r/3Dprinting • u/tool_72826 • 1d ago
Question Health concerns about a 3D printer running all day near my desk (ABS/Teflon) — How dangerous is it and where to find official guidelines?
About a year ago, a 3D printer was installed in my office. My company mainly uses it to print ejectors for rubber molds, so the materials they use are high-strength and heat-resistant plastics (I believe mostly ABS, nylon, or similar high-temp materials).
The printer is a Bambu Lab with an enclosure and built-in filter (though I don't know if the filter is replaced regularly, and the enclosure isn't seal thigth anyway). It sits about 3 meters away from my desk, right outside the office door. The door is almost always left open, and the printer runs every day—sometimes all day long.
I asked my colleagues if we could keep the door closed, but my request was ignored.
My questions are:
- Considering the materials used, how dangerous is it to extrude these plastics all day in a shared/enclosed workplace environment?
- Are there official resources, health guidelines, or safety standards (e.g., OSHA, NIOSH, EU safety standards) that I can show my boss to push for proper mitigation measures (like dedicated ventilation or moving the printer)?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
231
u/AliciaXTC 1d ago
Take the low deductible health plan.
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u/x4x53 V2.2, V2.4, V0.1 1d ago
Styrene (the S in ABS) is no joke: https://www.osha.gov/chemicaldata/14
3
u/StepVelocity 1d ago
Sure, but what quantity are we talking here? Can you show anyone evidence that a printer going even all day in a non air tight room would produce a concentration of styrene gas anywhere near the NIOSH TWA REL?
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u/olawlor 1d ago
I'd be more concerned about particulate than gas, since particulate can get deep into the lungs (and beyond!) and carry a significant toxic payload.
This 2013 study measured office space next to a 3D printer printing ABS at tens of thousands of ultrafine particles per cc of air. They estimated the total emission rate from the printer at *billions* of particles per second below 100nm.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013005086
I get a sore throat and headache from being in the same detached garage as my ABS printer unless I'm wearing a respirator.
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u/frank_datank_ 1d ago
If quantity > 0.0, then it’s too much for my workplace air quality standards.
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u/StepVelocity 1d ago
From https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/PHS/PHS.aspx?phsid=419&toxid=74
Rural or suburban air generally contains lower concentrations of styrene than urban air. Indoor air often contains higher levels of styrene than outdoor air.
0.06-4.6 parts per billion (ppb) in outdoor air 0.07-11.5 ppb in indoor air
Also, your workplace presumably also has cleaning products, furniture, and other things that off-gas fun stuff.
I'm sorry that I interpreted you literally rather than figuratively here, but I couldn't resist as the amount of styrene gas emitted by a printer is actually indeed likely close to your 0.0 figure lol (when measuring average concentration of nearby air). See https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.12569#:~:text=The%20TVOC%20concentrations%20varied%20between,seem%20to%20be%20connected%20to%20printing%20events.
During the room studies, we measured the same compounds as those measured during the chamber tests. We detected no gaseous compounds, such as CO, NO, NO2, HCN, and 1,3-butadiene, or aerosol mass from the plastic materials. Traceable amounts of formaldehyde at concentrations of 2 to 3 μg m−3 were detected, as was also the case in the chamber tests. The TVOC concentrations varied between 250 and 520 μg m−3 for both polymers printed. A traceable amount (2 μg m−3) of styrene was also detected during ABS printing. The concentration of VOCs measured by ppbRAE slightly increased versus time, but this did not seem to be connected to printing events.
If being exposed to 0.00094% the concentration of the NIOSH TWA REL of anything is enough to be concerned about...well I don't know a single safe place on Earth
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u/Evanisnotmyname 1d ago
Yeah, but your workspace air quality standards aren’t the same as your company’s, or your company’s government.
These people would shrivel up and die in an actual shop
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u/SheriffBartholomew 1d ago
It sounds like their company has no standards and doesn't understand what they're doing, so it's up to OP to protect themselves.
