DIY Filament Dehydrator Oven

thingiverse

Why buy a dehydrator and spend time modifying it if you already own everything needed to build your own [ fancy / overkill / g-code driven ] filament dehydrator oven ? Needed parts : - 1 x arduino mega 2560 r3 board - 1 x ramps 1.4 board - 1 x 2004 LCD with encoder and SD card slot - 2 x 40 mm 12V fans - 1 x 500W ATX power supply - two pairs of mini tamyia connectors with 10mm silicone wire - two pin dupont connector with 20cm of red/black wire - for powering fans - three pin dupont connector with 20cm of red/back/yellow wire - for controlling the ATX power supply - 1 x 100k NTC thermistor - 1 x MK2Y 220mm round 12V PCB heated bed - 3 x M3x10 bolts - for securing the heatbed - 3 x M3 nuts - for securing the heatbed - 6 x M3 washers - for securing the heatbed - 4 x countersunk wood screws for the ramps case lid - 4 x countersunk wood screws for the lcd case - 1 x FAT32 formatted SD card - for running g-code - 1 x 3D printed case for arduino + ramps - 1 x 3D printed lcd case (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:35438) - 1 x round cookie box (big enough to fit the 220 mm heatbed and one spool of filament) - 1m of 12 AWG wire - 1 x self tightening electrical connector (heat resistant) Needed tools & materials: - wire strippers - wire insulation - soldering tool - soldering wire - 2 mm thick cork sheet - glue - drilling machine Needed skills: - basic electronics understanding - basic soldering skills - time and patience Programming : - arduino 1.8 (https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software) - the firmware (https://www.thingiverse.com/download:4089572) Assembly : - This is more or less 3D printer hardware and if you ever assembled a kit you know already what needs to be done. - Pay attention to electrical wiring / soldering and also for good performance to insulation of the cookie box. Please do not solder wires that will be tighten down with screws ! Also use the mini tamyia connector pairs inverse one from another so you don't accidentally mismatch the thermistor with the 12V heating power. - The firmware is a little bit modified for aesthetics reasons, but otherwise a standard Repetier v 0.92.9 which i've chosen over Marlin for ease of web configuration. - Don't forget to PID calibrate the heatbed which is done on Repetier firmware with : "M303 P1 S70 R8" for 8 cycles at 70 degrees. - On the file section you will find also a zip file (https://www.thingiverse.com/download:3913246) with a demo 1m g-code sample and also 1h 2h 4h g-code samples to dry your filament at 70 degrees Celsius. Power draw : - min : idle ATX power supply off, fans off : 1.5W - max : heating up at full power : 100W (the first 2-3 minutes) - med : PID controller stabilized heating : ~ 40W (the rest of the process) Results : - initial ambient humidity : 40% - 4h for one spool of ABS : 15% humidity - 8h for one spool of ABS : 10% humidity Humidity was monitored with an arduino connected to 2 x DHT11 + 2 x DHT22 sensors.