
Ultra-fine particles emitted by commercial desktop 3D printers [pdf] - hippich
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/commercial_desktop_3D_printers_emit_ultra_fine_particles_48si9_en.pdf
======
msds
We just finished an independent survey of 5 consumer level machines with a
bunch of different materials, looking at both 10-500nm particulate and HCN
emissions. Essentially, even with ABS, if you're in a decently well ventilated
area, you're fine, and if you're still worried, PLA or TPU drastically reduce
particulate.

I'd really love to share the paper right now, but it's someone else's masters
thesis that hasn't been released yet. If anyone is interested in it and can
remember, ping me in a few months?

~~~
smoyer
That's a great nickname here if you're business is that kind of testing. Do
the spools of plastic used in these printers typically ship with the
appropriate MSDS? I'm only familiar with the plastic "pellets" that are used
in injection molding plants. There are definitely MSDS posted in the plastics
store-room (and obviously the machines are very well vented).

~~~
msds
None of the standard vendors we use actually ship the MSDS, but most do supply
it online.

I'm not in that business, but I do deal with various safety concerns quite a
bit. When faced with basic tools, the average person tends to have a
terrifying combination of inventiveness and stupidity...

~~~
jacquesm
The absolute world record holder: friend of mine was low on money and needed a
chop saw. He figured one motor is as good as another and managed to
disassemble his vacuum cleaner and hook up the blade to the motor.

It seems that those 'max RPM' warnings on circular saw blades actually do have
some relevance and the blade fragments embedded over 1" in the doorframe were
proof that making a proper chop saw requires a motor with less RPM than a
vacuum cleaner.

It's a miracle nobody died.

------
Animats
Non-paywall version: [1]

Probably the way to deal with this is to have an exhaust system which keeps
the build chamber below atmospheric pressure. Exhaust through a water air
filter.[2] Water air filters work well on particles, but you have to keep
dumping the dirty water and adding fresh water. They're not used much in HVAC
or vacuum cleaners because they take a lot of blower power, but for a small 3D
printer, where you're not moving much air, they should work.

[1]
[http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsale...](http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/commercial_desktop_3D_printers_emit_ultra_fine_particles_48si9_en.pdf)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyEyO4iuz5E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyEyO4iuz5E)

~~~
ryandonner
Yes but then aren't you polluting the water? Where are you going to dump the
water? Recently legislation was passed to ban micro particles from abrasive
soaps and creams because they ended up in the water supply from people
flushing them down the drains.

See: [http://www.npr.org/2014/05/21/313157701/why-those-tiny-
micro...](http://www.npr.org/2014/05/21/313157701/why-those-tiny-microbeads-
in-soap-may-pose-problem-for-great-lakes)

This does not seem like a real solution, it only moves the problem somewhere
else.

~~~
a_puppy
"Microbeads" are generally from 10 micrometers to 1 millimeter in diameter.
[0] Ultrafine particles are less than 100 nanometers in diameter. [1] So while
there could be environmental effects from ultrafine particles, the analogy to
microbeads isn't necessarily correct.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbead](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbead)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrafine_particle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrafine_particle)

------
samcheng
To the hardware hackers reading this:

It probably wouldn't be terrible idea to take a page from Beijing residents
and keep an air filter around.

[http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-Long-Life-QuietCare-
Purifier...](http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-Long-Life-QuietCare-
Purifier-17000-S/dp/B000050AQ5/) works to 0.3um particle size.

Even better would be an actual fume hood if you're serious. They're a good
idea if you like to solder stuff, too...

~~~
userbinator
0.3um is too big, the particles referred to in the article are <0.1um.

~~~
samcheng
You're right! The article concerns Ultra-Fine Particles.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrafine_particle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrafine_particle)

A HEPA filter will still do some good, though, and 0.3um is about as small as
can reasonably be found on consumer-level filters.

See [http://sentryair.com/blog/tag/hepa-for-
ufp/](http://sentryair.com/blog/tag/hepa-for-ufp/)

Edit: From the article:

    
    
      As you can see in the photos the 3D printer produced over 
      190,000 particles of varying sizes.
    
      After the Model 300 pulled the particle-laden air through 
      its HEPA filter, the scanner detected 0 particles at the 
      unit’s air output.

~~~
memonkey
IQAir HealthPro Plus claims 0.003 and honestly, I believe it. Disclaimer: I
work for them but my opinions are my own and backed by some really great
science/technology.

~~~
samcheng
Cool! $1000 for a "Hyper HEPA" filter.

Maybe a good insurance investment for the company with a room full of 3D
printers... after they pay for the HVAC guy to come in and install some real
exhaust ventilation duct work.

