How Bad is Resin 3D Printing for Air Quality?

[@electrosync]

I’m a big adVOCate for staying safe and preventing haVOC when 3D printing!

[@dinok4774]

The 3D printing community needs more valuable content like this! Please do a follow up including traditional fdm printers that have no enclosures You’re the best!

[@CATASTEROID934]

The issue is that not all VOCs are born equal and the sensor can't really tell the difference beyond whether the fumes create a reducing or oxidising atmosphere, volatile substances like toluene, xylene or formaldehyde and other such organic hydrocarbons are going to be harsher than others like ethanol.

[@HashtagGamingVideos]

Is ethanol less harmful then?

[@norgtube]

Your breaking bad gear won't help much unless your respirator's rated for VoC (like a 3M 6098 or 6099).

[@Snaaky005]

Since the covid insanity people think a N95 or sometimes even a piece of cloth is an impenetrable barrier against anything that can hurt them. They are really only effective against particulates like dust. viruses, vapors, aerosols, VoCs go right through. But hey, don't try to take away someone's talisman. They really don't like that.

[@shannonduckmanton243]

Well it wouldn't right? Looks like just a not mask with a little extra filter.. or not I can't tell haha.

[@allan8586]

Would love to see a followup that checks the voc index with the stock filter, with one of the small branded aftermarket filters, and a beefy activated carbon air purifier like the Austin Air Healthmate Plus.

[@redstefan6515]

next time please also test the effectiveness of the filter by testing both filtered and unfiltered prints, who knows maybe the filter makesa huge difference, maybe it barely makes one at all, either way it would be really Interesting to find out

[@BobertSands]

Thanks for the video, it would have been really useful though to see the index levels 1 hour after print finished to see how long the VOC linger after opening the lid

[@john_barnett]

as a person who resin prints, thank you! subscribed for sure

[@MrRyteByte]

Where can I purchase one of these ESDK kits? I followed the various links provided, but still have no clue how to purchase the kit.

[@electrosync]

The ESDK kits are still in closed beta. All of the electronics are open source if you'd like to build your own, but otherwise we'll have to wait and see what DesignSpark have planned. Apologies if I didn't make that clear in the video.

[@sevithan9446]

I got a question, did you have any dedicated ventilation for the printer for this experiment? I'm wondering what the VOC levels would be like if the printer was in an enclosure with a fan venting to the outside. And perhaps also to see if carbon filters/air purifiers make a difference, and if both filters and ventilation combined can keep VOCs low.

[@electrosync]

There was no ventilation at all. I considered an enclosure to create a more controlled experiment, but I figured that my arrangement is probably more representative of a typical set-up. I’d like to explore ventilation some more down the track - and that could include some carbon.

[@sevithan9446]

@@electrosync Thanks, that's very interesting. I've been trying to figure out what VOC levels are considered "safe," but it seems that it entirely depends on the type of VOC which vary greatly. In any case, reaching 500 does not seem terrible, nor great, considering some people are extremely worried about them. With ventilation and carbon filters though, you can probably get that number to be very low while working with a printer.

[@electrosync]

@@sevithan9446 Yep, seems like it.

[@arthurillud4720]

@@sevithan9446 i just set up a tent enclosure with a 205 cfm vent out a window and am using two mini carbon filters for inside the printer. have not set everything up yet but im thinking i should be safe.

[@sevithan9446]

@@arthurillud4720 Welp, I only got myself a 100 CFM one, but I haven't set it up yet, so I'll see.

[@Slushee]

Grafana is so cool! Probably the next thing I'm going to try to host in docker

[@electrosync]

And fun too! I didn't have time to finish my dashboard design for this video, but I'm going to keep playing with it.

[@DouglasFish]

Your videos are really well done, only 6.15k subscribers?!

[@linyongzheng]

Would love to see how well a plasma filterless air purifiers would reduce VOCs. Slightly pedantic: those aren't heat set inserts, those are screw-to-expand inserts. They are more similar to dry wall anchors and just are supposed to expand and bite into the walls of the plastic hole instead of melting them into the plastic. Though, anecdotally, using them as intended in 3D printed parts isn't very effective.

