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Filament absorbs moisture as soon as you break the seal of the packaging, and that moisture will affect the quality of your prints, and it’s a problem that until recently no one talked about.
The effect of damp filament, even if it feels dry to the touch, shows up as stringing, popping, weak layer adhesion, and prints that just look slightly worse than they should. Because it creeps in gradually, you usually blame the printer, whereas it’s often the material.
The H1 HT is Elegoo’s first dryer. It arrives to tackle one of the major quibbles with the otherwise excellent Centauri Carbon 2 (see my review here). Essentially, the fact that the machine features an open-air spool design, leaving filament exposed to whatever humidity the room happens to have.
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In the case of my workshop at some points of the year, that can be high. This drybox is the company’s answer. It’s designed to take a single 1kg spool, heats to a maximum of 85°C, rotates the spool for even exposure and vents humid air automatically before sealing itself shut again.
The clever part is that you don’t have to stop printing to use it and it’s not confined to use with just Elegoo machines. The design features two filament outlets that let you run the dryer as a heated dry box, feeding the printer while it keeps your filaments in prime condition.
ELEGOO H1 HT: Price and availability
The H1 HT is available for $70 from Elegoo’s US site, and for £62 from the UK site.
For a single dryer, that’s extremely well priced and undercuts most established names while offering a higher maximum temperature and, frankly, better design.
If you’re thinking about this for your Centauri Carbon 2, then you’ll need/want four, so that will set you back $280 / £248.
ELEGOO H1 HT: Design
I’ve been looking at Elegoo’s machines for a few years – most recently the Centauri Carbon 2 – and they have always been well made. Still, there have usually been a few rough edges, and it was only with the Centauri Carbon and Centauri Carbon 2 that I started to see that change, although the sci-fi or quirky graphic remained.
The H1 HT goes further again, and the build quality is one of the best of any dryer box I’ve seen and used. Elegoo has dropped the sci-fi industrial styling and finally offers something more professional.
In the background, there have been changes in the company, and you get the impression this is the first result of that new influence. There are small design details, such as the lid having a proper latch that closes and seals securely, which sounds trivial until you’ve used dryers where the lid simply rests in place.
At 1.53kg empty and 280 x 126 x 257mm, these are weights and measurements that I have measured and not from an official listing; it sits alongside a printer without taking up too much space on the work surface.
However, if you’re using it with a multifilament, then you are looking at four of these. Each requires an AC (mains) socket, so while it’s a solution, the power and space requirements do need to be taken into account.
Another point is that units can’t be stacked but sit side by side neatly. With the filament inside, it exits the dryer through one of two outlets. The rear outlet is horizontal to the work surface and takes PLA, PETG, ABS, and ASA through a tube into the printer’s filament block.
In contrast, the second lid outlet handles TPU and fibre-reinforced materials, where the more direct upward route applies noticeably less friction.
ELEGOO H1 HT: Features
Specs
Maximum temperature: 85°C
Presets: 11 (PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, PET, PP, PC, PA, PAHT-CF, PVA) plus Custom
Capacity: one 1kg spool
Display: 3.5in colour touchscreen, temperature and %RH readout
Outlets: rear horizontal, plus lid outlet for TPU and fibre-reinforced
Drying: rotating spool (switchable), dual automatic vents
Safety: overheat protection, flame-resistant inner shell, lid-open detection, fan fault detection
Connectivity: none – no app, no printer communication
Power: 170-180W average drying PLA (measured)
Dimensions: 280 x 126 x 257mm / 1.53kg without filament (measured)
Noise: 57.2dB running against 32.9dB ambient (measured)
Price: £62 / $70 / €70 / $90 CAD / $149 AUD / ¥10,399
Opening up the box when the dryer arrived, it’s obvious that Elegoo has invested in the development of this machine. Details such as the front-facing touchscreen stand out for their responsiveness and design, but more importantly, it’s well thought out, with no multi-layer menu depth and everything exactly where you’d expect it.
The home screen shows chamber temperature and relative humidity alongside set temperature, remaining time and current material. The eleven presets run from PLA up to PC, PA and PAHT-CF, with Custom alongside; the inclusion of PAHT-CF highlights that Elegoo is thinking about the engineering materials that actually need that 85°C drying temperature.
I also like the fact that there’s plenty of customisation, accessed by a setup that lets you adjust almost any setting, and then you can adjust it. For printing from the dryer, I routed the filament into the block on the Centauri Carbon 2 printer, switched off the auto-rotation and set 40°C for PLA, matching the drying time to the length of the print. Unfortunately, there’s no direct communication between the box and the printer.
