Tuesday, August 18, 2026

hot wheels, sorta.

  Herewith, the current Three Dee Pee Cave:


 Ever since I received my 3D printer courtesy of a good friend and bro, I have been unable to print in the summer time because of high humidity caused by our evaporative cooler. And, well, I spent last winter doing upgrades...

I finally broke down and bought the filament drier I have been eyeballing (Sovol SH02) for over a year. 

 As I write this, it is drying a spool which has been out of its bag for months, because I forgot about it.  Recommended time for very wet PLA is 12 hours.  Set it and forget it.  It shuts off when the selected time runs out.  Has surprisingly slick touchscreen interface, although the display on mine was out of position slightly.  Not enough to bother me. It is visible in the photo as the blue display with icons, halfway up the right side of the image.  It holds & dries two small reels or one big (wide) reel.

 I will probably attempt to print with the filament in the drier, it has rollers and ports for that purpose, but I'll run a long bowden tube between drier and tent.  The wattage is a PTC heater so minimum fire worries, and it's only 120W or so, IIRC.

 The tent temp can be elevated only a little; it's main purpose is providing a sane "room temperature" environment for the printer in the winter.  I have several little hamster-sized beanbags of nylon stocking material filled with silica gel which live in the tent, and I can make more. Can't hurt.  More as it happens.

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