A while black some failed black knight prints prompted me to try refreshing my black filament. Over time plastic absorbs moisture in the air and swells and while I live in the middle of the great American desert we have had some pretty good rains lately.
Theoretically the procedure is as follows:
- Set the oven on it’s lowest setting to force the moisture out.
- Have something to absorb the moisture. I was going to use rice.
- Prop the door open to allow the moisture to escape… I forgot this step.
- Let it cook for a couple of hours.
I had some white filament left over from when that roll ran out and… woah. 1.87/1.88mm. Yeah, some pretty good swelling there. (Sorry about the orientation.)
The black filament was… actually, not that bad. 1.77 on a 1.75mm spool. I guess the black is okay for now. But I’ve got all this rice prepared so might as well use it.
ABS on a bed of white rice.
Set the oven for “warm” and forget it for several hours.
1.77mm. Mission accomplished. I’m just going to save the rice for next time, but it worked great. Now I can use the last of the white with the black filament I have for dual printing and not worry about diameter differences.