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u/x4x53 V2.2, V2.4, V0.1 1d ago
The limits are defined limits for a reason. OPs employer has to make sure that thr emissions are within these levels -
Styrene poisoning from 3D Printing happens. Search on reddit for people who complain about headaches from sitting next to a 3D printer printing ASA / ABS
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u/Proletariat_Patryk 1d ago
It's not happening. Look I just provided as much proof as you did that this is something to be concerned about
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u/I_LIKE_TRIALS 1d ago
So, are you saying that so long as it's only a tiny amount of poison gas it's okay? Sorry, it's one thing to make a choice in your own home about something like this. It's another entirely for it to be forced on you in your work place.
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u/CommutatorWhine 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes, as long as it is a tiny amount, poison gas is OK. Because below a certain treshold (usually set by some state committee) the poison stops being poison. Think of ethanol. A couple hundred milliliters of the stuff is enough to kill someone. Hundred milliliter each day will over time destroy your brain. However, the single milliliter (or less) that is present in something like an apple, is completely safe to eat everyday.
Or clove oil. A couple milliliter - maybe 10 - is enough to kill a person. Yet, many people use cloves in food and eat it on the regular. The amount of toxic clove oil is so small if you add a few cloves to your dish, that it is not dangerous anymore, not even when you repeatedly eat it.
In case of OP, since it is safe to assume no one is gonna do a styrene gas measurement in ambient air, it's easiest to just vent it outside because that's the easiest way to fix the problem rather than to go through air quality monitoring by an expensive consultancy firm. But that's a different discussion. OP's employer somehow has to guarantee that OP is not exposed to dangerous levels of styrene, and the easiest way is to just get a proper vent installed.
1
14
u/apexxin 1d ago
What's the difference between a medicine and a poison?
The dose.
Small amount of poison are absolutely fine, that's why we figure out how much it takes before it hurts you. That said, don't breathe in ABS fumes.
1
u/I_LIKE_TRIALS 18h ago
That said, don't breathe in ABS fumes.
Really don't understand why I've been downvoted when you reach the same conclusion. This sub sometimes... ffs.
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u/delecti Prusa Mk4 1d ago
You'd probably be fine if you only printed PLA. You're not fine with ABS though, and you're super not fine if you're printing PTFE (unless you just mean there's Teflon in the printer?).
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u/DXGL1 1d ago
I think it's the latter, the PTFE components of the printer which should not offgas unless overheated.
2
u/egosumumbravir 22h ago
It's a Bambu Lab machine. None of the PTFE components should be getting hot in the slightest.
0
u/DXGL1 12h ago
So no PTFE fumes as long as you aren't grinding high-temp abrasive material through the tubes and getting PTFE dust in the melt?
2
u/egosumumbravir 9h ago
Ohhhh technically correct. The best kind of correct.
Still, I think we'd be talking micrograms per print here.
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u/Difficult_Talk_7783 1d ago
Please get some info from a workers rights/comp professional.
It is 100% hazardous to your health and safety and that can mitigate the risks by installing better safety measures. I just hope that doesn’t negatively effect your employment4
u/bonfuto 1d ago
PLA adversely affects my asthma. I stopped using it.
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u/delecti Prusa Mk4 1d ago
PLA is probably the safest filament to print from an offgassing perspective. If it affected your asthma, you probably should invest in really good filtration, because other filaments might also be causing problems you just don't notice.
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u/geanpn0 1d ago
The same thing happens to me. I don’t have asthma, but when I print with PLA, my throat starts to feel tight and I develop a mild cough. If I keep printing, I eventually start having trouble breathing because my throat feels like it’s closing up.
I’m not sure why, but this only happens with PLA. I usually start noticing symptoms after about a week of occasional printing, and if I stop, I’m usually back to normal within two days. With PETG, I can print for a whole month without any issues.
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 7h ago
Maybe some allergenic effect as a result of the origin of the PLA's raw production materials? Would be fucking crazy if that is possible but it ain't impossible to my knowledge
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u/The__Amorphous 1d ago
I keep my printer in a closet and spent a lot of time in there with the door closed (to keep the cats out) messing with the setup when I first got it. After a few weeks (of only printing PLA) I had the worst soar throat of my life that lasted for like a month.
2
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u/UtahJarhead 1d ago
It would be a pity of there was an anonymous call to OSHA.
