ABS Fumes Toxicity

I have my printer printing PLA and have thought about switching to ABS.

Its in my bedroom and I was wondering how dangerous are the fumes?

-Nick

well this is a debatable thing isn't it?


this debate has gone back and forth for a long time between users, but one thing is common determination: we all agree that having ventilation is important with abs, and many think with pla as well because of the color additives. So if you can have your window open while printing you should be ok, but it depends on sensitivity to chemicals. it is up to you to read msds data, and determine the risks. no one is going to take responsibility for your own safety on this forum.

As far as I can tell, as long as you stay below 240C or so, the fumes are not supposed to be harmful. People disagree on this point, however.

That said, the fumes are unpleasant, so even if they are not harmful ventilation is a good idea.

What I find works best is to put a fan in a window blowing *out*, and seal around the fan reasonably well. Then close the doors to the room you are printing in, to keep it at a slight negative pressure relative to the rest of your house. This way the fumes are more or less contained in one room. Enough fresh air will leak in around doors and other openings to give you a supply of fresh air.

Maybe my ABS from New Image Plastics is of really high quality, but printing at 210c, no one in the house notices any fumes or smell at all when I have a job running. I think this really is a YMMV kind of situation.

I put this post up a while back, it is basically safe: Is 3D Printing Safe?

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How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else. - R. Buckminster Fuller

[apapageek.com]

... read here too: [forums.reprap.org]

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

You should wear a fume mask whilst printing. You can buy a mask for less than £5

I am sensitive the ABS fumes. My ability to breath gets difficult. The printer is enclosed with an exhaust fan and duct to get the fumes out of the room. I am trying to find out if ABS vapors are heavier than air and the exhaust should be installed at the bottom or at the top of the chamber.

... the vapours should be heavier than air, but will be mixed through the complete volume by hot air convection ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Printing ABS without an enclosure on the printer gave me a cough for a day or two. On researching some more, I read that particulates are given off during ABS printing. These may be much more dangerous than the fumes and were probably responsible for my cough. So I will not be doing any more ABS printing until I have an enclosure with an exhaust fan and a particulate filter. There was a thread about this in the Safety section of the forum.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Hot styrene compounds generate very small amounts of cyanide! If your nailbeds or lips turn blue, you're in trouble!!! The amount is miniscule, and good ventilation will keep you vertical and functional.














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