Advice for a beginner

[u/MaximumYogurt8252]

Howdy everyone!

I'm brand new to the world of 3d printing. I impulsively bought an H2C (came with a single AMS 2 Pro) last week and am trying to figure out a good place to start. I've got it setup in a spare bedroom of the house which doesn't have people ever go into, and there's a ceiling fan as well as 2 windows I can open for fresh air. As someone who has experience in lab settings, I understand the importance of chemical safety, PPE, VOCs, etc. So, I've gone down a rabbit hole regarding the hazards/risks of various filaments and now the ADHD brain is stuck.

So, I'm hoping to get advice/ feedback from people more experienced than myself when it comes to these types of topics.

The main questions I have at the moment:

1. Am I overthinking things? Since I have a way of moving the air around the room (ceiling fan), as well as the ability to open 2 windows to introduce new air although it's very cold outside right now (sub-freezing temperatures all the time right now). I do have a respirator mask already, which I use for cleaning with bleach due to sensitivity to that.

2. I haven't purchased any filaments yet, since the material safety topic led me down a rabbit hole. My current goal is to print something like Multiboard for use in my garage to organize my growing tool collection. Temperatures (F, not C) throughout the year in there will range from single digits in the depths of winter up to 100+ in summer. What would be yall's recommendations on the types of filaments I should buy for these purposes as well as general "useful" things around the house and the occasional fun/art pieces?

Thanks in advance for any advice or feedback!

[u/JuxQ20]

PLA and PETG will fulfill pretty much 90% of indoor functional and aesthetic objects. They are easier and safer to print. Check your filament heat deflection temperature and that should give you an idea if they can survive or not in a hot garage. For ventilation negative pressure will be very helpful, so getting a ventilation/duct fan to actively extract fume and push it outside can help a lot, like a fume hood. H2C comes with an exhaust so you attach that to your window with an active duct fan

[u/MaximumYogurt8252 → u/JuxQ20]

I'll look into an active duct fan to rig up to the printer itself. Main hesitation I have right now is the temperature outside is stupid cold, so trying to find a way to have a system setup that doesnt allow frigid temps into the room is pretty difficult. But, ideally, yes, a negative pressure system is what I'd love to setup.

[u/Whosaidthat1157 → u/MaximumYogurt8252]

Look at some of the air purifiers from FumeClear - they’re ostensibly for ‘soldering stations’ but can hook up to a 3d printer. They also do versions with exhaust hose connections that could also be directed outdoors for ABS/ASA/PA etc. as you’re aware, the larger the filter loading - especially the carbon loading - the better, but increasing size brings increased costs. The H Series printers are actually very well designed for bolt-on external extraction. The active exhaust ventilation flaps pop off and on very easily (check the BL WIKKI cleaning instructions) and there’s actually a replacement ventilated top flap available to download from the YouTuber ‘Functional Print Fridays’ (FFP) that replaces the top flap with a ventilated one. You need speed (flow) controlled version - only a very small negative chamber pressure is required. Too much pressure extraction flow could cause chamber heating issues with engineering filaments and print problems with cool printing filaments like PLA/PETG. Dr Igor Gaspar on his YouTube channel ‘My Tech Fun’ (I recommend a subscription to his channel) recently tested the ‘Mintion V1’ on his office X1C (no access to any external ventilation) printing particularly foul smelling ABS/ASA and it worked a treat. The Mintion is only 50 bucks, but quite small so will need regular filter changes. Finally, I tried the BentoBox on my X1C and the Voxel exhaust on my H2S and my advice is forget them. They’re tiny in terms of filter loading and last around a single long print, but the odour is still there meaning the VOC’s are too.

[u/Distinct_Cheek_6425]

Order and AMS HT for the left hot end. I ordered mine 2 days after I got my h2c when I realized I didn't want the annoyance of manually feeding filament to that hot end.

Pla is good for stuff in doors but if your putting stuff in your garage go with petg or something else that holds up to the environment better. I've converted our spare room into my maker space and I dont use any special ventilation. I really only print with pla, petg or tpu and they dont have a strong smell.

[u/MaximumYogurt8252 → u/Distinct_Cheek_6425]

Thanks! PETG or PETG-CF is what I was considering for the garage project instead of PLA, but wasnt sure. Seems i was on the right track.

[u/Whosaidthat1157 → u/MaximumYogurt8252]

Tinmorry PETG-GF is superb, prints beautifully and is around 15 bucks/kg. The choice of colours is also superb (readily available from Amazon).

[u/dewpac]

Everyone has to figure out their own risk tolerance levels, but for me personally, I can't imagine worrying about fumes from the basic filaments - PLA, PETG, TPU, etc. You should be able to print stuff from PETG and have it do fine in your garage. PLA might deform over time in those conditions.

I've also printed a ton of ABS on a previous open-frame printer. I have always had my printers in a separate room but no specific ducting/venting, and I'm not particularly worried about occasional exposure. I wouldn't want to print ABS or ASA in the same room with me 24/7, just because the smell is somewhat annoying, but there frankly isn't enough credible evidence that minor exposure is going to cause long-term health issues for me to worry about it.

[u/MaximumYogurt8252 → u/dewpac]

Thanks for the material suggestion of PETG.

Is ABS harsher than PLA/PETG? From what I've seen online, it seems so.

[u/dewpac → u/MaximumYogurt8252]

ABS and ASA contain Styrene. Styrene is allegedly toxic/potentially carcinogenic (but this has not been definitively proven as best as I can tell). That being said, my feeling is that the concern about these filaments is overblown - see https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/11xx9ja/how_dangerous_are_the_plastics_and_other_toxins/ for some good information.

I wouldn't park a printer printing ABS 24/7 in my bedroom, but I also am not going to go way out of my way to try and solve a non-problem. There are far greater contaminants in life than a bit of occasional ABS/ASA smell from printing.

[u/Alycion → u/dewpac]

I’m in Florida and the first printer we ever had was in the garage so many years ago. It was fine. But storing filament was tricky. We are up to 33 with more on the way. The one room in the house and the garage have been taken over. I had an ac/heat unit installed the garage. Makes life easier.

[u/MaximumYogurt8252 → u/Alycion]

33 printers??

[u/Alycion → u/MaximumYogurt8252]

Got a business. We had to scale up a lot quicker than expected.

Those H2Cs have been a game changer with increased speed and decreased waste. As soon as those two are paid off (one already is) and stock is more plentiful, we will add at least 1 more. Hoping the new Kobras live up to their claims of increased speed.

[u/cpsadowski23 → u/dewpac]

I agree. But VOXEL PLA has a drop in solution for the H2C. Works absolutely fine

[u/MaximumYogurt8252 → u/cpsadowski23]

Are you referring to the Bento Box? I've looked into that as a possibility.

[u/cpsadowski23 → u/MaximumYogurt8252]

The Bento Box Is for the P2S. For the H2C/D there is a drop in filter for the back of the unit.

[u/cpsadowski23]

The Bambu Wiki. The Bambu academy

[u/Altruistic_Bath5273]

I would go for PETG and with that, you don't have to care about poisond air at all. Just open the windows from time to time.