Filament can absorb moisture from the air and then prints poorly (lots of stringy webs mostly). The lab’s spools get used fast enough that this is not really a problem, but if you have your own spools you should probably store them in an air-tight bag or container with a desiccant pouch.
I purchased a 15lb bag of silica gel desiccant and added some blue to red indicating desiccant to it and made some cloth pouches in the sewing lab, and they are available with Ziploc bags for spool storage. Feel free to make more cloth pouches as needed.
You can fill the cloth pouches using the bag with a cut corner as a funnel, then close with a safety pin. Check the indicator color periodically and replace with fresh desiccant if the blue balls have turned red. Please put the used desiccant in a labeled Ziploc and I’ll bake it to restore it when enough has built up.
Silica gel, 15lbs for $37 from PetCo
Blue to Red indicating silica gel beads, 430g for $7 from Amazon
Cut scrap cloth into strips
Fold in half with a cover flap left and sew on 2 sides
Fill pouch using cut corner of a bag as a funnel, do it over another bag to catch any spills. Note the dark blue dots are the indicators, the light blue are not.
Close the filled pouch with a safety pin and put in bag with your spool. Open the flap and check the indicator dots and replace when red.
Ziploc bags, few empty pouches, and bulk desiccant available in the FabLab. Keep the hole in the bulk bag taped shut when not pouring from it.
