Hi all! What are some good practices on storing a large quantity of filament

Hi all!

What are some good practices on storing a large quantity of filament to extend shelf life?

If it’s abs plastic, I know uv light is bad. And heat can possibly “dry it out” in the long run. http://3dprintingforbeginners.com/how-to-store-3d-printing-filament/

In a dry room temperature stable area with no sunlight, and no moisture. Too much UV or sunlight can pre-harden some soft plastics. Moisture is proving it can affect some materials during prints. For precision prints it helps to pre-warm the filament to eliminate that moisture buildup.

For large quantities you’re gonna want to invest in vacuum seal bags and a machine to seal them. Get some desiccant as well to toss in with the spool. For spools that have sat out a while and might have absorbed moisture you can bake them at 110 F for a few hours to get most of the moisture out.

Check out RichRap on YouTube, he has a hot/dry box that I’m going to be building myself in a few weeks. It uses a solarium heater and I’m going to add desiccant in the bottom of mine, plus ptfe tubes out of the box to my printer.

@Ian_Douglas Be careful printing out of it. I was doing it with the filament below my printer and the filament snagged, pulled the printer off the table, and unplugged the USB cable to Octprint so I couldn’t even cancel the print but I could watch it though the camera. The heated bed kept slamming in to my wall for the next two hours until I could get home and the paint there is now burnt.

@Adam_Steinmark yikes. My filament will definitely be above the MK3.