherals. The FD1 filament dryer not only dries but also conditions and feeds the filament into the 3D printer through a teflon tube to limit moisture regain. It can fit 1 spool of filament of maximum 1 kg of weight and dimensions of up to 200 mm in diameter and 80 mm of width. A wide variety of materials can be dried in the FD1 filament dryer, for example ABS, Nylon, PC, PET(g), PMMA, TPU or PA CF.

Video 1: Introduction of the Mass Portal FD1 filament dryer. Source: Mass Portal.

The drying process with the Mass Portal FD1 filament dryer is quite straightforward and it can be divided into 9 steps explained in this video by the manufacturer. It is worth pointing out that the rotating desiccant disc solution is unique to the Mass Portal filament dryers and makes the further steps more efficient. This is due to the fact that the drier the incoming air, the faster it will heat up and the more moisture it will absorb from the filament.

Video 2: How does the FD1 filament dryer work? Source: Mass Portal.

The quiet FD1 filament dryer operates in the temperature range of 40-80 ºC and it has inbuilt overcurrent and overheating protection, as well as an open/close door sensor. It has a fully insulated metal structure (safe to the touch even when operating), a glass front door, an illuminated chamber, a carrying handle, a direct feeding system, replaceable HEPA and active carbon filters, and a rotary desiccant renewal system.

Image 2: A spool loaded into the filament dryer. Source: Mass Portal.

The dryer is compatible with all Mass Portal 3D printers and most open material 3D printers on the market using the most common filament diameters of 1.75 mm, 2.85 mm and 3.00 mm. Once the filament spool is placed in the FD1 filament dryer, the 3D printing process will only begin once the filament has been dried and prepared for feeding. Drying a 1 kg filament spool at 60-80 ºC can take around 5 hours, depending on the initial moisture content and the filament type.

Image 3: The feeding tube. Source: Mass Portal.

The drying procedures can be selected, edited, managed and shared through the touch screen interface on the device itself (single-click selection of drying profiles for the most popular filament types) or with the help of the advanced FabCloud software. Printing profiles for specific branded materials can also be loaded and used on the FD1 filament dryer from the FabCloud database. The FabCloud software also allows the user to monitor the drying or printing process from a computer or smartphone. Custom drying profiles can also be created and saved by the user by creating multi step processes with varying temperatures, airflow speeds and drying times. The FD1 filament dryer connects through USB, Ethernet and WiFi.

The FD1 filament dryer by Mass Portal is a compact desktop solution for making sure that filaments are always properly dehumidified before the 3D printing process starts. The FD1 filament dryer has a user friendly interface as well as multiple safety features, many connectivity options and up-to-date drying profiles at the user’s disposal. It allows the user to save time, money, material and effort, and thus enjoy an efficient 3D printing workflow.