I tried many different approaches from building my own (expensive) filament box with aluminum extrusions and sealed acrylic glass to single Rubbermaid boxes with humidity sensor and Silca gel.

This is now the one I settled for and I am quite happy with the cost / performance. It is a modular approach to creating an affordable DryBox that fits four 1kg Prusament Spools but also larger (2+kg) or slimmer (samples, etc…) ones.

I tried to print as many parts as possible to reduce part sourcing.

Minimum Configuration:

1× IKEA Samla 22L Box with Lid

2× 8mm Threaded Rods (320mm each)

16× 608ZZ Bearings (ABEC7 or above)

4× E3D Threaded Bowden or PC4-M10 Coupling

4x PTFE Transparent Tube (4/3mm OD/ID)

You could save on the bearings and just print the circular spool holders but I wanted to have that added smooth rotation. For the filament exits I still had a lot of E3D PTFE Couplings laying around from my previous attempts with the Rubbermaids. But I figured standart and cheaper PC4-M10 couplings also work. For the future I want to design a printable solution that works without purchasing parts but for now that works great.

I also added an AQARA Humidity & Temperature Sensor (Zigbee) with custom slide-in mount. I have this integrated in my home assistant dashboard alongside with Octoprint via MQTT. I find this solution better now then the simpler circular humidity sensors you can also find on various dryboxes. I noticed it seems to be also much more precise.

Printing should be very straight forward. I used Signal White PETG Prusament with mostly the standard print settings. For the Threaded Couplings I would advise 0.1mm resolution or recut afterwards with an BSP G 1/8-28 or M10 thread cutter.

If you would like to have additional airtight sealing use rubber seals on the lid and print the additional pressure fit clips to hold the lid tight. 4 clips should be sufficient.

Silca Gel can be added on fine-meshed bags on the bottom of the box to further reduce humidty. I picked up some from amazon (33 x 25 cm) which fit perfectly.

All .3mf Files have a suffix (_xNUMBER) to show how many of them need to be printed.

Next Updates:

+ Design custom clips for the end of the PTFE Tubes when the filaments exists to add the final air seal

+ Release Fusion360 Source Files for customizations (after cleanup ;)

UPDATE V2.5 - 11.04.2023

All rollers have been increased in width to allow for a more flexible spool placement.

• Bearing Housing - L_16x.3mf > increased width
• Bearing Housing - R_16x.3mf > increased width
• Spacer_6x.3mf > increased width to 8mm
• End Caps_x4.3mf > adjusted spaceing

UPDATE V2.1 - 09.02.2023

• PTFE - Nut_4x.3mf > fixed faulty thread

UPDATE V2 - 14.09.2022

I changed the behaviour now so the bearings are screwed in place using thumbscrews. That way they can not wobble anymore and misalign. The endcaps (slighty changed dimensions) and PTFE screws (only cosmetically) are in the same design as well. I also added nameplates to identify easier the filament via a 12mm label (PLA, PTFE, etc …). The nameplates require a 10x1.5mm magnet.

Updated Print Files:

• Thumbscrew - 16x
• End Cap - 4x
• Spacer - 6x
• PTFE - Screw - 4x
• PTFE - Nut - 4x
• Nameplate Front - 4x
• Nameplate Rear - 4x

UPDATE - 19.08.2022

Updated Print Files:

• Thumbscrew - 16x → changed thread offset for better fit
• End Cap - 4x → changed thread offset for better fit

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