The Ultimative Filament Drybox

Introduction

So… I saw those filament dryboxes. Of course I’d wanted to design one by myself so badly…

And here it is! Let me introduce an overengineered but cool looking drybox spool stand!

• Does it print fast? No!
• Does is has bearings? Damn, yes!
• Will I need metal saw? Of course yes!
• Can I insert a hygrometer? I’ve got you covered!
• And silica gel? What’s about silica gel? Put it into the included container!

Motivation

I designed this quad-roller-spool-baseplate with maximum spool width in mind for a 4L cereal box. The four rollers have small but sufficient shoulders, so any spool smaller 68mm in width can fit.

All parts are designed to fit into 4 liter “Skroam” cereal boxes with three finger grips, you can find these at the big A.

For my Prusa Core One an outlet on the top is perfect. This way I can put the box besides the printer. If I’d like to store a spool for a longer period, I swap the printed cover with the original one, and the box is 100% air tight.

BOM

To build one box you’ll need:

Printed parts

• 1x BasePlate (Filabox-BasePlate.stl)

• 1x Cover (Filabox-Cover.stl)

• 1x Silica box (Filabox-Silicabox.stl)

• 1x Silica box cover (Filabox-SilicaboxCover.stl)

• 4x Roller (Filabox-Roller.stl) Additional parts to buy

• 1x 4l cereal container, obvious

• 1x 4mm PTFE tube of your needed length

• 4x bearing 685ZZ (5x11x5mm)

• 2x M5 threaded rod L=62mm max. (61.0mm to 61.8mm will fit best)

• 1x digital rectangular hygrometer

• 1x bondtec push-fit pneumatic coupler (PTFE ECAS04)
  Optional parts

• 2x Roller Tool (Filabox-RollerTool.stl), it’s a tiny allen key to mount the rollers easily

• 1x Cap (Filabox-Cap.stl) to close the PTFE tube

• 1x PC4-M6 pneumatic coupler for the cap How to print
  I printed my parts with PLA:

• Base: 2 perimeters, lightening infill, 15%, support for the hygrometer-bridge, 0.25mm layer height

• Rollers: 3 perimeters, infill 30%, change scarf joint placement, 0.2mm layer height

• Other parts: 2 perimeters, infill as needed, 0.2mm layer height

• However, if you’d like to change anything for your needs, go for it.

For your convinience: I’ve added a 3mf file with all parts for one box and appropriate settings!

Assembly

• Print all parts
• Cut 2 pieces of a M5 threaded rod to a length 61-62mm (max.)
• Insert all 4 bearings as shown in the pictures
• Screw the threaded rod pieces in one roller each (thread will cut into plastic)
• Get the rollers with mounted rods into the bearings (gently)
• Screw the second roller for each axis very carefully until no gap is left
• Insert hygrometer
• Finally, fill your silica container and put all together Rollers should turn easily! Don’t screw it tight, the bearings are tiny and should not give you any resistance!

Appendix

You may ask… What the heck are the V-slots for? Why is there a notch on the top? Well… You’ll might surprise me with your addons for smaller spools or clip-on filament labels :)