Filament dryer DIY cheap

thingiverse

I've been experiencing issues with PLA filament lately, and I'm starting to think it's not just me. The problem starts when the spool runs out of material, around 150 grams from the end. Suddenly, the filament becomes incredibly brittle and breaks easily. I was slicing a print next to my printer when this happened, and let me tell you, it was like something out of a war movie - pieces of filament flying everywhere! It broke into two clean pieces right between the extruder and the spool. I've been reading up on this issue online, and people are throwing around all sorts of theories. Some say it's due to humidity, while others claim it's because of the tension built up during the extrusion process or poor-quality filament. Honestly, I think nobody really knows for sure. But here's what I do know: putting the filament in a warm oven at 50-70 degrees Celsius for a few hours seems to fix the problem. And get this - my prints were still coming out fine even without drying! So, I stumbled upon what might be the cheapest dryer of all time - using your printer's heated bed and a big bowl to cover the spool. I tried it out with 70 degrees Celsius for about an hour, and voila! It worked like a charm. By the way, I've got some bonus material for you - check out Carla's boot!