Better Knurled Cap, Better Cap Threads, & Thinner Walled Silica Gel Container by ironjohnhenry

Last crawled date: 3 years, 2 months ago

Please give me a like up top if you think this project is useful, and I'd love to read your feedback in the comments if it helps you out or needs improvement.
Education For New Makers:
In 3D printing, it is important to keep your filament dry. Practically every type of plastic will take on moisture from humid air. In technical terms, polymers are hygroscopic. PLA and ABS/ASA less so than PETG/Nylon/PC and flexibles, but it can still be a problem given enough time in the open air.
The solution is to store open spools of filament in containers which are as close to air tight as possible, and to include silica gel desiccant beads in these sealed containers. Some containers even have an air valve that lets you pull a bit of vacuum in the container. I don't do this, and I don't plan to do this, but it is another good step in protecting your filament.
What kind of container people use varies, but spools are always round. Placing your beads in the spool hole is the most space saving storage option. This makes the inside spool bead container a popular solution, and many 3D models exist to fit the need.
You print the model, fill it with silica you picked up from Amazon, Grainger, U-Line, etc, pop it in the center of your spool, and close the lid to your sealed container.
Details for S Class Print Nerds:
This remix of Tenshe's design is my contribution.
I started playing with this design just to get some practice in Tinkercad, but picked it back up a few months later and made it a remix worth uploading.
The threads and cap knurling have been taken from a commercial product I've been working on. It makes the cap far easier to work with.
I then spent time thinning the walls of this container to around 1mm, and changed the bottom taper to a more steep (easily printable) angle. It didn't seem necessary to have such thick walls on this project, and your slicer won't want to use supports with this version.
To do 1: Other remixes made the holes smaller to work with smaller silica beads. I may add that in the future, or someone else could make a remix.
To do 2: Tenshi has a version of this design which accepts a hygrometer on one end. I didn't need it, so haven't spent time adapting them to my design. I encourage anyone who likes the idea of having an integrated hygrometer to remix my better cap thread with his great instrument mount. This would be a great way to learn Tinkercad yourself.