Hey everyone! If you are in a large production facility with good humidity control you probably don’t have to worry about this, but in my case humidity can be difficult to control this time of year so I must deploy additional measures to ensure my work area is not breaching the recommended 50% or lower humidity level. I’ve found actually 45% is too high and will remove the grate filter from the hopper once it gets within that range. I believe some remove their grates entirely but every time I run the powder down past the grate there is some contamination caught by it, so I leave mine in most of the time.
Just a friendly reminder to prevent an expensive print stoppage due to powder clumping!
Just find out that mine is at 43% today, and last week (friday)it was at 23%. So yes worth checking fortunately last friday the hopper got almost empty so new sealed powder will come on the next build. Are you drying you sifted nylon somehow?
I dont worry about drying it. I do make sure I only fill the hopper with enough to finish the current job plus maybe 5%, that way its not just sitting in the hopper absorbing water. If I do have some powder left over I stir it before starting the print and then maybe once or twice more once its underway.
Powder stays in the sift hoppers or closed powder cartridge to minimize any ambient water absorption. So far this plus removing the grate when there is prolonged high humidity has prevented print stoppages.
This is most excellent advise. Im so greatful our lab is airconditioned. So making sure the humidity is below 30% is gold. I notice a difference in print quality when humidity goes above 40%.