Thorough filament drying is extraordinarily necessary in 3D printing with plastic while you want to create professionally wanting miniatures, figures, and life-size fashions on a desktop 3D printer. If you happen to work with a couple of printer or 3D print with a number of colours without delay, you may want a superb filament dehydrator, comparable to Sunlu FilaDryer S4, in your workshop to eradicate strings and different points attributable to moist plastic.
Gambody’s chief engineer acquired an opportunity to unbox and assessment the brand new highly effective S4 machine. Learn how it compares to FilaDryer S2, what different utilization it presents, and the way it can change your pastime.
About Sunlu
Sunlu specializes within the manufacturing of filaments for 3D printing and dryers for them. The corporate’s undoubted hit, Sunlu FilaDryer S2, has gained nice recognition amongst 3D printing fans, all because of its fascinating design, easy controls, and steady excessive drying temperature, which lets you dry even refractory filaments with out issues. The S2 dryer is forward of its opponents in lots of respects and pleases the attention with its worth.
Gambody’s group of engineers fell in love with FilaDryer S2 and nonetheless makes use of it loads because it enables you to overlook about sealing plastics in baggage or shopping for silica gel for drying. As of late, it’s sufficient to put the filament into the dryer for a number of hours earlier than 3D printing and overlook about any issues related to plastic moisture.
You may learn our assessment of the S2 dryer and see if you happen to want to swap to or add the latest Sunlu FilaDryer S4 to your loved ones of filament dehydrators.
Sunlu FilaDryer S4
Not way back, Sunlu introduced their newest Sunlu FilaDryer S4. It isn’t an up to date model of S2, because the title may counsel. Sunlu S4 dryer is a very new product increasing the corporate’s line of one of the best filament dryers.
If the spectacular Sunlu FilaDryer S2 is taken into account a house dryer for 3D printing fans, then the brand new S4 collection will be proudly known as knowledgeable answer that’s appropriate for 3D printing laboratories. This 4 spool filament dryer can formally accommodate 4 1kg spools, but Gambody managed to put six spools inside this machine!
The brand new launch presents unbelievable potentialities, and we are going to share all of the particulars in our detailed Sunlu FilaDryer S4 assessment.
Finest Filament Dryer
What’s the finest filament dryer? Often known as a filament dehydrator, a daily dryer is designed to take away moisture from plastic to enhance the 3D printing course of, whereas one of the best filament dryer is designed to simplify your life by providing user-friendly controls and nice outcomes with the least quantity of effort.
If you happen to hear popping or crackling noises whereas printing and the extruded filament seems uneven and non-smooth, this will point out you’re utilizing moist materials. The moisture expands when heated, which disrupts the continual profile of plastic extruded by the nozzle and may result in imperfect 3D prints. TPU and nylon are two sorts of significantly moisture-sensitive supplies that take up moisture quicker than frequent filaments like PLA. Due to this fact, it’s endorsed to retailer TPU and nylon in hermetic containers, or use one of the best filament dryer to work with these 3D printing supplies with no points.
Learn additionally: Finest Recommendations on Retailer 3D Printer Filament.
The filament dryer, outfitted with a heated chamber that homes spools, removes moisture and ensures a gradual plastic provide. You may dry the filament earlier than 3D printing or feed it instantly from the dryer to your 3D printer, and selecting one of the best filament dryer is your high precedence.
Sunlu S4 Dryer Unboxing
Sunly FilaDryer S4 arrives in a pretty big field of 14.5 x 11 x 19.7 inches (370 x 280 x 500 mm) and takes up virtually the entire inside house! This filament dehydrator is 17.9 x 8.7 x 12 inches (457 x 222 x 305 mm), which is admittedly spectacular because it appears a lot smaller within the on-line pictures.
The Sunlu dehydrator’s dimension is nice and can simply accommodate as much as 4 standard-size spools of filament. The equipment consists of the Sunlu filament dryer handbook and a set of Teflon tubes and gap plugs. It’s nice that the facility provide not comes individually. It’s hidden contained in the dryer, which is handy! The 350W dryer has a most heating temperature of 158 °F (70 °C).
Sunlu Dryer Field Design
The 4 spool filament dryer has a form of a black translucent field with a big contact display within the center. The entrance half is roofed with plastic glass just like the one within the FLSUN V400 enclosure, which will be simply scratched even if you happen to wipe it with a not-so-clean rag, so we determined to go away the protective movie on.
The producer suggests loading filament into the dryer utilizing the 2 separate doorways on the highest. Every door latches securely and tightly, drastically lowering the noise stage of the followers inside. The field has steel legs on the backside, which makes the general look costlier. Usually, the design pleases the attention, being uniform and minimalistic with nothing additional.
What’s Inside?
Inside, the chamber is split into two similar sections, every of which has a pair of rubberized rollers that spin on bearings (changing them is as simple as within the S2 model). Every part has its personal cooler, and there’s a lid-closing compartment for silica gel.
The producer suggests putting in two spools (with a most width of 29.5 inches or 75 mm) on both sides. Nevertheless, nobody can cease you from experimenting. For instance, we had been in a position to place six customary spools inside (you are able to do this too to both retailer them or dry the filament).
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Display
As you plug your Sunlu FilaDryer S4, the very first thing we see is the nice inexperienced backlight (simply as on the S2 mannequin). It’s a small factor, however I actually prefer it! In contrast to within the S2, the display and font dimension of the S4 are smaller, however this doesn’t intervene with its use. Plainly the pixel density has been elevated, and the display itself has change into extra responsive to the touch.
