I recently purchased an Eibos Polyphemus and have been pretty happy with it - the motorized spool rotation feature ensures that the filament is evenly dried. I did some temperature checks and found the measured temps were within 3' of the displayed temperature. It also offers the humidity storage feature which can be set to 10% and triggers at 20% - this works great but I wish that they provided a way to enable this feature immediately after a drying cycle has ended. Still, Eibos seems to be the more innovative company at the moment. I just wish their prices were a bit more affordable.
Great review as always, unbiased and well tested. I already built my own DIY 2 roll dryer from an inexpensive food dehydrator and the results are brilliant. Each time something starts to look funny with my prints, my first step is to chuck the roll into the dryer overnight to rule out moisture before trying other things. Thanks to your step by step videos I now have a Sonic Pad runnin Klipper on my old Biqu B1, pushing speeds I never knew it could do. Thank you for your continued commitment to the community.
great review and testing thank you. This is a great solution to most printing needs. Sadly, it is not quite there for my needs. I barely print PLA any more, and 90% of my prints are ABS/PETG/Filled Nylon. My current solution: I have an S2 that I use for Drying PETG / ABS, Nylons I have to dry in the kitchen oven at 80-85c. I would be willing to pay good money for a system this big, if I could have at least dual temperatures. I also would expect that at this price range to have a dryer that spins the spools while drying. I guess I will have to build my own. Once you print filled nylon, you don't want to print anything else. Thanks again for your review.
It’s an awesome dryer. What might help improve efficiency, have dedicated drying spools permanently mounted inside that you’d transfer filament to, and pipe dry air through the hub of the spools. Also, maybe add the capability to weigh the whole unit by adding pressure sensors to each foot pad. In addition to the fans and heat, have a hypobaric cycle to help lure the moisture out of the nylons. Finally, if you’re going to be pulling a vaccum on the container might as well get the desiccant cartridge of a big rig truck( a Lorrey, I think it’s called in the Kings English.)They are made to suck moisture out of air wholesale and actually release it automatically back into the environment with pressurized air. Just a thought…
Very interesting review. I was a bit skeptical that those little filament openings would provide enough of a vent for the moisture, but they seem to be enough, at least when they are completely open. A couple of corrections: 6:06 - should be "three kilowatt-hours of electricity." 6: 15 - should be "125 watts" not "125 watts per hour". Watts per hour makes no sense. Watts is rate of usage of electrical energy versus time (Joules / sec), not an amount of electricity.
Surprises me this doesn't come with a motor that rotates the reels while drying. Surely a heat spot in one segment of a reel could be damaging in the long run if you dont have the time to be regularly turning the reels?
That adds unnecessy complexity. I'm surprised that it's blasting straight onto the filament instead of spreading it more evenly throughout the chamber.
Great review. I am a believer in filament dryers. Got lucky and scored an S4 on the earliest early bird for $80 USD shipped. I use a cheap fruit dryer that I bought from Aldi to dry the large and small dessicant packs that I place in my favorite filament storage boxes - RepBoxes from Repkord. I like the maintenance mode of the S4 as I can have a set of "goto" filaments that I know will always be ready for printing. Any boxes with dessicant have to be monitored and the dessicant recharged from time to time.
Have the S1, intending to modify but haven't got around to it. Bought the S4 on the kickstarter on a whim, as I often need multiple filaments, with multiple printers. They are already making improvements in pre-prod based on user feedback, which is great to see.
I have two dryers, one is the first sunlu which is modded with the fan, the other is ebos3d series x, the ebos3d has damaged 2 rolls of filament as it’s fused the filament in the middle
@highroyds I have an Eibos (the black one for one filament) and it happened to me too. I contacted the support and they shows me a way to decrease the heater a bit turning down the potenciometer in the board. Which filament you demage? Mine was Petg. Support is slow but they already sended a new board to put in (spare), after a month of conversarion 😅
Have you tried modding the S4 to add some larger vents and see how it goes? It looks like it would be pretty easy to drill a large circular hole in each lid and print a rotating vent to fit in each, allowing for varied airflow out of the top. Might have to do some research on this when I get home and see if anyone has made such a model. Be pretty easily replicable with a set size holesaw and model.
