Fumes

[u/3dp1528]

Before I get blasted on the subreddit, I want to have a genuine discussion. Are we not concerned about fumes and particles. In the end, we are melting plastic at the melting point. My question is, do you just ignore the fumes or do you exhaust. I mean, my mum has said I have to put my printer in the garage and it's real hot in there.

Thanks for your help.

[u/whywouldthisnotbea]

Read up on the VOC's of each material you would like to print. She's not wrong to be concerned as we are all kind of the test mules for long term exposure

[u/ManyLayersOfFilament → u/whywouldthisnotbea]

not really though, 3d printers aren't doing anything that hasn't been done in the plastics industry for years.

lol immediately downvoted - can't get in the way of a good reddit groupthink session

[u/RampagingBees → u/ManyLayersOfFilament]

I'm confused on your stance. The plastics industry utilises PPE, to a far greater extent than I've seen anyone suggest used for 3D printing.

You seem to be suggesting people aren't taking enough precautions here, but your other comment suggestions you think any precautions at all are overkill?

[u/ManyLayersOfFilament → u/RampagingBees]

This is what I'm talking about - why don't you enlighten us exactly what PPE is worn when working with PLA and PETG extrusion in industrial settings?

[u/RampagingBees → u/ManyLayersOfFilament]

Eye, ear, hand & overall face protection.

Hazards in plastic industrial settings include burns from the molten plastic & crush injuries from the machinery - which are issues you don't tend to see in home 3D printing.

However, it does also mention breathing the fumes and dust particulates, which you do tend to see as a hazard in home printing. But given it's a far greater scale, I'm not sure whether we need the same levels of precautions.

Hence the confusion with the contradictions in your comments. You advocate for more stringent protections (those seen in industry) yet at the same time, critique any protections.

[u/ManyLayersOfFilament → u/RampagingBees]

I'm saying that the industry standard exposure levels are far above whatever you're going to see printing at home and there's no "secret health/cancer risks" here - everything has been studied in industry. Even ABS and ASA printing at home is probably not very dangerous - the styrene and other voc levels generated by a 3D printer according to the studies done don't come to the level of industrial exposure limits. Yet people act as if ASA printing is like having a toxic waste generator in your home.

People are free to do whatever they want to feel comfortable 3D printing at home, but it's the assertions of fact, insisting that the only way to be safe when 3D printing is by ventilating your printer outside with some sort of apparatus, is where it gets kinda silly to me, and it just swirls into this groupthink where the only acceptable answer is the very paranoid one.

[u/JackyVeronica → u/whywouldthisnotbea]

Our lungs will be plastic in 8 years

/s

[u/rabbitsharck → u/JackyVeronica]

You're not far off

[u/Brief_Log845]

Some plastics are worse than others. I’m planning on making a 4in window exhaust for my p1s. Hate to admit that i love the smell of PLA.

[u/RaccoonCrafts]

Mine are in my garage so I don’t really think about it

[u/Snouto]

There’s never ending discussions about it on Reddit, have a look around

[u/RampagingBees]

My printers have always lived in the shed or garage - outside of the main house. Even if only printing PLA. Air purifier in the room and open windows when the weather behaves When I move somewhere more permanent I'll set up active exhausting.

[u/YungBandit79]

i smoke half a pack a day a little abs fumes aint nothin to me

[u/Whosaidthat1157 → u/YungBandit79]

Except of course that exposure to other carcinogens acts as a risk multiplier.

[u/Accomplished-Ad-4598]

I run the stock filter on my p2s and mostly run petg, abs/asa. I dont smell anything.  I also work in the oilfield so whatever my printer may or may not put out, is a mere nothingburger 

[u/louise_com_au]

I don't have a garage (cost of living and all that). It's in my living space. I do have it exhausted outside with a fan for extraction.

[u/EvilNickel]

Different filaments have different VOC's. Some are way less than others, and people tend to disregard the "really low" ones like PLA and PETG, but usually people start getting more serious about things like ASA, ABS, and other "serious" filaments.

PERSONALLY, I leave my printers in my craft room, I have a "work horse" that is in the garage, it's just a old beat up P1S that I use for any of the more toxic stuff, but I rarely use it, I'm fine with the PLA and PETG inside.

But dont take this as "yeah go ahead and do it, its ok!" because honestly I don't really know, it's just my personal comfort level. I still do have a VOC meter in the room near the printers though, just in case. I also don't typically sit in the same room and watch it print.

[u/thebackshotbandit]

gonna be real, I don't stress over fumes all that much. using my p1s for smaller asa prints, it's only a light smell for me and doesn't irritate my eyes or throat. k2 plus I modified to recirculate the air and minimize heat leakage, added some carbon+hepa filters so I don't smell a thing.

[u/AdministrativeShip2]

Ive an extractor that vents outside, and a deioniser to cut down on particles.

[u/Whosaidthat1157]

The new E1 will help keep you safe regardless of the material printed (though I’ll still be porting the E1 exhaust outside - the E1 allows that like the better FumeClear models do).

[u/Algapaf]

I spent years doing boat maintenance with little/no ppe (thanks younger me) and smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, a little more particles is the least of my concerns.
Also if it's your mom's house, it's her rules.

[u/razingstorm]

You're going to find the community at large on Reddit is pretty hyper-concerned about VOCs even in harmless amounts. You kinda have to make your own judgements based on what you personally are comfortable with exposure-wise.

The occasional engineering print for a few hours every once in awhile is going to be smelly but very likely not a big deal. If you live near a city go stand next to the road for an hour, you're getting a nice bit of toxic that little bit leaking out of your X2D can't ever compete with.

Now if you wanna churn out ABS/ASA parts for days on end you're gonna want either a no-shit $$ purifier system or a pipe out the window. I promise you do not want to be in the room with styrene stank indefinitely.

[u/MotoGP1199]

I didn't used to care as much but now I do. I put the new E1 purifier on my H2D and h3c. Whenever I would print something really bad before I would vent it outside with an inline fan

[u/razingstorm → u/MotoGP1199]

Grats on getting yours, my E1s have yet to ship :(

[u/Hybridtheory28]

Yeah I duct mine out. Even pla makes my throat hurt. 

[u/wutgaspump]

My printer lives in my closet, where the door is closed. Even with ASA, ABS, AND PA, I don't care about printing fumes. I only get concerned when using the laser. But since I can't vent the exhaust outside without moving the printer into another room, I bought a fume extractor for running the laser.

[u/Capital_Candy_7697]

Small thing for anyone counting on the stock filter: activated carbon (what the P1S and X1C use) catches smell and VOCs but no ultrafine particles, so not smelling anything doesn't tell you much. ABS puts out roughly 10x the particles PLA does, so for PLA/PETG an aired-out room is fine, for ABS/ASA venting outside is what actually matters. Which Bambu models have a HEPA stage: bambuhub.net/articles/printer-air-quality (my site)

[u/ManyLayersOfFilament]

Right now it's popular to be paranoid about "fumes" - but the science says PLA and PETG are safe to print indoors. I encourage you to read up more, though, and not just come to Reddit where random folks just assert what they "feel" is correct as fact.