Ring Holder to Dry Silica Gel in a Filament Dryer

This is a 190mm OD, 30mm thick PETG HF ventilated holder for about 150g of silica gel beads to dry/regenerate them in a standard filament dryer. It's sized so two can fit side by side in the space of a single 1kg spool of filament with a little space in between for air circulation.

The model is a single piece slotted ring with a threaded plug to close the beads in. Wrench and funnel models are included. The wrench is handy to unscrew the plug if it gets tight but also makes it easier to wear in the threads a little. I don’t tighten with the wrench. The plug bottoms and works great finger tight so wrench tightening is just hard on the threads and the wall it’s a part of.

There are good silica gel bead drying containers here on MakerWorld but I was looking for certain things that no one design had. Putting the threads inside gave a lower profile for the plug, little thickening ribs on the wall slats gives a little extra strength and helps printability, and a threaded funnel makes filling easier.

Just pouring in the beads until mostly full and securing the plug, each ring holds a little over 150g net of Dry & Dry Orange 3-5mm Indicating silica gel beads with a tare weight of 100g ring and plug. Two of them side by side obviously doubles that up.

The relatively large amount of water in the silica gel beads really spikes filament dryer humidity as the rings warm up and takes a long time to leave.

I suspect the best way to dry beads may be a combination of techniques because of the large amount of water they can hold. A microwave treatment to get a lot of the bulk water out first with a finish in dry air in the filament dryer might be fastest and most efficient. At any rate, these ring-style bead holders work fine. I don’t recommend microwaving beads in the ring. It might work but hot beads might also stick? I don’t know but I’d recommend microwaving in glass instead and then putting the beads in the rings.

This kind of print with lots of hops and tiny features might be difficult if your printer or filament is misbehaving. The second plate is much less trouble. If you have problems printing the ring, there’s a good chance it’s moisture. For me it prints fine as long as the filament is “dry”.