Filament Prep & Storage
The following items have been acquired to help prepare filament for use and to keep it in a state of good order.
- GratKit Firefly Filament Dryer Box
- 50 L Iris Ohyama Airtight Storage Box
- 1 KG Trustleaf Orange Self Indicating Reusable Silica Gel (2-4 mm beads)
- Bambu Reusable Spools (Standard)
Hygrometers
Hygrometers let you keep an eye on the relative humidity. Filament is best stored in dry conditions and damp filament can be a common cause of issues with prints where the filament isn’t binding or flowing as one would normally expect.
- Thlevel 3-Pack Hygrometer Thermometer
- Tuya Zigbee Temperature and Humidity Sensors
- Linked up into Home Assistant for remote monitoring and automation.
- One of these has been added into the AMS for a percentage rather than a 1-5 level as shared natively by the AMS.
Management
The following items are used to help with my management of my filament.
- Digital Scales (5 kg)
- Using the scales I can measure the mass of empty spools, and then prior to any print where I am unsure if I have enough filament to complete it, I can take the mass of the partial spool and get a pretty accurate estimate of the mass of the remaining filament which I can compare to the estimate in Bambu Lab Studio of the mass of filament to be used for a sliced model.
- The mass of any spool is not identical across spools, and the tolerance limits for filament brands do vary quite a bit as well as any natural variations in batches, etc. As a result, you should always take any measure as approximate. Estimates below are based on measuring my own spools and comparing the figures with a rough analysis.
| Spool | Approximate Mass (grams) | Rough Tolerance |
|---|---|---|
| Bambu Lab | 210 | 1% |
| Tinmorry | 190 | 3% |