The un used filaments need a motor mod to keep them running because it is going to blast and cook one of the sides, and also I think this active dryers need some kind of condensation tool too catch and remove the water content. Edit: Also, I don't think that dry speed is as important, I think that the system should be capable of keeping the moisture outside the filament and to reach very low humidity levels to allow the filament to exchange it's internal humidity. So, keeping a vent open won't help that much after a while, what would help is to finally close the vent after a while and maintain the dry air inside. That is why I want to build a condensation unit out of a Peltier block.
TBH that shoe drying feature really changed the way I'm thinking about this machine, It's not sensible for me to buy a full clothes dryer for my rental but this might cover me in a pinch
You should throw an empty cardboard spool in with your filament which is on the same cardboard spool. Weighing both before and after, you would have a good idea how much moisture was in the cardboard spool vs the filament.
Automatic maintaining sounds great on paper, but I already can imagine that thing decided to turn on buzzing in 3 am) I think the best theoretical solution would be to run active drying with heaters and ventilation, and than automatically seal all the vents air-tight when the filament is dry
I like my S4 for its 4 roll capacity. I don't like that it doesn't have a vent other than the 8 small filament openings. I usually keep those plugged and prop open the lids by not latching them down while drying. Too bad they didn't think the venting through very well. Another problem is that it's blowing heated air directly on the filament, causing hot spots. I'm sure someone will design a deflector to address fix this.
Absolutely disappointing that nobody makes a good universal dryer.... one that can handle low temps as well as nylons, etc. Seems like it should be easy to achieve. Very tempted to get together with some engineering buddies and develop one, but have no idea how to judge market potential or actuall go into production...maybe thats why they dont exist yet??
Yea, but how accurate are YOUR temp sensors? Are they calibrated, or are you taking them at face value? Could be that both your thermometers AND the S4 are off. Just saying, coming from a calibration background.
How that the S4 final production model has shipped, is there any comment you have on whether they have addresses some of the issues or made improvements?
So this dryer does not rotate the filament spool? Also would there not be a moisture gradient from filament being closer to the outside surface vs the filament internally on the reel?
You should do a video on how they are burning all.their Kickstarters. They are selling pre-orders before kickstarter orders are filled and lying about the shipments.
Hi, I contacted Sunlu about your comment as I didn't know there were any problems. I don't know if you have tried contacting them yourself but it sounds like they are working hard to try and resolve a couple of issues they have faced. They were keen to say that they don't want to make excuses but they had a customs issue with some stock and then Christmas has caused further delays but they are just about there now. They said that that have made mistakes and are doing everything they can to get orders out to backers and were very apologetic. I don't work for Sunlu but obviously did make this review so felt that I wanted to try and get you some information. They were very quick to reply and wanted to know order numbers etc. To try to give more information. Try contacting them if you haven't already.
Has anyone had issues with their S4 jamming? I'm not sure if its the long PTFE tube getting pinched in the printer's filament inlet hole, or the stiff rollers causing too much friction.
What would you recommend if i only need to dry one roll every so often? Should i get an s1 or s2 and mod it? Or are there any other better easier options?
the short snipped of the noise in this video really doesnt do it justice. this thing is LOUD, i got mine sitting next to my prusa XL and i cant hear the printer running over the fan noise of that dryer. the drying performance is great but you really need to account for another 50 bucks worth of Noctua fans if you want this to be a usable machine.
I love your comprehensive reviews! It's always nice when the claims are actually tested, and the results are shown side-by-side.
I recently purchased an Eibos Polyphemus and have been pretty happy with it - the motorized spool rotation feature ensures that the filament is evenly dried. I did some temperature checks and found the measured temps were within 3' of the displayed temperature. It also offers the humidity storage feature which can be set to 10% and triggers at 20% - this works great but I wish that they provided a way to enable this feature immediately after a drying cycle has ended. Still, Eibos seems to be the more innovative company at the moment. I just wish their prices were a bit more affordable.
Great review as always, unbiased and well tested. I already built my own DIY 2 roll dryer from an inexpensive food dehydrator and the results are brilliant. Each time something starts to look funny with my prints, my first step is to chuck the roll into the dryer overnight to rule out moisture before trying other things.
Thanks to your step by step videos I now have a Sonic Pad runnin Klipper on my old Biqu B1, pushing speeds I never knew it could do. Thank you for your continued commitment to the community.