[@electrosync]

Looking at a plasma purifier would be interesting. DesignSpark lists the brass threaded inserts as a press or hammer fit, but they do the job as heat sets - they are a little on the pricey side if you were buying them for that though.

[@JudePullen]

Yes and No. They are technically knurled brass inserts, as they are for ultrasonic fitting. But as US creates heat, this ends up being ok to set them in with heat. The screw in ones have a 1-way thread. The only pedantic points are for spotting they are in upside-down, but seriously, this makes no different given the stresses involved. Great job!!

[@JudePullen]

Good shout on the Plasma question....hope we might take a look at that =)

[@JudePullen]

Loved the video! Nice BB setup also xD

[@l.a.wright6912]

Did you consider that the vocs were caused by the open uncured resin? Uncredited resin gives off fumes much more than cured resin and possibly even curing resin. Given the spike for your washing was the same it seems like a likely culprit. It could be that ignoring the fan printing resin gives off next to no fumes. But the open container itself does.

[@blakenoh4195]

did you ever run this on your filament printer

[@Serpreme]

Other then an increase in VOC means more VOC, what is the guidance of acceptable levels of VOCs and the like?

[@electrosync]

It varies around the world from what I could find. In some places, like the US, there are limits for some specific VOCs, like formaldehyde, but nothing for total VOCs.

[@oddjob3dprinting73]

Very very good advice ✌️

[@secretagb]

I'm definitely on board with seeing some automated ventilation/air cleaning. Right now I run one of those large multi-room air filtration units in my print space. I don't have any monitored data yet, but it has active carbon and 0.3micron filtration. Which should hold well to cleansing the air of VOCs from the resin and some filaments while also nabbing a good amount of the nanoparticles from filaments without VOC. Either way..I should probably get some better sensor data.

[@electrosync]

Sounds like you have a nice setup. It would be interesting to monitor pre and post-filtration.

[@uvz6539r]

Very interesting. And pleasently surpriced by the abs like. How much voc is to much?

[@theglowcloud2215]

I worry enough about FDM printing, even with HEPA filtration. I don't think people realize how toxic SLA printing is, both handling the resin and the VOCs from curing it.

[@svaarcaldersson6628]

Chemical Insight had found that FDM produced way more particle matters than SLA, to the point it MAY be dangerous. SLA produced more VOC but was still below dangerous levels per regulations for offices. Both require enclosures and filtration, just what kind of filtration is where it differs.

[@cutenomo]

at 3:14 you didnt removed everything 😭 it triggerd me sooo hard Good video btw :3

[@electrosync]

Ha ha! Concious decision!

[@windforward9810]

Is your work shop not in your house, if it is I would like to see the VOC’s inside the other rooms in your house or other room in your work shop.

[@NicksStuff]

What were the results WITH the filter? Also, you have no idea if these VOCs are harmful or not...

[@brooke1639]

I've been wanting to get into 3d printing but I am concerned about what I may be breathing in.

[@YanniCooper]

At about 2:50 you mentioned you're replacing your cheap thermometer, I'm curious where you got it...

[@electrosync]

I picked that up online (eBay or AliExpress?). Search ‘digital hygrometer’ and sort by cheapest.

[@LeftJoystick]

There are few things as satisfying as perfectly-melted-in heatset inserts in a 3D Printed model. I recently put together an open-chassis Mini ITX Desktop PC (PLA), making heavy use of heatset inserts :) So satisfying lol.

[@BeefIngot]

8 want to know about carbon filled fff filaments

[@ollied2025]

any updates for this?

[@electrosync]

Not much. I still use it and I find myself glancing at it a lot. DesignSpark have released some updates to the GUI as well as some alternative sensors and a break out board to use other existing sensors. I'm about to install a fume extraction system in my workshop (mainly for ABS and soldering), so I may integrate it with that to see if I can get it to control things.

[@Chris_Powell90]

You need a sensor that goes well above 500ppm

[@Biohazy3]

btw i love your vids

[@yapzanan6753]

Why we need to wash resin when it is 3d printed but not when its casting using mould? I've search it but still people seems to not care about this topic.