Do you think you have to always dry your filament before printing, and always store it in a dry box when not printing? What if I told you that I’ve never dried my filament, and it hasn’t affected my print quality at all? Here’s why I don’t dry my 3D printing filament.

People always blame wet filament for bad prints

Wet filament can cause poor printing, but it’s often not the cause

If you’ve been around the 3D printing community long enough, then you’ve likely seen people talk about making sure your filament is dry. Some people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on dehydrators, dry boxes, and dehumidifiers for their filament.

While wet filament can cause printing errors, it’s not always to blame. I’ve used filament that was both wet and dry throughout my years of 3D printing, and rarely was the filament wet enough to cause a problem.

More often than not, the issue ends up being bad settings, a dirty build plate, or a clogged (or partially clogged) nozzle. All of which are far easier to fix than wet filament, as none of those require extra equipment to remedy.

Not all filaments are extremely hygroscopic

Your PLA likely didn’t absorb as much moisture as you think it did

Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek

The most popular 3D printing filament by far is PLA by a wide margin. While PETG, TPU, and other filaments do absorb a good amount of moisture from the air, PLA simply doesn’t.

PLA is hygroscopic, sure, but it absorbs moisture at a far, far slower rate than many other filaments. If you’re 3D printing with PLA, chances are, moisture isn’t your problem unless you live somewhere where the humidity where you store your filament is always very high and it has been open on the shelf for a long time.

The primary filament that I print with in my office is PLA, and that’s simply because it’s so easy to print. So, I simply don’t worry about drying filament. Avoiding drying filament is something that’s never come back to bite me, so long as I apply it properly.

If I’m working with a very hygroscopic filament, like TPU, PA, or other super hygroscopic filaments, then I will typically throw it in the dryer for a little bit before printing. But, my PLA just sits open to the air above my 3D printing workstation, and I don’t worry about it. Instead, I spend my time focusing on dialing in settings, maintaining the equipment, or just simply printing.

Drying filaments adds equipment, time, and complexity

Ain’t nobody got time for that

Credit: Tim Brookes / How-To Geek

The problem with filament drying is it often adds equipment that costs a good amount of money. Sure, some modern 3D printers can handle drying filament in their print chambers, but that means you can’t be 3D printing when that’s happening.

At the end of the day, remembering to dry filament before every print is just added complexity and time that I don’t have the time for. I even got the SUNLU filament dryer that converts my AMS into a filament dryer, and it’s nice to have, but I rarely use it since all I print with is PLA.

If all you print with is PLA, then you can safely avoid getting a filament dryer. Even though I have those dryers, I don’t use them at all for PLA. Even for PETG, I don’t use my dryers, and I have zero problems.

The only time I really break out a dryer is if I try to print with something and the print comes out bad in a way that only wet filament can cause. Or, if I’m printing with a filament that is super hygroscopic, like TPU. I’ll definitely always dry TPU before printing.

Outside those scenarios, I don’t worry about drying filament, and it’s never caused an issue for me. If you’re intimidated by 3D printing because of all the supposed “rules” that exist in the 3D printing community, you can safely avoid filament drying in most instances so long as you stick to printing with PLA.

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  Brand

  FlashForge

  Build Volume

  220x220x220mm

  Connectivity

  Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet

  Dimensions

  16″D x 14″W x 18″H

  Weight

  24.25 Pounds

  Top Print Speed

  300mm/s

  The FlashForge AD5X 3D printer is one of the most affordable multi-color 3D printers on the market. It features a built-in 4-spool auto filament changer built right into the side of the unit—no external accessory required. With an open frame, you can easily print materials like PLA, PETG, and many others. It offers 1-click auto leveling, prints at up to 600mm/s, and comes with a pre-installed 0.4mm nozzle with the option to swap it out for a 0.25mm, 0.6mm, or 0.8mm nozzle depending on what your needs are.

  
  

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  Build Volume

  256x256x256mm

  Printing Speed

  600mm/s

  Brand

  Bambu Lab

  Max Hot End Temp

  300C

  Max Bed Temp

  110C

  Nozzle

  Hardened 0.4mm

  The Bambu Labs P2S 3D printer is ready to go out of the box and can have you printing within 15 minutes. It features up to 20-color printing with the AMS unit, has an upgraded built-in camera for remote monitoring and time lapses, and has an enclosed body for printing even high-temperature filament.

  
  

Rules are meant to be broken

There are so many “rules” to 3D printing that I break on a daily basis, and that’s because all rules are meant to be broken in some way.

I don’t clean my build plate often (sometimes months or years go by between proper cleanings). I touch the build plate with my oily fingers. I don’t dry my filament. I don’t do tons of testing before printing. There are so many things I don’t do, and yet my prints come out great.

I have a friend who runs a 3D printing farm with 70 printers, and he was appalled at some of my 3D printing habits. The thing is, I did my own tests (inadvertently) and found that I don’t have to follow those rules myself. My prints come out with a quality that I’m happy with, and I’m not worrying about all sorts of rules.

So, try breaking a few 3D printing rules yourself and see if it affects your print quality. You might be surprised to see just how many of those “best practices” or “rules” aren’t actually necessary.