Ultimaker S5 Polybox Feeder Guide

Not long ago I got around to purchasing a dry box to keep my filament dry during printing as i’m working up the courage to attempt nylon again and also make better use of the PVA support for intricate parts. The biggest hurdle from my previous attempts was moisture absorption.

It’s actually kind of galling that a $10k AUD machine would advertise to print these materials reliably, but not even include some basic means for keeping the materials dry. Heck, even a heated build enclosure for printing materials prone to warping like ABS is a severe omission. Oh, but you can be the material and air manager for another 6.5k combined. /rant.

Below, the Ultimaker S5 printer… and the glorified lid and filament box that really should come standard.

So here I am with a Polybox. A simple enclosure with bearing rollers for 2 rolls of filament, integrated humidity reader, dessicant, and PTFE tubing to enclose the filament from roll to feeder. It’s already made a huge improvement. Not having to remove filament after printing always felt like such a chore.

Unfortunately, nothing is ever that simple. As an aftermarket product, the Polybox is not designed for any specific printer but rather to suit a myriad in a flooded marked. That means the gigantic filament intake for the Ultimakers feeders happens to be big enough to gobble up the PTFE tube too - oh no!

Thanks to this large inlet, the printer has a tendency to stop itself from printing when the PTFE tube becomes jammed in the feeder gears.

My first attempt at a solution for this problem is fairly straightforward - a guide that clips over the feeder box with a narrower inlet that prevents the Ultimaker S5 from attempting to extrude the PTFE tube as well. The intent was also for the PTFE tube to clip into the guide so that the filament is effectively sealed throughout, thus reducing the amount of air entering the Polybox, ensuring the humidity level remains low and filament stays dry.