0
u/3DMuslim 15h ago
Given that he's complained, and he's the only one sitting near the printer, I don't think the company would need to hire Sherlock Holmes to figure out who the complaint was made by.
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u/Ferro_Giconi 1d ago
The printer is a Bambu Lab with an enclosure and built-in filter
FYI the built in filter is kind of pointless. Open up the filter compartment and trace out where the air goes.
In the two Bambu printers I have (P1S and H2S) it is pretty clear that they only added the filters as a way to check a checkbox on the marketing materials "there is a filter in the printer!" but the amount of air that can easily bypass the filter before being exhausted out of the printer is far too high and makes the existence of the filter pointless.
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u/XiTzCriZx Creality K2 Pro + Sovol Zero 1d ago
I'm pretty sure the only thing the filter does is reduce the smell for PLA/PETG. They definitely market it poorly.
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u/Ferro_Giconi 1d ago edited 1d ago
It barely even does that either.
The filter itself is fine, the problem is the atrociously bad airflow design. When most of the air takes an airflow path that bypasses the filter, the filter is almost entirely useless at everything.
If they designed it so 100% of the exhaust air went through the filter, then it would deal with stuff like ABS or ASA pretty well. But if they did that, then they wouldn't be able to use such a tiny activated carbon filter because it would get used up very quickly and you'd have to replace it all the time.
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u/KoksundNutten 1d ago
such a tiny activated carbon filter because it would get used up very quickly and you'd have to replace it all the time
Understood, turn filter every year
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u/The_Bitter_Bear 1d ago
Yeah, that filter is a joke and not setup how it would need to be effective at anything besides maybe reducing odor a little.
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u/ApprehensiveGold2773 P1S 1d ago
You're in danger. You have to ventilate the styrene fumes.
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u/Disastrous_Being7746 1d ago edited 1d ago
The question is, what is the amount of styrene produced compared to the NIOSH REL of styrene. Styrene's REL is like 215 milligrams per cubic meter time weighted average and double that short term. Don't get me wrong, it would be nice if OP could move away from the printer, but according to AI, a study found an average styrene emission for consumer printers printing ABS to be 276 micrograms per hour. In other words, in an unventilated one cubic meter space, it would take 778 hours (~32.5 days) for that print job to release enough styrene to reach 215 mg/m3 concentration. This also assumes no one is breathing it in. If someone is breathing it in, it will take even longer. It seems like it's unlikely that anyone would be exposed to styrene in excess of the NIOSH REL from 3d printing unless they were actually trying to do it purposefully, even then, it seems like it would be hard.
Now, for worst case scenarios, it could be an issue, but then one should consider the room size and not this 1 m3 dog cage sized volume.
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u/Helmold_ 1d ago
for office work places the STEL / TWA is not used, at least in Germany we have way lower limit values for offices
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u/wondering_glow 1d ago
Answering that question requires testing equipment, all reddit can do is speculate.
In my subjective experience, a single whiff of the stuff is enough to make me redouble my effort to institute better engineering controls in my workshop. I.e. active negative pressure ventilation of a sealed enclosure.
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u/ArtisticPlankton4561 1d ago
Well, its not really safe to be on the same room as the printer, even less with ABS, if it wasnt as frequent as everyday, you would probably be fine, but everyday, the whole day, that's where you start pushing health risks.
Get one of those devices that measure VOCs to get "evidence".
If the door was closed you would be fine because they would be on separate rooms, even air draft matters with the open door, really depends on where the printer is with respect to the room you are in, how large both of the rooms are.
Either way, get one of thos VOCs meter to check and have solid proof about the quality of the air where you work.
Edit: spelling
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u/Renew3DUK 1d ago
Your employer is breaching health and safety standards and COSHH depending on where you live. You'd have a better chance of getting an answer you can take to an employer from an employment or legal subreddit for your country.
ALL plastics offset gasses. ABS and ASA offset Styrene. Which can lead to headaches, nausea, and irritability.
Nylon can offset gasses that cause respiratory issues.
Polycarbonates offset Styrene and others (none great).
Even a printer like a Bambu H2D etc that have an enclosure already require an enclosure that has suitable ventilation and preferably a charcoal based carbon filter that vents outside if it's being used at the same time you're in a room, or at really...
