EIBOS Polyphemus 3D printer filament dryer review

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REVIEW – If you’ve been 3D printing at all, you’ve hopefully been able to get everything all dialed in and have some awesome success with prints… Only to have them inexplicably start to not come out okay, usually after a couple of weeks (or longer). That’s where a filament dryer can come in quite handy. Will it solve problems with your hot end or your bed alignment? No, but it can absolutely help with your filament of choice behaving like it should by keeping it in a target zone of dryness of humidity. Think of it a little bit like keeping that opened container in the fridge, instead of out on the counter. But I digress. EIBOS sent their Polyphemus 3D Printer Filament Dryer for review and that’s what this is. Let’s go.

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $139.99
Where to buy: Eibos and Amazon

What is it?

The Polyphemus from EIBOS is a dryer/humidity control device for 3D printing filament. It’s capable of holding up to two 210 or 250mm filament spools and can feed directly from the chamber into your 3D printer with integrated routing.

What’s included?

Polyphemus filament dryer base
Main cover with handle
Power cord
Teflon tube, silicone stoppers, assembly tool and screws
Manual

Height expansion frame (separate package)

Tech Specs

Dimensions: W x D x H | 205 x 275 x 317mm to top of handle | Height expansion adds 45mm
Spool Size: Diameter x W |Double Spool: 210 x 80mm | Single Spool 210 x170mm | Height expansion 250mm diameter
Supported Filaments: PLA, ABS, PA, PC, PETG, ASA, PVA, PP, M1, M2, M3
Ranges: Temperature 30-70℃ | Humidity 10%-99%
Time Settings: 30 min to 24 hour or unlimited
Power Rating: 130W with power loss memory
Exhaust Vent: Adjustable including a closed position
Passive Drying: 2 Desiccant holders
Filament Routing: 8 pass-through holes

Design and features

Polyphemus is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoösa in Greek mythology. I’m not quite sure how that translates to a 3D filament dryer, but their previous version was CYCLOPES, so at least there’s a theme. The base contains all the tech, including the heating element, airflow, power supply, LCD, and control buttons.

It also has integrated rollers allowing for your spools to rotate and get even heat coverage under the large clear cover.

The control panel lets you see at a glance, chosen material type, setting temp, relative humidity, rotation status, heating level, current temp (Cº or Fº) and remaining time.

Heated air comes out underneath the front rollers.

Rear cavities can hold desiccant packs if you want to have some passive humidity control in lieu of keeping this running.

Assembly, Installation, Setup

The good news here is that all the complicated stuff (display, controls, PCB, motor, etc) is enclosed in the fully assembled base. The other good news is that the rest of the assembly is the main cover and that’s pretty straight forward and kinda fun. It follows these basic steps…

Assemble the uprights to the lower frame, and install the 4 acrylic panels (don’t forget to peel off the protective film).

Install the top frame, acrylic top panel and place the handle into center location.

Install the 10 screws to hold that all together. The two screws for the handle are easiest with the included long hex wrench. All the others are easier with the cooler, techie battery powered screwdriver you probably prefer to use anyway.

It’s now ready to use on the base. If you regularly run 250 diameter spools of filament, you’ll want to build the height expansion frame.

It assembles in much the same way, but attaches to the bottom of the cover using longer screws in place of the short screws you previously installed.

Performance

Using the Polyphemus only requires a quick read of the manual to understand some button behavior, then you’re able to jump right in. Here’s what you need to know. Here’s the control panel for reference…

Press OPTION (3 line icon), then up/down to cycle through the preset filament types or use one of the 3 memory positions.
Press SETTING (gear icon) to select and switch between temperature, heating level and drying time, again using up/down to adjust.
Press SETTING (gear icon) (and hold 3 sec) to toggle between Cº and Fº.
Press 360º to turn on the rotation feature – this rotates the spool roughly 9º at a time in small intervals allowing more even drying.
Press ON/OFF (power icon) to enter HUMIDITY Mode and then SETTING to adjust a threshold for humidity, where the unit will automatically turn on if the humidity level falls below.
Press ON/OFF (power icon) (and hold 3 sec) to factory reset the device.

Here’s my current setup with the Two Trees SK1 printer and the side-mounted spool I now get to replace with the Polyphemus since it can feed straight out into the printer (just remember to turn off the rotation function so your printer can pull).

The dryer has 8 different routes for the filament to exit the cover. 3 are on top, which work best for my setup. EIBOS included some extra tubing to install, as I’ve shown for two spools. along with plugs to fill ports you aren’t using.

There are three more on the front just above the display where the cover rests, and two on the back in the left and right locations.

Here you can see that I’ve just run it to butt up against the input tubing of the SK1. I used a little reflective tape to help illustrate where that junction is. If I always printed from the same spool, I’d consider heat-shrinking the two together, but this is better for the way I swap spools frequently. And now I’ll get to remove that spool holder still hanging out in this photo.

On the top of the cover, there’s a vent that you should leave open when drying but can close to keep the system relatively static when off.

I use standard 210mm spools, so I didn’t need to use the expansion section. The settings were easy to adjust and it starts working right away. It’s worth noting that all the settings for the different filaments are starting points and you can adjust based on any specifics for the brands you prefer.

I was able to take that spool of PLA that’s been hanging on the side of my printer and rehabilitate it. It had become quite brittle after a solid couple months of non use. A 3 hour cycle in the Polyphemus and it had returned to something much closer to it’s original state. I was able to do the same with some ABS. I can’t, however, speak to it solving some of my printing woes because I do have something wrong with the hot end on my machine, but you can bet I’ll be trying to figure that out shortly.

I will say that the price seems a bit expensive as there are options a lot cheaper for single spool dryer, or even dual spools in the $60-$80 range. I also feel they missed an opportunity by not having a way to latch the cover to the base so that you could move the whole device (with spools inside) by using the handle.

Hopefully this was helpful and provides some details you might not have been able to find elsewhere.

Final thoughts

The EIBOS Polyphemus does what it sets out to do in that it provides a controlled chamber for heat and humidity that can be optimized for different types of filament. It handles one or two spools and can fit 210mm diameter or 250mm diameter with the expansion section. It’s easy to use and can feed directly into your printer providing your best chance at optimum prints. EIBOS may have some work to do on MSRP as it does seem a little costly.

What I like about the EIBOS Polyphemus 3D Printer Filament Dryer

Easy to assemble and to use
Functions well
Like that you can feed printer through the cover

What needs to be improved?

Pricey. A few options out there for dual dryers at half the price or less.
Dual spool, but not dual chamber, so filament types would need same parameters.
The lid does not latch to the base, so the unit cannot be carried by the handle.

Price: $139.99
Where to buy: Eibos and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Eibos, who did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.