Ricky mate.... I appreciate the raw honesty and no BS format of your reviews! Knowledgeable and thorough as always, cheers for that!😊
great review and testing thank you. This is a great solution to most printing needs. Sadly, it is not quite there for my needs. I barely print PLA any more, and 90% of my prints are ABS/PETG/Filled Nylon. My current solution: I have an S2 that I use for Drying PETG / ABS, Nylons I have to dry in the kitchen oven at 80-85c. I would be willing to pay good money for a system this big, if I could have at least dual temperatures. I also would expect that at this price range to have a dryer that spins the spools while drying.
I guess I will have to build my own.
Once you print filled nylon, you don't want to print anything else.
Thanks again for your review.
It arrived. I was losing hope just on Christmas but they made it!
It doesn't look bad at side of the Bambu.
My wife has an epoxy dryer and that has worked pretty well for me
It’s an awesome dryer. What might help improve efficiency, have dedicated drying spools permanently mounted inside that you’d transfer filament to, and pipe dry air through the hub of the spools. Also, maybe add the capability to weigh the whole unit by adding pressure sensors to each foot pad. In addition to the fans and heat, have a hypobaric cycle to help lure the moisture out of the nylons. Finally, if you’re going to be pulling a vaccum on the container might as well get the desiccant cartridge of a big rig truck( a Lorrey, I think it’s called in the Kings English.)They are made to suck moisture out of air wholesale and actually release it automatically back into the environment with pressurized air. Just a thought…
Very interesting review. I was a bit skeptical that those little filament openings would provide enough of a vent for the moisture, but they seem to be enough, at least when they are completely open.
A couple of corrections:
6:06 - should be "three kilowatt-hours of electricity." 6: 15 - should be "125 watts" not "125 watts per hour". Watts per hour makes no sense. Watts is rate of usage of electrical energy versus time (Joules / sec), not an amount of electricity.
Surprises me this doesn't come with a motor that rotates the reels while drying. Surely a heat spot in one segment of a reel could be damaging in the long run if you dont have the time to be regularly turning the reels?
That adds unnecessy complexity. I'm surprised that it's blasting straight onto the filament instead of spreading it more evenly throughout the chamber.
Eibos Polyphemus has a motor holds 2 reels and it’s about the same price.
@RCshowmen thanks!
Just 3DP a heatshield that difuses and helps spread the heat out of the vent
Great review. I am a believer in filament dryers. Got lucky and scored an S4 on the earliest early bird for $80 USD shipped. I use a cheap fruit dryer that I bought from Aldi to dry the large and small dessicant packs that I place in my favorite filament storage boxes - RepBoxes from Repkord. I like the maintenance mode of the S4 as I can have a set of "goto" filaments that I know will always be ready for printing. Any boxes with dessicant have to be monitored and the dessicant recharged from time to time.
Have the S1, intending to modify but haven't got around to it. Bought the S4 on the kickstarter on a whim, as I often need multiple filaments, with multiple printers. They are already making improvements in pre-prod based on user feedback, which is great to see.
Amazing tests and thoroughness, thank you for all the work you put into this. Subbed.
Great detailed review, many thanks!
My Kickstarter unit came today in the UK.
Cool video. I've already backed the campaign. I do plan to try to revive 2 (year + open in the uk) filaments with it.
I have two dryers, one is the first sunlu which is modded with the fan, the other is ebos3d series x, the ebos3d has damaged 2 rolls of filament as it’s fused the filament in the middle
@highroyds I have an Eibos (the black one for one filament) and it happened to me too. I contacted the support and they shows me a way to decrease the heater a bit turning down the potenciometer in the board. Which filament you demage? Mine was Petg. Support is slow but they already sended a new board to put in (spare), after a month of conversarion 😅
@@Flagazz PETG, two rolls of it. I did message them about it but they ignored the message
Thanks for the 30 day free trial!
Great review. Seems I will not regret getting me one of those.
Have you tried modding the S4 to add some larger vents and see how it goes? It looks like it would be pretty easy to drill a large circular hole in each lid and print a rotating vent to fit in each, allowing for varied airflow out of the top. Might have to do some research on this when I get home and see if anyone has made such a model. Be pretty easily replicable with a set size holesaw and model.
I reckon the quick foam drying time attributes to the chamber volume, as moisture doesn't build up as quickly when drying
Where can I purchase the lid extension for larger spools Thank you !
The un used filaments need a motor mod to keep them running because it is going to blast and cook one of the sides, and also I think this active dryers need some kind of condensation tool too catch and remove the water content.
