Moisture on inside of dome

[clint70]

Been fighting moisture inside the dome for several days now, I have a diy dewheater, however that does not seem to do much in the prevention of the moisture.

The enclosure is small, and I will admit it is not sealed perfectly, so there is air flow from inside / outside. BUT I am getting tired of fighting this, LOOKING for suggestions OR perhaps ideas for a better enclosure design?

Appreciate any / all advice to do with prevention of moisture inside enclosure / dome.

[loykastj]

I ran this one for a year with no moisture: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4721653
The acrylic dome yellowed though.

I will say though, that it looks like your printer has some extrusion issues, and those exterior walls do not look water tight.

[clint70]

Thanks for the suggestion... and you are not wrong. That was one of my first ABS prints. The hotend was not hot enough. I figured the temp out like 80% through the print. :( The print time was 15hrs so, was not really excited to print again...

I'll look at the one you suggested, might be better. Has more room for sure. :D. As for water tight, I would agree, but tested and it may take water on in the wall void, but nothing inside?? So, IDK ... but it's just the proof of concept for a good print. Although like I said, I like the one you pointed out, because of the space.

[loykastj]

Do you run a temp tower for all new filaments? I usually do that and find it is a reliable way to get good results.
Also, consider ASA for outdoor projects, it is the more UV resistant filament.

[jcauthen78]

I snagged a few decadent packets from Amazon a while back - they've lasted about 9 months each, then i swap them out and re-dry the older one. It's prevented the humidity from getting too high inside my case and gotten rid of my dew (and frost) inside the dome.

Being a 3d printed case, I've had similar problems on other projects where the walls/layers didn't bond fully to form a true seal. Took a few temp towers and e-step calibrations to get it where I want it.. I have to re-do those two whenever I swap out for a different brand filament since each one melts a little different from different manufacturers.

[clint70]

Thanks... I have decadent packs, but he case is small, and TBH, the walls are prob. not 100% as you can see in the image. I have just been putting off another 15hr ABS print ;)

Temp tower and e-steps cal is always a good idea. I am just lazy sometimes :)

[brianboru82]

You could always work to seal the inside or outside of the existing print, spreading some sort of caulk over the outside surface, or maybe a paint. Dew heaters are primarily to keep dew and moisture off the outside of the dome by heating it enough for it to evaporate and not condense on it. But if you have moisture inside, heating it will just make vapor inside your enclosure which will then condense when it can on the coldest surface, which would probably be the dome. So you need to eliminate the moisture problem inside your enclosure.

[clint70]

@brianboru82, yup... that was the temp fix I chose to try. For now this 'ABS rough' print is coated in flex-seal ;) and the dome is silicon sealed. I have added 2x venting holes on the bottom... which does double duty. 1. it allows the air to circulate and not trap moist air. 2. it allows the warm(hot) air from the RPi to exit the enclosure. I think for the most part I have been able to address the moisture issue with the following:

1. flex-sealed enclosure
2. added venting
3. sealed dome
4. added secondary fan
5. added dew heater that can manually be turned on, when required.

These all seem to have done away with my issue. Thank you for the suggestion, it validates my 'temp' solution. I believe I will have to re-print a new enclosure at a later date, it will be larger and have better ventilation.