Filament Drying Temperature and Time Chart: PLA, PETG, ABS, Nylon, PC, and PPS

You've dialed in your z-offset, your retraction is tight, and the walls still look like a spiderweb convention. Before you change another setting, check the spool: wet filament causes more print failures than any slicer mistake I see. I've run engineering filament professionally for years, and drying is the single biggest quality upgrade you can make.

Why Wet Filament Wrecks Your Prints

Nylon, PETG, and PC are hygroscopic — they pull moisture straight out of the air. That water turns to steam at the nozzle and blows bubbles into the layers: popping, stringing, and weak parts that snap along layer lines. A spool left on the bench for a week can absorb enough water to ruin a 10-hour print.

Drying Temperature and Time Chart

These are the numbers I actually run. Use a filament dryer with air circulation, not a kitchen oven — ovens overshoot badly and will melt your spool.

• PLA / PLA-CF: 45-55°C for 4-6 hours
• PETG / PETG-CF: 60-65°C for 4-6 hours
• ABS / ASA: 70-80°C for 4 hours
• TPU: 55-65°C for 4 hours
• Nylon (PA12-CF, PA6-CF): 70-90°C for 8-12 hours
• PC: 80-90°C for 4-8 hours
• PPS / PPS-CF: 110-120°C for 6-8 hours

Common Drying Mistakes

Don't rush it. Two hours in a dryer will not fix a saturated nylon spool — it needs overnight at 80°C or higher. Don't crank the temperature to speed things up either; every material has a glass transition limit, and you'll soften the spool or fuse the coils. And a dry box only helps if you dry the filament first — storage prevents moisture, it doesn't remove it.

What We Use

Every engineering filament we sell is tested with the drying schedule above. The TINMORRY PA6-CF we run gets 10 hours at 80°C before it touches the printer, and the IEMAI PA12-CF gets the same. Skip the dry step on either and you'll fight stringing and weak layer lines all day.

Affiliate disclosure: some links are affiliate links — you pay the same price, we earn a small commission that keeps our testing free.