Silica boxes for SAMLA 22l IKEA

We all want to keep our filament dry. We’ve all spent time scrolling through MakerWorld, looking for the right drybox.

I ended up going with the  Filament dry box 4x (IKEA SAMLA 22l) by pixelwave. 

But hey—how am I supposed to remove the moisture from the box? I mean, just tossing a silica bag in there isn’t exactly a solid plan.

Time to design some custom silica boxes for this drybox. At the bottom of the container, there are basically two usable spaces:

• Under the spools, there's a wide area (about 12x29 cm with a max height of 2.5 cm);
• Under the two threaded rods with the bearings, there are two narrower but taller areas (4.5x22 cm on each side, with a max height of 3.5 cm).

So I ended up making six boxes: 2 large ones for the central area, and 4 small ones for the sides (2 small boxes per side).

The total capacity is probably overkill for what's actually needed to keep humidity under control:

• 1 Large box capacity: ~250 gr (0,55 lbs) 
• 1 Small box capacity: ~100 gr (0.22 lbs)
• Total capacity: ~900 gr (2 lbs) (250 gr x 2 + 100 gr x 4)

The boxes are fully perforated on all sides to maximize effectiveness.

The sliding lid, with a honeycomb pattern, moves smoothly and makes maintenance super easy.

So… does it work? Yep!

With the lid open, humidity inside the box can easily go over 50%.
But once you close it, the silica beads get right to work—bringing it down to 25% in less than an hour. After that, within a couple more hours, the humidity levels out at around 10%, which—at least in my case—is the lowest stable value, and it stays there for months (until the silica needs to be regenerated).

You can print it with any filament you like.
It doesn’t need to handle any weight or high temperatures, so PLA is totally fine. No supports needed either.

Know what else you can do?

You can leave a like, a comment, or even a boost if you liked this model and found it helpful!
 

Having any issues? Just reach out! I’ll help you sort it out and improve the model if needed.