Inventor showcases 3D printer filament dryer that mines Bitcoins and dries filament with waste heat, capable of 6 TH/s at 140W — joins Bitcoin-mining 3D printer in hobbyist-focused miner lineup

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Likely built on prior work on a 3D printing Bitcoin miner prototype.

A 3D printer filament dryer that mines Bitcoins
(Image credit: PizzAndy )

An inventor has showcased a “filament dryer that pays you bitcoin.” When this news popped up in our feed we weren’t surprised to see that PizzAndy from Proof Of Print was the brains behind it. It’s the same guy who created the 3D printer that mines Bitcoin. Moreover, it very likely uses the same principle of taking waste heat / watts from crypto mining ASICs for use within the 3D printing process.

A filament dryer?

A filament dryer is a desirable piece of equipment for 3D printing pros and hobbyists. It maintains the filament at a predefined controlled temperature. This stops the filament from absorbing moisture from the air. It is a more proactive step than simply keeping your filament in a decent storage box.

‘Wet filament’ problems are manifested as popping, stringing, and bubbling in the print process. Post-output, the same underlying issue may cause weak interlayer bonding and result in a poor surface finish on your objects. So, keep your filament dry, folks.

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Using a dedicated filament dryer also means you don’t have to worry about “hiding from your wife that you're drying filament in the kitchen oven,” notes PizzAndy.

Is it using the same underlying tech as the 3D printer that mines Bitcoin?

Though PizzAndy doesn’t explicitly say it, we are pretty sure this filament dryer uses the same underlying tech as in his 3D printer / Bitcoin miner. In that previously revealed product the 3D printer bed was kept steadily warm because it acted as a heatsink for a number of carefully throttled BTC mining ASICs.

The prototype 3D printer / Bitcoin miner could manage 500 GH/s when the bed was at 75°C. When we reported on that hybrid printing –mining device there was already talk about scaling things up.

Looking at PizzAndy’s latest stats, the new 3D printer filament dryer that mines Bitcoins may have already implemented some of the scaling and tuning that was talked about. Remember, this dryer prototype is capable of “6 TH/s @ 140W.”

Hopefully this new 3D printing filament dryer that mines BTC and the prior 3D printer with integrated Bitcoin miner don't just remain trade show prototypes for years.

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Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • j_123
    Why is there waste heat? Is it not insulated properly? It's not really "waste heat", sounds like more of a design flaw. This seems silly.
    Reply
  • Darkhands
    All computing creates heat, it's why we have heat sinks. The point here is to use that heat for something useful.

    The idea is that if you need to generate heat anyway, why not earn a little of the money back that it took to generate it?
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    This is a BC miner, that can additionally be used to dry filament.

    Not a filament dryer that also mines coins.
    Reply
  • chaos215bar2
    j_123 said:
    Why is there waste heat? Is it not insulated properly? It's not really "waste heat", sounds like more of a design flaw. This seems silly.
    Well, at a minimum, you do need to vent humidity, which means venting heat. Unless you're using a closed system with effectively a dehumidifier built in, like ventless clothes dryers do, but then you're talking a much larger and more expensive system and pure resistive heating like you'll get from a bitcoin miner isn't really helpful.

    Obviously the point here was not to make the most efficient filament dryer, though. It's more of a clever, but ultimately impractical hobby project.
    Reply
  • IceMan420
    Make Popsicle sticks
    Reply