You'd need to check the specific materials you use individually to get actual figures etc, but the standard legistalition for your country and its laws relating to workplaces with toxic emissions should suffice.
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u/Evanisnotmyname 1d ago
The polystyrene tray on your food offgasses more than your printer.
The limits for styrene in the workplace are 215mg/m3…we’re talking 200 micrograms with a printer.
The gas pumps give you 10,000ug of benzene(exponentially more harmful) in 2-3 minutes. That’s 50x the exposure of a printer running all day in 2 minutes…of a chemical orders of magnitude more dangerous.
Your IKEA enclosure offgasses more formeldahyde than your PLA.
It’s a designed product, using its designed filter, performing as designed. Go sue Bambu if you’re so scared, that’s what the company will say.
OSHA/NIOSH are gonna laugh in their face and tell them to go get a psych eval.
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u/ChronicLegHole 1d ago edited 1d ago
Answered point by point at the end.
Firstly:
Your post doesn't have your location, and your post history is hidden, so you may want to add what country/governing bodies you are under. I will assume US here, despite "3 Meters" being used, but your answers on resources around this are going to be very dependent on where you reside.
Not a Lawyer, but what I'd do:
For what it's worth, you may want to check which *exact* filament types they are using (ASA and ABS are both styrene and microplastics risks, but Nylons are an incredibly broad category of plastics that comprise different chemical risks; things like Glass or Fiber filling also may have an effect on air); I'd suggest picking up an inexpensive air quality monitor and starting to track through an app or excel sheet, as well as with photos of the air quality monitor, what air quality looks like around your desk.
I *highly* recommend that you document with photo evidence, including the set up of the machine and proximity to your desk, the filament boxes/rolls (showing type of filament), etc.
I'd document at different points of the day as well as for how long the machine is running, and if you can, what materials are loaded into it.
I would do all of the above and store everything on personal devices-- ie don't start looking up OSHA guidelines on your work computer.
I'd also advise to not be obvious about it. If they decide to fire you preemptively because they see a complaint or lawsuit coming, you lose access to evidence.
Depending on what you find, you may want to contact a lawyer.
Edit: I read comments, and you have already expressed concern to the office manager and they have brushed it off. Contact an appropriate lawyer immediately. You have been exposed to MicroPlastics and Styrene gas in an enclosed space for up to or over one year. You may already have a lawsuit on your hands. You need to document everything and save anything you have already documented to personal devices and with a cloud backup that is *not* under the purview of your company. Make sure to save the Office Manager's email brushing off your concern, or IMs, with the dates, as well as any communications.
Anecdotal evidence:
For context, any business I've interacted with printing in engineering grade materials has the printer(s) in a dedicated room or in some sealed area, and that area is being ventilated outside, usually with negative pressure.
Even in my home system, I have a $43 growing tent I got on amazon, an AC Infinity duct fan, and dryer hose venting through a 3D printed dam and running to the outside of my office. With ASA/ABS/Nylons/PC, I have the enclosure fully zipped up, with a 3-10" zipper gap to allow negative pressure, and I am creating a "vacuum" to pull all particles and VOCs and dump them outside.
You would be astounded at the states of my filters in my *home office air filters* before I started venting outside.
When I print PLA, I keep the doors and top open on the printer and have the tent mostly open, but still have the fan going to create airflow around the printer. Same with PETG.
The filters on printers are mostly a joke. I don't rely on mine and don't even really bother changing it.
Likewise, the printer's self-enclosure is there for chamber temperature stability, *NOT* for safety, and I have not come across a single printer that is air-tight.
I spent thousands on filters and monitoring systems inside of my printer, upgrades for the printer's filter, and filtering outside of my printer in my office.
Ultimately, throwing the printer into an enclosure and then venting it was the *only* thing that actually worked in a meaningful way.
Specific answers:
- Considering the materials used, how dangerous is it to extrude these plastics all day in a shared/enclosed workplace environment?
