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Tips/Techniques What are you printing today?
- Thread starter djberta
- Start date
Tips/Techniques
3D printer airborne pollution? Got any concerns? This shows the spike in PM2.5 coming off my machine for a print. I'm not sure how to assess this but I'm going to try to reduce it greatly as it seems to me like I'm breathing plastic.
My next project is to complete a filter system based on the IKEA UPPATVIND filters. There are downloadable prints for this.
My next project is to complete a filter system based on the IKEA UPPATVIND filters. There are downloadable prints for this.
TorontoBuilder
Sapientia et Doctrina Stabilitas
FDM is just as great a concern as resin printers, and yes you get VOCs and ultrafine particulates, so small the penetrate deeply into the lungs.
Oh and they don't filter well using any desktop filter either. Exhaust fans are required for optimal health and safety. Or not, I'm in favour of Darwinism
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Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Quick and simple zip tie holder I designed and printed this morning. File below if anybody wants to print one too.
Well I'm going to try using the ikea UPPATVIND filter anyway and see what happens. Here is one half of the filter holder, the other half is on the printer. https://www.printables.com/model/1281236-ikea-uppatvind-core-one-hepa-filter-landscape/files
Doggggboy
Ultra Member
The best zip tie storage hack I've seen yet is to just cut a short slit, shorter than the zip ties, in the middle of the bag. Just reach in and grab one by the middle and it will pop right out. They can't fall out on their own because the slit is too short and with it being in the middle of the bag, the ends won't reach the slit even if you shake the bag.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Yup, that is the absolute best way I've found for keeping them in order on the job. I have a bag in my mobile box just like that. At home I don't want the bags though.
One of the reasons I bought ASA filament was so I could glue it to abs pipe and make a holder just like this (and other types of stuff) with various abs pipe scraps around. Only having to print the bottom.....Well, I never did get around to it, and got tired of not having one, so I just let er eat.
TorontoBuilder
Sapientia et Doctrina Stabilitas
It's all a matter of capture... trying to force all the particles thru the filter is like herding cats. Recirculating filtration is a difficult task to accomplish.
Printing chambers leak like sieves. Attachment points leak... spaces around the filters in the racks leak.
I'm sure you'll see a reduction in particulates, but little to no reduction in VOCs with the ikea uppatvind filter. Being a hepa filter that filter has a high static pressure drop and that could impact all your printer's default settings as the chamber heating and cooling ratees will be impacted, so that's something to look out for.
This is why industrial hygienists prefer to utilize local exhaust ventilation, such as a dedicated vent hood with engineered airflows and physical barriers to establish a negative pressure zone that captures and contains hazards directly at the source.
I'm not talking expensive or fancy here either, I'm building a hood from corroplast and an ecm motor bath fan from panasonic. Short walls projecting down to surround the printer on three sides for about 6 inches. That is enough to ensure pollutants are captured by the hood and exhausted.
Doggggboy
Ultra Member
That is really cool.
@TorontoBuilder any pics or even a sketch?
The filter made a dramatic improvement in PM1 and PM2.5 particles. I observed the following in my office. However...
However, this article outlines additional concerns these simple filters do not cover as TorontoB was describing. I also have two open frame printers without an enclosure, a bambu A1 mini, and my old Prusa MK3+. What to do about those?
https://layercraftlog.com/fdm-printing/essentials-for-safety - highlight from the article
Enclosure Ventilation Standards
A passive enclosure does not equal safety. Per ANSI Z9.2-2018, local exhaust ventilation (LEV) for additive manufacturing must achieve ≥12 air changes per hour (ACH) with face velocity ≥0.5 m/s at the enclosure opening. For a typical 60 cm × 60 cm × 60 cm enclosure (216 L volume), this requires minimum airflow of 64.8 m³/h (≈17.9 L/s or 38 CFM).
Many users install 120 mm PC fans rated at ‘100 CFM’—but static pressure matters. At 10 Pa backpressure (typical for activated carbon + HEPA filters), most 120 mm fans deliver only 22–33 CFM (per manufacturer datasheets from Noctua NF-A12x25 and Delta AFB1212SH). Always size fans using the fan curve chart—not the free-air rating.
TorontoBuilder
Sapientia et Doctrina Stabilitas
Here is an example of what I plan.
You can use cardboard, or like me coroplast with standing rib seams to fashion a simple exhaust hood with a square tray insert that a standard bath fan fits into via friction fit, or 3M foam tape.
A flex duct vents to the nearby window which is opened 6". A filler panel the same height as the window is installed in the 6" opening with a 4" exhaust port fitted into it. The panel I plan to use going to be 1" foam with aluminum fascia glued on each side, so I can leave it installed permanently and just need to plug to port when now in use.
Grommets in the four outside corners at the standing rib (not shown) are used to hang the hood. I have pulley style adjusting hangers from my hydroponic gear I will use to suspend my hood since I want the height adjustment so I can make the air capture zone smaller, by lowering the hood, when I use the really nasty solvents or fire the enameling / silver clay kiln for my wife.
I modeled this one 40" wide, which is good for two 3D printers.... but this size is going in our shop for the cold room with the heat treating oven. It will be sheet metal.
Front view.
Side View. 20" deep hood.
Isometric view