The performance stays the identical as within the S2. You may arrange the temperature, humidity, and drying time utilizing the entrance panel. Every frequent filament (PLA, ABS, PETG, PA, or PC) has its preset configuration. Thus, all you need to do is just choose your filament sort and press “Begin.”
Sunlu FilaDryer S4 operates in two modes:
- The primary is a timer, the place the temperature and drying time are set;
- The second is moisture management, the place the machine maintains the humidity stage inside 20%, mechanically turning the dryer on and off as wanted. This mode is particularly helpful for storing your 3D printing plastic.
Sunlu S4 dryer has eight filament holes to allow you to dry a number of filaments and printing on 4 3D printers on the similar time. Personally, I see this dehydrator as a extra skilled answer and want to have some further settings, comparable to controlling fan speeds and noise.
Learn additionally: Finest 3D Printer Air flow System for Resin and Filaments.
Use 4 Spool Filament Dryer
It’s easy to make use of FilaDryer S4. Place as much as 4 1kg spools of filament contained in the chamber, the place they are going to sit vertically on the rollers. Loading plastic is handy, because of the massive gadget doorways. After plugging the Sunlu dehydrator and urgent the principle swap on the rear panel, the “energy” image seems on the management panel, beginning the drying course of. The followers will run, and the dryer will warmth as much as the temperature and humidity settings you’ve gotten chosen.
In testing, we let this 4 spool filament dryer warmth to its most temperature of 158 °F (70 °C) in lower than 5 minutes. It used about 400 W of energy whereas heating, however afterward, it used solely about 80 W to take care of the temperature. At room temperature of about 78 °F (26 °C) and a humidity of 55%, the dryer successfully lowered the humidity ranges contained in the chamber, making certain steady drying high quality.
The followers are fairly noisy when the dryer is working. If you happen to stick your hand inside, you’ll be able to even really feel how the new air lots are mixing. Closing the lid helps loads to scale back the noise, after which the drying chamber is simply barely louder than the S2 model. As famous above, I want to see the silent mode sooner or later.
Working Assessments
The principle downside that happens while you 3D print utilizing moist plastic is a lot of strings, unstable printing, a clogged nozzle that may utterly break your print, and items of uneven rods breaking off, all of which can’t be fastened by altering the printing configurations.
To check Sunlu FilaDryer S4, positioned by the producer as one of the best filament dryer, we used Sunlu TPU Gray plastic. We selected TPU as a result of this smooth plastic absorbs moisture particularly nicely, so utilizing it in our experiment sounds excellent.
To arrange higher, we saved the plastic with out a bag and hydrogel in a moist surroundings for a complete week. Firstly, we 3D printed a GeZilla 3D printing mannequin as a check utilizing the next choices (we didn’t use Sunlu S4 dryer at this stage):
- Check 1 – we labored with a nozzle preheated to 446 °F (230 °C);
- Check 2 – we printed with a nozzle preheated to 374 °F (190 °C).
- Check 3 – we dried plastic within the Sunlu S4 filament dryer for six hours and repeated our check. You may see the leads to the pictures under:
Our Benchy boat check additionally confirmed a noticeable enchancment in 3D printing high quality after we dried the plastic within the Sunlu dryer field at 131 °F (55 °C) for five hours. Such outcomes show how necessary it’s to have one of the best filament dehydrator if you happen to try for glorious 3D prints.
Utilizing S4 with AMS Mini
One of many first issues that got here to my thoughts whereas reviewing this 4 spool filament dryer was, “Is it potential to attach Sunlu S4 to Bambu Lab A1 mini 4-color printing 3D printer with AMS lite?” Whereas the usual AMS model shops spools contained in the chamber, the place you’ll be able to add silica gel, the mini AMS is an open chamber machine.
Effectively, to my shock, I’m not the one one who requested this query! Extra to say, there’s a 3D printing challenge that may mix Sunlu FilaDryer S4 with the AMS mini filament feeding system. You merely have to obtain the recordsdata, 3D print all of the elements, and assemble them. In addition to, you’ll be able to enhance the house in your Sunlu dryer field, 3D print a tray for it and arrange your workspace.
Additional Options & Different Methods to Use
Let’s take into consideration how one can probably use your FilaDryer S4 at house apart from conserving your filament dry. Due to its giant dimension and rectangular form, your filament dehydrator will help you dry mild garments. Or you should use it as an acetone bathtub.
You can even consider utilizing its low-humidity and high-temperature options in your different functions.
Learn additionally: 3D Print Versatile Filament at Dwelling.
Sunlu FilaDryer S4 is a strong skilled filament dehydrator. Its giant dimension solely reveals its potential. Since this machine requires some house, it’s worthwhile to take into consideration your desk structure earlier than making a purchase order. Massive dimensions, nonetheless, will assist you to dry plastics for 2 or 4 3D printers on the similar time or just retailer as much as six 1kg spools of filament contained in the chamber to stop moisture. You can even adapt the Bambu Lab AMS lite to make use of with this 4 spool filament dryer.
What do I lack within the FilaDryer S4 model? Maybe I used to be anticipating its show to supply extra settings. I wish to work in silence, and if the dryer is positioned near your workspace, the fan noise will be distracting. What I additionally observed is that the S4 dryer consumes extra electrical energy than the S2.
Usually, Sunlu S4 is a strong and extremely productive dehydrator. If you happen to 3D print loads and have a couple of 3D printer, this may be one of the best filament dryer in your workshop.
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