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Commercial 3D printers emit traces of toxic fumes, study finds (2019)

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Re: Commercial 3D printers emit traces of toxic fumes, study finds (2019)

#21

Post by esskay »

slimsag wrote: post #15
zhala wrote: post #7

I've seen these studies before and done some testing of my own and found this to be true to some degree. I've used PMSA003I and BME688 sensors to check for particulate and VOC's. I didn't notice any significant increase in PM1 or PM2.5 (which is probably to be expected since the particles emitted are probably <1um and lower than I can detect). I did see some increase in VOC's but nothing alarmingly high from baseline…

It's important to note that particulate matter and VOCs are not equal in danger and bodily effect. For some reason people act like they are all the same. It's like saying you got liquid in your eyes: the type of liquid matters an awful lot. In a lot of cases, the VOCs emitted when you melt plastics have "unknown" long term effects because nobody has been exposed to it in great levels for extended periods. We know som…

There does seem to have been a slight shift in mentality over the last couple of years in the 3d printing community, with groups of users obsessing over statistics from air quality and particle sensors.

One thing that is a bit concerning is people building their own air filters and releasing them to the public as a 'solution' to 3d printer filtration, with the creator having no real experience or knowledge in the area other than looking at their cheap air quality sensor and seeing a difference.

Re: Commercial 3D printers emit traces of toxic fumes, study finds (2019)

#22

Post by postalrat »

WhiteDawn wrote: post #18
Filligree wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least PLA fumes are far less toxic than ABS. So there's that. Which is nice. PTFE fumes though...

The results of this study actually presents that PLA fumes are more toxic than ABS fumes. In practice though, the study shows PLA is safer because of significantly less fume creation with the lower printing temperature. So relative risk for PLA is significantly lower than ABS, but it is incorrect to state that PLA is less toxic.

You can smell the ABS fumes so they must be worse for you. The nose knows! /s

Re: Commercial 3D printers emit traces of toxic fumes, study finds (2019)

#23

Post by esskay »

hot_gril wrote: post #20
Filligree wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's "common sense" if you're familiar enough with chemistry and biology to realize that melting plastic means some small fraction of it will 'burn' and end up in the air. On the other hand, many entry-level 3D printers are marketed at... children, effectively. They can make for amazing christmas presents, but there's no guarantee that either parents nor child has any idea how things work at that level. There's been…

> It's "common sense" if you're familiar enough with chemistry and biology to realize that melting plastic means some small fraction of it will 'burn' and end up in the air. Last time I was near one, I could clearly smell the unpleasant burning plastic.

I know that smell, and rather annoyingly newer PLA's have somehow eliminated it. Which personally I dont see as a good thing. You used to know when someone was printing with PLA as it emitted a smell that was a mixture of a sweet popcorn and burning toast. These days they have little to no odour but I suspect its still putting out the exact same (if not worse) fumes.

Re: Commercial 3D printers emit traces of toxic fumes, study finds (2019)

#24

Post by esskay »

dutchbrit wrote: post #8

Isn't this just common sense?

It is, but you still regularly see people showing off their latest 3d printer which is sitting in a kids bedroom running all day, or their office.

Often when questioned, the existance of it being in a case or there being a cheap air purifier in the corner of the room is cited as the reason why its 'fine'.

Re: Commercial 3D printers emit traces of toxic fumes, study finds (2019)

#25

Post by fasthands9 »

esskay wrote: post #24
dutchbrit wrote: post #8

Isn't this just common sense?

It is, but you still regularly see people showing off their latest 3d printer which is sitting in a kids bedroom running all day, or their office. Often when questioned, the existance of it being in a case or there being a cheap air purifier in the corner of the room is cited as the reason why its 'fine'.

I do feel like we dont really have sense of effects of particulate matter on the body. How does the risk of this compare to walking down a street with lots or running ICE cars? Or when you go into a basement and can smell the natural gas burning - is that a similar risk?

If you told me being in the same room as a PLA printer was 10x worse I would believe it. If you told me being next to a car for 5 seconds was 10x worse I'd believe it. As far as I've read we dont have great metrics.

Re: Commercial 3D printers emit traces of toxic fumes, study finds (2019)

#27

Post by hot_gril »

esskay wrote: post #23
hot_gril wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's "common sense" if you're familiar enough with chemistry and biology to realize that melting plastic means some small fraction of it will 'burn' and end up in the air. Last time I was near one, I could clearly smell the unpleasant burning plastic.

I know that smell, and rather annoyingly newer PLA's have somehow eliminated it. Which personally I dont see as a good thing. You used to know when someone was printing with PLA as it emitted a smell that was a mixture of a sweet popcorn and burning toast. These days they have little to no odour but I suspect its still putting out the exact same (if not worse) fumes.

Ah, that's unfortunate.

Re: Commercial 3D printers emit traces of toxic fumes, study finds (2019)

#28

Post by tarotuser »

This is NOT new news.

Same discussion, from 2015 - https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/toxic-abs-pla-fumes-3dsa...

And in 3d printing groups, it was common to hear people say "ABS smells like cancer". Sure, anecdotes aren't evidence proper, but the science certainly bears this claim.

Edit: And to add my own anecdote, I have a large format high temp printer. It is capable of printing stuff like ultem (375c tip, 220c bed). It is enclosed with a activated carbon filter/fan for airflow. But one time when printing polycarbonate, I took a .5w green laser to the print area. When it was shining near the print interface, I could see ALL SORTS of stuff being flung at high speed away from the nozzle. Lets just say I was glad I have that machine fully enclosed.

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