Resin Printing IS Killing You..!

Are we being silently poisoned by resin printing? I did some digging and the results were shocking! Join me as I uncover the unseen hazards in our fascinating resin printing hobby. I discover our little carbon filters might not be our best line of defense, and I share my own solution.

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[wimwiddershins]

The thing about these resins is, they were designed to solve an engineering problem, not to be non-toxic.

[bebopsplat]

I refused to use my resin printer until I build an airtight enclosure that vents to the outside. Everyone told me it was overkill, but now I'm glad I did

[RafS-vdmz]

The safety aspect of 3D printing needs to be talked about more, thank you for your contribution.

[tiobridge]

Don't feel bad about making a safety warning, it's important to do so!

[SierraWater]

Particulate matter from liquid resin or ultra fine particles can be in the 100 nanometer size. This means you would need to utilize both a HEPA + activated carbon filter to trap both UFPs and VOCs. I have been in the thermoplastic and filtration industry for 40 years.. Everyone’s constitution is different, but safety should always be a significant variable in determining whether to work in certain environments.

[arowsmitt]

More people new to the hobby NEED to see stuff like this. Everyone should know the proper saftey measures, and eventually some more communication from 3d printer/resin companies on the risks involved.

[BunkerSquirrel]

When I was in college, our robotics lab got a huge grant and one of the things we were excited to buy and use was a resin printer. Unfortunately, our facilities coordinator didn’t allow us to use it because we didn’t have a fume hood. We are a bit miffed and thought she was being ridiculous. Turns out she made the right call

Edit: I'm loving these goofy aaa suggestions on how we could've circumvented this. Like honestly you even suggesting them is proof they didn't work for you.

[NoeticSystem]

I did one single print without anything beyond having a fan blow into the room and opening a window for cross-ventilation. That one print was all it took for me to realize that the fumes coming off resin printers, the little drips of uncured resin on your workbench, and the smell from gloves and cleaning towels covered in uncured resin are totally unacceptable to have in your bedroom. My lungs actually hurt every time I took the cover off the machine. This was with an Anycubic Photon with their high-speed resin. I cleared out the walk-in closet to use as a resin print station and put a big ALORAIR air purifier in there, and I got a North half-face mask and some cartridges, like what I used when painting with two-part polyurethane on ship hulls. People should not be breathing this stuff casually or sitting next to these things while they're in operation, without either a fume hood or a very powerful, hospital-grade VOC-removing air purifier, like an IQAir. They should also be wearing half-face P100 respirators with vapor cartridges any time they're working with uncured resin, transferring the material into and out of the tank on the printer, et cetera. I have been exposed to everything on the planet. Diesel fumes and vapor, xylene, acetone, paint, paint stripper, you name it. UV resin is uniquely nauseating, insidious stuff, and people should not be so casual about exposing themselves to it.

[jman]

I had a feeling these carbon filters only removed smells. That's why I made a cabinet for my printer that vents outdoors.

[xtc]

One thing you should definitely check when meassuring air quality is if you have recently used IPA or other types of alcohol.
Du to their chemical make up they get cross-detected by many HCHO sensors and quite a bunch of TVOC sensors aren't calibrated for them.
Best case you have absurdly high reading.
Worst case they permanently desensitize your sensor.

I have a large air purifier with carbon and HEPA filter in my workshop and when I print my TVOC and HCHO levels stay withing living room limits (0, 08 for HCHO). But as soon as I as much as open a bottle of IPA those readings go through the roof and stay there for a long time despite the air purifier and at least one additional carbon filter in the printer.
Only opening a window for an hour or so helps. Even used wipes with some cleaning alcohol on them still mess with your sensors.

[tyotee]

Thank you for bringing attention to this! However seeing your printing room it's no surprise the levels are so high, it's basically airtight with no ventilation at all. Removing the tape from the windows and opening the door is an excellent first step. Even FDM printing in a room like that would be quite toxic.

[flomojou]

Ok, there are a number of issues here. First, those cheap air quality/VOC meters are absolutely worthless! I bought a few different ones under $100USD, and they were a complete waste. I got really scared since one said there were lethal levels of CO in the room, only to find that it was some isopropyl alcohol that I had rubbed on my hands. The sensors in these cheap meters try and combine a bunch of things into a single device, and they are incredibly inaccurate, if not dangerous due to misleading info that could mask real issues. So I would never worry about the readings you get except as an indicator that something unusual is in the air, but never as a means of testing for safety!

It's also important to be familiar with the material safety data sheets for the resin so you can find out what you're being exposed to, and at what levels are dangerous.

As others have noted you've essentially built a sealed container with zero air flow through, so any fumes at all will be concentrated over time. It's no wonder you still saw problems the next day.

Finally, you really need the right fan for filtering through media like activated carbon. The problem is that your average computer fan is optimized for high air flow at low back pressure, and you need one capable of working against constricted flow, such as a centripetal fan. Otherwise you'll see almost zero flow.

[randomnickify]

Yes, this, I'm sick of youtubers talking about "bad" smell of printing. That "smell" is effing toxic :/

[DarkAlkaiser]

It's not like they are keeping this secret, they are very clear that you need to be doing this in a well ventilated space.

[gagzk]

The PSA is super important. For an "average joe" using a cabinet or a closet with an extraction system could be more feasible of a project. Still time and space consuming, but more realistic than a room size conversion, and would work great for temp control!

[kornervoncuriem]

After buying my first resin printer and doing more research, I'm realizing that the cheapest thing is the printer itself. There are many things that they don't tell you or that come fairly soon after you started. If someone had told me that apart from the printer, I need to set up a mini laboratory so that not only the prints come out well, but also to be sure I don't get poisoned by the fumes, maybe I would have thought twice before buying it, I'm not saying that I regret it, it's just that this type of information would be appreciated if it came in the manual XD.

Thank you very much for the video, very valuable information, keep it up :D

[janezpetergrom]

Great video. Nobody speaks about this. I had huge problems with my printing and nobody told me the resin was so toxic!! I have 3 printer running 24/7 in a separate room, but I can see this is not enough. I will install recuperator like you did! Thank you

[ScytheNoire]

1) All resin printers need to have heated vats. This is on the 3D printer manufacturers to make sure it has them, and on consumers to demand it and not purchase 3D printers without them. No one is buying filament printers that don't have heated beds. No one should be buying resin printers without heated vats.
2) Air needs to be exchanged from a work area. Venting is not enough, need to be able to bring in a fresh source of air that isn't contamentated.
3) Carbon air filters do work, but you need to have a MUCH bigger filter. That little desk thing is useless, as are the one that come in resin printers. For a small space that size, you'd need at least a 5 gallon pail size carbon filter. There are DIY projects for those.

[pcliftonjr]

Bottom line is you need ventilation and should be wearing gloves when using chemicals. This goes for Resin, Epoxy, CA glues, Polyurethane etc... You can get away with it "for a while", but as you said eventually it catches up with you. Sadly, I lot of people take safety for granted.

[dkaustin]

I had thought about 3D resin printing, however I was not aware of the airborne toxins. Thanks for posting this video. Now I know.