So I’ve been trying to decide which way to go. I want to start playing with the nylons but my current air fryer / dehydrator setup can’t hit the temps needed. So I’ve been trying to decide which of these two to invest in.
The benefit of the E2 is the ability to print directly from it, including its ability to do so with 3kg spools.
The benefit of the lab oven is much higher temps in case future filaments come out that require even higher temps.
The negative for the E2 is I’ve read some build quality issues in the reviews.
I can’t really see any negatives for the cheap lab oven other than no way to print from it.
Thoughts? Opinions? What have I overlooked? What’s the better option for our purposes?
Thanks in advance!
Lab blast oven for drying and annealing. And separate drybox for printing out of it. I’m using Fixdry NT1. Only printed 15mm lid riser for it to fit Polymaker’s 2 / 3 kg spools.
I use a cheap ninja 6qt that maxes out on dehydrator mode at 195f for 12-24h on new rolls, and print from a polymaker drybox with the 5% air exchanger mod stacks between the heater base/boxes. I also opened the heater + snipped out the plastic mesh, then super glued some SS mesh in its place, as recommended by the air exchanger designer. No issues with pa6, paht, ppa fibreheart, or pps. Less dry time for less hydroscopic materials like ppa, more time on the opposite end of the spectrum like pa6
Some clarification:
I do already have an air fryer that I use to dry in currently, as well as dry boxes to print from once ran through and dried. But the timer on the fryer maxes at 12hrs, and I’m not always in a place where I am available to just restart it. The temp maxes at 90c, it will work but take longer than it has to. My dry boxes will only fit 1kg spools, having the ability to buy & use the 3kg spools would be a bonus.
So I know I could use what I have but it’s not exactly ideal. And I also have no way to anneal after the fact as the air fryer I have is only big enough for a single spool to fit in. Grips and stuff sure, larger parts wouldn’t fit.
So I am asking what’s the best move between the E2 or the Lab Oven because I want to invest in a better solution! I am just trying to make the smartest choice!
i use a convection oven/microwave oven, w.e you wanna call them and its really great at both drying and annealing. i anneal in sand though. printing from a polydryer box helps alot and for the harder stuff like PPA-CF-Core i keep the dryer running during prints but most the time just the box itself with Slice Engineering desiccant works really well, tbh that slice desiccant is something else i can actually get under 10% humidity in my dryer boxes which i have never been able to do until i got that.
i bought a $5 goodwill toaster oven and modified it with an inkbird PID controller. I know nothing about controls but it wasn’t that hard, but I only use it for annealing, can’t really feed from it. if it were a bit larger i probably could rig something up.