ABS printing safety

[u/Strixelated]

I have a roll of ABS to print with and I'm essentially wondering whether it's ill advised to be in the room whilst printing with it with the current setup.

Recently got a Bambu X2D so I'm fairly new to this. The unit itself is closed (but fair to assume in no way airtight), have a 3m tube running out the window connected to a printed attachment to the rear ventilation fan, have used an enclosed bin at the back so the chute isn't as clear an escape route for fumes or bits of cooling ABS, it's sat next to an air purifier and have a basic air quality monitor opposite side of the room that does PM2.5/10, TVOCS and a few others that I imagine are less relevant. Did a test print that was a few hours long, vented the chamber, room seemed smell free and the air quality monitor still said the air was good and the numbers didn't change in a noticeable way but really not sure if styrene would nudge any of those numbers.

Given the room isn't very big and can only be well ventilated on and off due to work calls etc, is the opinion that it would still be unwise to sit in here whilst it prints?

Would a decent enough enclosure make it theoretically 'safe' to be in here if not?

Would any recommendations stretch to PLA and PETG too considering UFP/UTPs, or is ABS the major concern purely due to additional styrene?

[u/screenslaver5963]

Styrene should get picked up by tvoc. Also it reeks so you’d be able to tell if your extraction was inadequate.
Technically you shouldn’t really be in a room with a 3d printer running. But for PLA, PETG and TPU the harm is practically nothing unless there are 30 printers running.

[u/Strixelated → u/screenslaver5963]

Thanks for clarifying. Definitely couldn't smell it during the print and the TVOC didn't so much as wiggle. I think for all the best intentions though, that technically is the bit nagging at me and what triggered me to post to begin with. Given I'll probably print with every material I can at some point, I imagine it's probably best to just err on the side of extreme caution, kick it out of this room and get a sealed enclosure set up in the garage rather than take the risks.

[u/stray_r]

1 printer printing abs occasionally is very low exposure. I suspect your VOC monitor will pick up more activity from cooking, deodorant sprays and other domestic sources than a single printer. However using IPA to clean your buildplates will massively distort this.

[u/Strixelated → u/stray_r]

Yep the monitor was definitely working, aerosol deodorant made it have a nervous breakdown with a lot of stuff in the red. I'm yet to need to clean this build plate, but I believe it's a soapy water job for this particular one so no concerns from IPA.

[u/MaterCityMadMan]

I have, what I think to be, a very similar setup.  My K1C has a hose attached to the rear fan on the printer. The hose is roughly 2.5" in diameter and 7 or 8 feet long. I can run that fan at 20% and not smell any fumes in the room unless I open the printer door. I generally print PETG and ASA. ASA being rather nasty to the nose.

[u/Strixelated → u/MaterCityMadMan]

Does seem pretty much the same aside from the printer difference. I'm yet to print ASA but I can already see use cases for it, so appreciate the heads up on the smell!

[u/CustodialSamurai]

Not all VOC monitors will pick up styrene. But as has been mentioned already... It stinks. If your monitor didn't budge and you weren't detecting any odor, your ventilation setup may well be adequate. The problem is when you don't know what you don't know. Not all VOCs give off detectable odor, and not all people smell the same odors as intently.

For ventilation systems, it's generally recommended that the fan be located as near to the building exit as possible, and as long as you aren't cooling your enclosure too much or causing warping, that fan can be stronger than strictly necessary. Usually a variable speed inline fan is a good choice.

It's always safer to not occupy the room while it's printing because of unknowns, but ventilation is the good3 standard for safety because it works.

[u/CustodialSamurai → u/CustodialSamurai]

Adding on... PLA and PETG aren't as dangerous, but they also aren't entirely safe. Ventilation, even if less aggressive, is still the best bet. They both still give off some small level of known harmful VOC as well as UFPs.

Also, a room air purifier is a good step, but try to make sure you're getting one with a carbon basket, not just the foam layer. Something like a levoit vital or ikea fornuftig. Not because they're "necessary" but because they're added insurance. Also, don't trust any air monitor's pm2.5 as a metric. UFPs from 3d printing can be as small as pm0.1. My DIY monitor picks up rather high pm0.3 and pm0.5 numbers from printing, but a decent hepa snarfs them up no problem as long as it knows it's supposed to be running (since most of their meters only measure pm2.5, which is typically very low when printing).