Filament Enclosure and Desiccator

thingiverse

I am currently waiting on PTFE Tubing, which should arrive by the end of the week. I'll replace the rubber grommets, which cause a slight drag on the filament, with the PTFE, which will greatly improve it. I'll update you with the results. I've wanted a good filament enclosure for a long time now. Living in a humid area, I can only imagine how much moisture my filament is absorbing. I finally found a great box for it, and I'm excited to share it with everyone. Not counting shopping and printing time, this project took me about an hour and a half to complete. Thirty minutes of that was just waiting for the silicone caulking to dry completely. Everything I bought came from stores near me, but the components can easily be found online as well. I designed everything in Inventor. The dowel mounts, the grommet caps to seal the unused holes, and the dowel clips to put on either side of each spool to keep them from sliding around in the box. Check out this Imgur album for a short rundown of the whole process: http://imgur.com/a/ifo0S I bought the box from Walmart for about $10, as well as a 3/8" dowel for less than $2. Here is the link to purchase it: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Iris-Portable-File-Box-with-Organizer-Top/22374211 The rubber grommets are from my local Ace Hardware store. I just asked one of the guys there who showed me their selection. I chose the smallest they had, which has a 3mm inner diameter. Something similar can also be found on Amazon, though I'd recommend checking out a hardware store first. I got mine for $1.25 (including tax). I used some silicone caulking I already had lying around. Fortunately, I had some left over from another project because it barely took any to line the top edge of the case. This is the kind that I have, but pretty much any silicone caulking will work: https://www.amazon.com/08641-Clear-Silicone-Sealant-9-8-Ounce/dp/B000BD0QAK/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1501004814&sr=1-1&keywords=silicone+caulk I also designed the dowel mounts with holes for M4*5 set screws to hold the dowel in place. I just borrowed some from the spare extrusion hardware I had lying around, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Degree-Hidden-Bracket-Aluminum-Extrusion/dp/B01LWY99IT/ref=pd_sbs_60_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=H9KQSKWA9MVM8AYVPMF2 I bought a 450g silica gel packet from Scheels store near me, but they can also be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hydrosorbent-450-Gram-Silica-Cubic/dp/B0001EJIXU/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1501005537&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=450g+silica+gel+pouch