~~~
memonkey
Just want to point out that any company can use the word "HEPA" as there is
really no industry standard/federal minimum for what it means to be HEPA. So
you can basically have a paper towel in the back of a fan and call it a HEPA
filter.

~~~
jadence
Can you expand on this? It does look like there are HEPA specifications[0].
Are you saying that a product that doesn't meet those standards can still
legally be labeled as HEPA? Yikes!

[0] E.G., [http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/06/f1/doe-
std-3020-2...](http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/06/f1/doe-
std-3020-2005.pdf) and
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA#Specifications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA#Specifications)

~~~
memonkey
Hi! Sorry for the late response.

You are mostly correct. However, per your links, using "HEPA" with any prefix
or suffix is problematically allowed. The specifications laid out by the DOE
are mostly for DOE facilities and so they have their own version. Everyone
else is using their own brand of "-HEPA-" which can mean <0.003 pm or not and
is therefore misleading.

~~~
jadence
Thanks for the response! To make sure I understand this correctly: If I find a
product labeled as "HEPA" (w/o a prefix or suffix such as "type," "like",
"style," and "99%") then I can be assured that the product does meet the
standard of removing 99.97% of particles that have a size of 0.3 µm?

------
jacobolus
> _“Compared to other domestic sources of UFPs, the 3D printing using PLA had
> a similar UFP emission to cooking using an electric frying pan. Using ABS
> resulted in UFP emissions similar to those from grilling food on a gas or
> electric stove at low power.”_

So should we also be avoiding rooms where people are cooking?

~~~
eru
You can get a fume hood for cooking as well as for soldering.

~~~
sean-duffy
You mean an extractor fan?

------
castratikron
We've got a room at work that's filled with different breeds of 3D printer.
Luckily this room is kind of special in that there's no ceiling, which would
allow fresh air to come and go from the rest of the building.

~~~
nkozyra
What keeps rain/elements out. Also while this helps it's not a solution for
ultrafine particles.

~~~
hueving
I think OP means it is open to the area above the ceilings in the rest of the
rooms, but still is beneath the roof.

------
Palomides
This has definitely been discussed here before; if you're worried, it's
generally agreed that PLA fumes/particles are much safer.

~~~
amenghra
My understanding is that PLA safety has been established at ambient
temperature (and it is safe). Consequences of exposure to heated PLA is still
an unknown.

Personally, I would only use 3D printers in well ventilated areas. I would
also not eat from 3D printed food utensils, even though some of the stuff
people have designed look fabulous.

~~~
Palomides
there are plenty of good reasons not to eat off of 3D printed materials
(impossibility of cleaning/sterilizing them properly), fear about the
properties changing due to heating the PLA seems weird since any plastic you
interact with has almost certainly been heated at some point. by the time
you're inhaling these particles, they're not going to be much (if at all)
warmer than room temperature.

------
ausjke
laser printer has similar pollution issues too

------
drostie
I wonder if this could be solved temporarily by simply placing the 3D printer
in a clear plastic trash bag -- or would that lead to overheating?

~~~
aylons
Actually, lots of 3D printers have a box in which the process takes place, so
the temperature stays relatively constant, both in time and through the piece
being made.

~~~
jeffdubin
The study reported that even the tested devices which were enclosed still
emitted plenty of VOCs:

"Interestingly, the presence of an enclosure only moderately reduced UFP
emission rates from the MakerBot–ABS combination, with a ∼35% reduction in the
median emission rate (although this variation is within the estimate of
uncertainty). Larger reductions were not observed, perhaps because the
enclosure was not completely sealed and large gaps were visible. While these
two comparisons provide preliminary data on how printed shape and presence of
an enclosure may impact particle emissions from 3D printers, no other
definitive conclusions can be drawn given this limited data set."

~~~
snarfy
Many enclosures are not fully sealed. It makes a huge difference if the
enclosure is air tight.

------
Sephr
Does this apply to the newer DLP-based 3D printers that "pull" an object out
of a pool of resin? Since there are no nozzles, it seems like that method of
3D printing would probably be safer.

~~~
tonyarkles
I'm guessing not, but the resin liquids do have their own concerns. They're
certainly not friendly chemicals; the ones I've been exposed to seem to stick
to your hands quite well, and irritate mucuous membranes (don't scratch your
eye or pick your nose unless you've very thoroughly washed your hands with
soap and water).

------
FrankenPC
Can something like an Ionic Breeze type system work? Or does it have to be
HEPA? Frankly, the smell alone makes me want to enclose it in acrylic and use
a HEPA + carbon + fan.

------
justifier
i wonder if there is ground for similar concern in photolithographic 3d
printing

i think it is a more promising technology than the more populace popular
extruder fdm

i'd love to see the peachy(o) team run similar tests

(o) [http://www.peachyprinter.com/](http://www.peachyprinter.com/)

------
ekianjo
I was expecting such a discussion to come up at some point since 3D printers
become more widely available. This being said, while the exposure is likely
lower, one should also be careful of all the dust that's emitted by your
PC/Monitor (including TVs) since it's composed of heavy metals, plastics,
solvents and other not so friendly organic compounds - breathing them over a
long time is unlikely to be completely harmless.