Edit:
Also, I don't think that dry speed is as important, I think that the system should be capable of keeping the moisture outside the filament and to reach very low humidity levels to allow the filament to exchange it's internal humidity. So, keeping a vent open won't help that much after a while, what would help is to finally close the vent after a while and maintain the dry air inside. That is why I want to build a condensation unit out of a Peltier block.
I use a food dehydrator. With a slight modification, snipping a circle out of the inner trays, I can put two rolls in it too dry.
TBH that shoe drying feature really changed the way I'm thinking about this machine, It's not sensible for me to buy a full clothes dryer for my rental but this might cover me in a pinch
I would probably add a shroud over the fan to prevent it blowing directly to the filaments
You should throw an empty cardboard spool in with your filament which is on the same cardboard spool. Weighing both before and after, you would have a good idea how much moisture was in the cardboard spool vs the filament.
Automatic maintaining sounds great on paper, but I already can imagine that thing decided to turn on buzzing in 3 am)
I think the best theoretical solution would be to run active drying with heaters and ventilation, and than automatically seal all the vents air-tight when the filament is dry
I like my S4 for its 4 roll capacity. I don't like that it doesn't have a vent other than the 8 small filament openings. I usually keep those plugged and prop open the lids by not latching them down while drying. Too bad they didn't think the venting through very well. Another problem is that it's blowing heated air directly on the filament, causing hot spots. I'm sure someone will design a deflector to address fix this.
Absolutely disappointing that nobody makes a good universal dryer.... one that can handle low temps as well as nylons, etc. Seems like it should be easy to achieve.
Very tempted to get together with some engineering buddies and develop one, but have no idea how to judge market potential or actuall go into production...maybe thats why they dont exist yet??
Yea, but how accurate are YOUR temp sensors? Are they calibrated, or are you taking them at face value? Could be that both your thermometers AND the S4 are off. Just saying, coming from a calibration background.
How that the S4 final production model has shipped, is there any comment you have on whether they have addresses some of the issues or made improvements?
I got the 30% earlybird, had just missed the 38% one..
So this dryer does not rotate the filament spool? Also would there not be a moisture gradient from filament being closer to the outside surface vs the filament internally on the reel?
Should work for recharging desiccant?
Incorrect. The PrintDry Pro can do four rolls at a time. And it’s a much better value since you can also do a 3kg spool (or bigger) inside.
shouldnt it be shorter if theres filament inside? less air to heat up ?
Wish the S4 had a WiFi module for monitoring temperature/humidity and power consumption from remote.
Will be interesting if you can test sunlu newer s2, it come with fan now.
You should do a video on how they are burning all.their Kickstarters. They are selling pre-orders before kickstarter orders are filled and lying about the shipments.
Hi, I contacted Sunlu about your comment as I didn't know there were any problems. I don't know if you have tried contacting them yourself but it sounds like they are working hard to try and resolve a couple of issues they have faced. They were keen to say that they don't want to make excuses but they had a customs issue with some stock and then Christmas has caused further delays but they are just about there now. They said that that have made mistakes and are doing everything they can to get orders out to backers and were very apologetic. I don't work for Sunlu but obviously did make this review so felt that I wanted to try and get you some information. They were very quick to reply and wanted to know order numbers etc. To try to give more information. Try contacting them if you haven't already.
Has anyone had issues with their S4 jamming? I'm not sure if its the long PTFE tube getting pinched in the printer's filament inlet hole, or the stiff rollers causing too much friction.
Yeah, great deal on the Kickstarter... too bad my country won't be shipped to though :(
What would you recommend if i only need to dry one roll every so often? Should i get an s1 or s2 and mod it? Or are there any other better easier options?
the short snipped of the noise in this video really doesnt do it justice.
this thing is LOUD, i got mine sitting next to my prusa XL and i cant hear the printer running over the fan noise of that dryer.
the drying performance is great but you really need to account for another 50 bucks worth of Noctua fans if you want this to be a usable machine.
nice .
For a premium dryer the display is a bit shit. I also dont see why they didnt have the spools rotate every 15 minutes or so.
WOOW.. 10C higher in the middle of the filament? That can destroy a filament going up to his glass transition temperature! That’s bad!
A result from car engraving plz ? 😉
Unfortunately they didn't change the type of touchscreen display .. it is the worst part of the S2 for me.
Watts per hour is not a real unit. watts are power usage Kw/h is a unit of energy so the avrage energy usage was 125 watts
That's kWh, not kW/h.
You need to give away your e-mail and a credit card number even to look around Skill share to see whats available, no chance, sorry