I’ve been working on reorganizing (or just “cleaning”) my workshop and that’s forced me to look at the processes and tools that I use. In the case of filament storage I used to just stick an opened roll into the plastic bag it came in, toss some desiccant into the bag, and then shove it into an old filament box. It works, but I find it annoying. The bags are a pain, and once they are in a box I don’t know what color is in what box.
So I looked around for some filament storage solutions that involved clear containers. This STACKER F-Box is about $50 USD and I don’t need a container I can print from. This Kingroon is under $30 USD, but again, not quite right. There are these PrintDry containers but it’s $75 USD for 6 of them and I’ve seen a few non-favorable reviews…
Ultimately I got a six-pack of these PRAKI Dry Food Storage Containers for less than $25 USD. And every roll of filament I have actually fits. (About $4 USD per container is not bad at all!)
I was concerned the containers would be crap, or not air-tight, but they’re probably more air-tight than the plastic bags I use over and over again and just fold over and tape shut. These work well for my needs, fit on my shelves, and are nice and clear so I can see what filament is inside. I remember that there was a huge tub at Milwaukee Makerspace that could hold a dozen or more rolls, but that’s not a good solution for my needs, so these individual containers work quite well.
I think this is a good example of COTS (commercially available off-the-shelf) where you can find an existing item which has a specific purpose, and then repurpose it for your needs, and it ends up being less expensive than the item that was specifically designed for a need. So while a few companies created filament storage containers it makes a lot of sense to just repurpose something like a food storage container, of which there are hundreds (or thousands) of different varieties.
Update: In this thread Mastodon user @GeekAndDad pointed out these large IRIS 44 Quart WeatherPro™ Containers they use which can each hold 7 rolls, so the 2-pack will set you up for 14 rolls of open filament! It also looks like there are a variety of other sizes if you prefer the “large container” approach.
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