~~~
hackbinary
Most of the dust inside computers is trapped from the surrounding environment,
and not coming from the equipment itself. Therefore most dust from inside
domestic and office based equipment is dead skin. That being said there will
be trace amounts of other contaminants.

------
gedy
Interesting, but being cynical: sounds like a great excuse for politicians to
jump on and regulate them for "health reasons".. Pay no attention to the
corporate copyright trolls behind them though.

~~~
logicallee
I'd like you to fill me in, are there actual corporate copyright trolls
concerned about 3D printing? Or is this a hypothetical? (Sorry, I haven't kept
up with the state of maker stuff.) What I mean is this an actual real-world
issue today?

If this is a hypothetical, please take this in the best possible way and bear
in mind that you were downvoted, your comment is currently light-grey to me:
personally just to me it sounds like you're preparing in advance to be in the
wrong, i.e. you're preparing a moral and legal position for something that
doesn't exist yet, nobody cares about 3D printed coprights ,but even though it
doesn't exist yet you've already chosen the wrong side and have started to
prepare snide, snark, and incorrect arguments so that you could defend being
in the wrong - and that you can't wait to start being in the wrong. If this is
the case, then you would be the troll in the conversation. It's just how I
personally read your comment.

But before we get ahead of ourselves - is this a future argument (are you
ahead of your time), or has it started to be an issue already? can you give
references?

Sorry if I was hard in the middle paragraph, I've just literally never heard
of a 3D printing copyright troll. I've just googled it and got some
hypothetical articles from 2012.

My own perspective is that society has a choice between, on the one hand: (A)
letting some designer put 5,000 hours of work into designing something
intricate thing that grants people huge amounts of utility, it's a fanstatic
achievement that costs you $0.27 in plastic to print at home and gives you
real benefits - but they rae charging $4.99 on Steam for the privilege, while
addressing some level of piracy; and (B) on the one hand, the status quo where
you don't get the utility (let's value at it $80) from the $0.27 piece of
plastic, because nobody has designed it for you.

It seems to me right now the status quo is (B). Obviously lots of great stuff
could be made and 3d printed for pennies, that nobody has designed. Some guy
designed a fully working tourbillon watch. (more like clock) Look at how he
brazenly puts his name/logo on it [http://hackaday.com/2016/01/11/3d-printed-
tourbillon-clock/](http://hackaday.com/2016/01/11/3d-printed-tourbillon-
clock/)

Do you think he shouldn't have any level of copyright protection on these
projects, if he wants it? Really?

I'm just kind of angry because you're showing a level of entitlement over
something that doesn't even exist yet. people don't really get lots of benefit
from 3d printing intricately designed works at home.

~~~
gedy
I'm more talking about control of self printing and use of baubles, etc ala
Mickey Mouse figurines or whatever. There's already laws covering sale of
copyrighted designs, so I'm referring about gov't and corporate control and
regulation of printing, devices, etc.

~~~
logicallee
I don't quite understand. You think I should just be able to print an Iron Man
toy someone designs, maybe paying them directly for the privilege (of their
designs), without the legitimate copyright owner having any say in the matter,
and the person I buy it from having absolutely no right to sell those derivate
works? I still don't see how the legit copyright owner is the troll in this
conversation...

I realize you're shifting over to the technology side - what's your _specific_
objection? And, is it a hypothetical? Or is this something that is actually
happening?

Thanks for taking the time to respond to me. I just feel like you're arguing
against a hypothetical that hasn't happened. It's like, you are creating a new
non-existent debate _just_ so you can be wrong about it. I realize this sounds
extremely mean of me, but hopefully we can understand each other through this
conversation. Thanks for your replies.

~~~
mikeash
I think the worry is that 3D printers themselves may become regulated, beyond
the current state of copyright laws.

Consider the VCR as a historical example. It's illegal to use it to bootleg
copyrighted movies, but legal to use it for your own materials. However, the
copyright lobby tried to shut down VCR sales entirely, and this case made it
all the way to the US Supreme Court before being decided in favor of VCRs.

I imagine some people are afraid that 3D printers might end up in a similar
situation, perhaps with less favorable court rulings or legislators. Modern
technology also opens up other options, such as requiring all 3D printers to
include DRM technology.

I don't know how likely any of this is, but the worries don't seem completely
out there.

