Drywise Filament Dryer

Drywise is an active inline filament drying device intended for 1.75 mm and 2.85 mm filaments, for users of industrial desktop 3D printers and for specific engineering filaments. The brand Drywise is part of Thought3D, the manufacturer of the famous Magigoo adhesive.

Video 1: The Drywise filament dryer. Source: Drywise.

Some of the materials compatible with the Drywise filament dryer are shown in the table below. A full and regularly updated list of compatible materials is available on the website of the manufacturer.

Table 1: Materials compatible with the Drywise filament dryer. Source: Drywise.

Plastics tend to absorb moisture from the surrounding air (hygroscopy), especially, Nylon, PC and PET. If a filament is not stored and dried properly, as is extruded, the accumulated moisture rapidly expands, boils and ruptures, forming bubbles in the extruded plastic.

Image 1: The effects of humidity on extruded filament. Source: Drywise.

This leads to surface quality issues, also known as artifacts, poor adhesion and structural defects in the 3D printed part. Using the Drywise filament dryer is an effective way to avoid filament degradation and ensure the highest quality of prints with engineering materials.

Image 2: 3D prints without and with the use of the Drywise filament dryer. Source: Drywise.

In Image 2 the difference can be seen between parts 3D printed with the same material and on the same 3D printer, one without the use of the Drywise filament dryer (left in each photo) and the other with the use of Drywise (right in each photo).

While traditional drying methods (for example in an oven) can take up to 48 hours, damage the filament or the spool, and still be ineffective and imprecise as the user has to guess or estimate the drying parameters for a given material.

The Drywise filament dryer only takes about 50 minutes to pretreat the filament before the 3D printing process starts. During 3D printing, Drywise only dries the section of filament that is 3D printed, which speeds up the process. Furthermore, Drywise comes with pre calibrated settings, adapted to the specific material chosen by the user.

Image 3: The user interface for material selection. Source: Drywise.

Inline means that the Drywise filament dryer dries the filament on the go, during the printing process, which eliminates the need for countless hours of filament drying before printing, and risking the filament absorbing moisture anyway. The filament is fed through a guided input and output port.

Furthermore, the Drywise filament preheater add-on (visible in Image 4 above the desiccant tube) can be purchased separately to help pre-dry very hygroscopic materials before they enter the dryer.

Image 4: Two different setups with the Drywise filament dryer and a 3D printer. Source: Drywise.

The Drywise filament dryer is not only fast but also intelligent, safe, user friendly, and upgradable. Drywise is constantly expanding the list of compatible materials, certified for use with the device, with calibrated settings included. The device is equipped with smart sensors that help avoid the overheating and overdrying of the filament. The same sensors also detect moments of inactivity and turn off the heaters to ensure safety.

The user-friendly interface consists of a 4.3” touch panel, LED lights and auditory signals. The user interface is intuitive and alerts the user in case of any error or malfunction through notifications on the screen, and red and green LED lights. The screen displays warnings for various occurrences, such as the need to change or connect the desiccant, check the o-rings on the filament ports, or in case no filament movement is detected or when the user has loaded a filament incompatible with the device.

The Drywise filament dryer is an excellent option for the drying of engineering filaments without having to guess the parameters or wait countless hours for the filament to dry. Drywise allows for a much faster and agile 3D printing process with excellent results, eliminating humidity from filaments and saving the user’s time and material.