Filament Drying Instructions

Proper filament drying is an important step toward achieving consistent print quality and reliable material performance. Many 3D printing materials absorb moisture from the surrounding environment, which can lead to poor surface finish, excessive stringing, bubbling, inconsistent extrusion, and reduced mechanical properties. Use the drying temperature and recommended drying time below as a starting point for each 3DXTECH material. For best results, dry filament before printing when moisture exposure is suspected and store material in a dry environment after drying.
Product Name Drying Instructions
ABS 80°C for 4 hours
ABS+CF 80°C for 4 hours
ABS+GF 80°C for 4 hours
ASA 80°C for 4 hours
ASA+CF 80°C for 4 hours
Economy PLA 45°C for 4 hours
EMI-PETG 65°C for 4 hours
ESD-ABS 80°C for 4 hours
ESD-PC 120°C for 4 hours
ESD-PEI 1010 150°C for 4-6 hours
ESD-PETG 65°C for 4 hours
ESD-PLA 65°C for 4 hours
ESD-TPU (60D) 65°C for 4 hours
ezPC POLYCARBONATE 80°C for 4+ hours
ezPC+CF 80°C for 4 hours
FR-ABS 80°C for 4 hours
FR-PC/ABS 80°C for 6 hours
Glitter PLA 45°C for 4 hours
HIPS Not needed
HTN+CF 120°C for 4 hours
HTS1 120°C for 4 hours
HTS2 120°C for 4 hours
LTS2 Not needed
MTS1 80°C for 4 hours
NYLON 12 80°C for 4 hours
NYLON 12+CF 90°C for 4 hours
NYLON 12+GF30 90°C for 4 hours
NYLON 6 90°C for 4-6 hours
NYLON 6 ALLOY 90°C for 4 hours
NYLON 6+CF 90°C for 4 hours
NYLON 6+GF30 90°C for 4 hours
Nylon 6-66 90°C for 4 hours
OBSIDIAN FR-NYLON 70°C for 6 hours
OBSIDIAN NYLON 6+CF V2 80°C for 6 hours
PC 120°C for 4+ hours
PC+CF 120°C for 4 hours
PC-ABS 120°C for 4+ hours
PCTG 65°C for 4 hours
PEEK 150°C for 3 hours
PEEK+CF10 150°C for 3 hours
PEEK+GF20 150°C for 3 hours
PEI 1010 150°C for 4-6 hours
PEI 9085 130°C for 4-6 hours
PEI 9085+CF 130°C for 4-6 hours
PEI+GF30 120°C for 4 hours
PEKK-A 120°C for 6-8 hours
PEKK-A+CF 120°C for 6-8 hours
PES 120°C for 4 hours
PETG 65°C for 4 hours
PETG+CF 65°C for 4 hours
PLA 45°C for 4 hours
PLA+CF 65°C for 4 hours
PP+CF 65°C for 4 hours
PPE/PS 80°C for 4 hours
PPS 110°C for 4 hours
PPSU 150°C for 8 hours
PSU 150°C for 8 hours
PVA 65°C for 4 hours
PVDF Not required
R-PETG 65°C for 4 hours
Satin PLA 45°C for 4 hours
SIMUBONE® 65°C for 4 hours
TOUGH PLA 65°C for 4 hours
TPU (85A) 65°C for 4 hours
TPU (95A) 65°C for 4 hours

Tips from Our Engineers

This of course depends on how wet the material is. If it has been sitting out for several weeks or months, then you may need to dry it longer to drive out the moisture. High-temp materials like PEKK, PEEK, and PEI may need to be dried longer since they are slow to pick up moisture, but also slow to give moisture up when drying.  

Anyone who prints with nylon knows how fast it can pick up moisture and what this does to the quality of your printing. 

We recommend 90°C and at least 4 hours to dry nylon, but this is a starting point. Saturated nylon may take 24+ hours to dry enough to make decent prints. Keep the material in a dry place while printing and between print jobs to make drying easier. 

Over-drying Nylon:  One thing to note is that over-drying nylon can be more difficult to dry and handle. Nylon actually likes a little bit of moisture in it or it will be brittle and more difficult to process.  Printing with nylon is so much fun!

FD1 - Filament Dryer

FD1 is our forced-air convection oven created specifically for drying technical polymers. This is a much-needed solution to the problem of materials which have absorbed moisture, now creating printing issues such as bubbling, jamming, and poor part quality.

FM1 - Filament Maintainer

The FM1 was designed to keep your filament dry and ready to print, with a convenient port for feeding filament directly from the filament maintainer. Automatic drying system works to keep chamber air at -40°C dewpoint to ensure a dry storage environment with programmable alarm to alert at specified high/low humidity levels.

It’s always a great idea to make sure you have proper ventilation in your printing environment – whether during printing or drying filament – to assure good air quality while processing these plastic materials.

Please make sure you have a smoke detector in any environment where you are printing.  You are processing plastic materials and many of them are flammable and all exude some vapors during printing.

Please contact us at Support@3dxtech.com if you have any questions.