Rotating Drying and Lid Open Detection have their own triggers; venting simply happens with nothing to hear, and the only safety feature check activates as soon as I leave the lid open, beeping and pausing drying until secured.
It’s also worth noting that there is no app, no connectivity, and no communication with the printer, which, with a Centauri alongside, is a shame. However, this also means that it works with any FDM printer you own.
ELEGOO H1 HT: Performance
To start the test with the H1 HT, I first wanted to check to see if the dryer was actually able to reach the temperature highlight. Setting up is straightforward with the packaging removed, power plugged in, filament tube inserted into the back and then the box boots up, which takes a few seconds, and you’re ready to start. I then set the temperature to 85C and pressed start. What instantly struck me was how easy this was to navigate.
The initial reading from the box was for an ambient temperature of 36°C, and watching that screen show the increase in internal temperature with the H1 HT reaching that 85°C in 8 minutes 25 seconds without a spool inside, then settled back to 77°C and fluctuated between 75 and 85°C.
I then watched it for a while, and it held that variance in temperature over a 15-minute period without issue.
I then popped in a spool of PLA that had been in the workshop for a while and ran that through the dryer for the suggested eight hours from the present. Despite the hot weather, humidity out there is higher than you’d expect. I then popped in filaments from Elegoo, Prusa and Fillamentum with no sign of spool deformation.
What was apparent with each as I printed the test models was the uplift in quality, surface smoothness and stringing all improving dramatically once dried. Running the filament, especially PLA from the box, really made a difference and enabled printing that was closer matched to a new spool of material than one that had been sat around for a while.
Printing directly from the dryer worked on the Centauri Carbon 2 with PLA, ASA and PETG, all fed smoothly through the rear outlet with the internal temperature fluctuating slightly as expected but ensuring that 40ºC was kept at the holding point.
Over the test, the quality of the prints really increased and just became part of the printing process, although there is only one, which is a shame. Ideally, I would have four, one for each feed; however, aside from the additional space you need, you also have to consider powering each of the boxes, with each requiring its own AC power in addition to the printer.
I was also interested in the power draw, and checking this showed it utilised between 170 and 180 W drying PLA at40ºC and when it came to noise, it runs at 57.2dB against 32.9dB ambient, audible but not intrusive. Still, again that noise will increase with additional units.
Again, the touchscreen really stands out through the test, with the humidity readout giving a good sense of what’s happening in the chamber. When just drying filament, the rotating spool is hard to assess in isolation; prior experience tells me even heat exposure from the rotating spool helps, although you need to switch this off when used in combination with the printer, at which point the strength of the filament feed will rotate the spool.
ELEGOO H1 HT: Final verdict
Elegoo is positioning the H1 HT as the answer to some of the feedback about the Centauri Carbon 2’s open-air spool design. And having run one, I can see the potential. Considering what that machine costs, an additional $70 / £62 isn’t excessive, although that price elevates as soon as more boxes are added.
While this is a great solution, it isn’t as neat as a fully enclosed printer. Still, it offers flexibility and a scalable system, and the difference in print quality does make it worth the cost, especially if you’re an occasional printer and leave filament around for weeks or even months between use.
One issue worth knowing is that while drying rescues filament that’s damp, not filament that’s already gone brittle, so if spools have sat for months, check them before spending eight hours on a lost cause. You also have the issue of space and power outlets, but again the benefits that these dryers bring kind of outweigh that argument, at least for me.
At the end of the test, what stands out is just how good this thing is: the build, the interface, that latching lid. Something is shifting at Elegoo, and on this evidence it’s one to watch.
Should I buy the Elegoo H1 HT?
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Row 0 – Cell 1 | Row 0 – Cell 2 |
|
Value: |
$70 / £62 buys 85°C drying and a build that outperforms pricier rivals |
4.5 |
|
Design: |
The best-built dryer I’ve used, with an excellent touchscreen that’s easy to navigate |
4.5 |
|
Features: |
Eleven easy-to-access presets, dual outlets and print-through, but no connectivity, which is a shame |
4 |
|
Performance: |
Quick to reach temperature and a marked difference to print quality with open filaments |
4.5 |
|
Total: |
A superb first dryer that fixes the Centauri’s open filament storage design. |
4.5 |
For more top-performing models, see my guide to the best 3D printers I’ve tested and reviewed
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