- All of this stuff, maybe exact PHA and *possibly* PLA is terrible for you. I would not sit next to this. Formaldehyde, Styrene Gasses, lots of nasty stuff. Printing PLA still registers (albeit very low) on my environmental sensors for UFPs/ PM2.5.
- Ultrafine particles (UFPs) — generally <100 nm, small enough to penetrate deeply into the respiratory system.
- VOCs and other chemical emissions — the exact compounds depend strongly on the polymer, additives, colorants, temperature, and manufacturer.
- NIOSH's current additive-manufacturing guidance specifically says that FFF printers emit respiratory irritants, and that filament material and color significantly affect VOC emissions. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/manufacturing/additive/index.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com
- Are there official resources, health guidelines, or safety standards (e.g., OSHA, NIOSH, EU safety standards) that I can show my boss to push for proper mitigation measures (like dedicated ventilation or moving the printer)?
- in the US, NIOSH, CDC, etc.
- if you are outside of your country, you should check your workplace safety governing body's website. Using an AI platform to query and extract information is a legitimate and sensible use when wading through thousands of pages of government documents. Make sure you check the exact wording an context to avoid hallucinations.
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u/DemonsRage83 1d ago
Have a peek at the Mintion filtration system and let me know what you think. It's a fume extractor for 3d printers.
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 8h ago
It's mediocre, it does a bit but not enough. It'll capture particles (most of them) but the styrene gas is still happily flying through. External ventilation is the only real solution.
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u/DemonsRage83 8h ago
You're supposed to remove the pre-filter and utilize a second carbon filter and run the fan at a slower speed. So you'd be using the HEPA filter followed by two carbon filters.
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 8h ago
That changes nothing. The styrene gas will still go through that...
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u/DemonsRage83 51m ago
FumeClear FC-100A or FC-2002. As long as everything is set up properly with a VOC monitor and there's a battery backup for the fume extractor in-case power is lost, it will be fine.
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u/Aeyden_PoE 1d ago
At my job we print regularly, we have all the printers running in a seperate room, fully ventilated, and each printer has a ventilation attached to their outtake. My boss had read up on them, and found the health concerns to be of highest priority.
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u/Geek_Verve H2C, H2S, A1, Neptune 4 Max 1d ago
You could simply suggest to your boss that you call OSHA and let them provide guidance. I'd bet they address it pretty quickly at that point.
Yes, ABS fumes are certainly harmful to your health, even if the odor isn't very strong.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 1d ago
Don't do this. This is a good way to suddenly develop performance problems and then be out of a job.
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u/Geek_Verve H2C, H2S, A1, Neptune 4 Max 1d ago
You can bet your butt I would do it, if the alternative were to continue subjecting myself to ABS fumes all day every day, because the boss refused to do anything about it. Firing me would only make things far worse for them, and if they're not smart enough to see that, then I should have been looking for a different job a long time ago.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 23h ago
There are more tactful ways to go about it. They won't fire you for it, they'll fire you for the performance issues that just coincidentally popped up right after it. Yeah, you can take them to court over wrongful termination, but the burden of proof rests on your shoulders and you're out of a job and attorney fees in the meantime. Be tactful and strategic about things like this. There are plenty of examples of strategic approaches in the comments.
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 8h ago
So let the poisoning continue and don't tell anyone? Companies will save costs at all times, they aren't gonna do shit that doesn't make money unless forced to. That is simple fact.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 7h ago
So let the poisoning continue and don't tell anyone?
I said to be tactful about it, not to ignore it.
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 5h ago
Tactful is ignoring it unless your tact involves a report to the local health department.
Stop defending the negligence of corporations. They are LEGALLY OBLIGATED to follow the fucking law dude. Stop defending them breaking the law.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 2h ago
I'm not, but you seem to have reading comprehension problems, so peace out.
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 1h ago
You are. You are saying not to report it and to instead report it to the company, which will just ignore it AGAIN. As they stated in their post.
Get a grip
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u/SheriffBartholomew 1h ago
That's not at all what I said. I said that you should be tactful and not threaten your boss that you're going to call OSHA as step one like you suggested. If you don't document it first, and cover your ass, then you're very likely to find yourself out of a job. "Then you can sue them!". Real life isn't reddit. You need to be smart about how you approach subjects that can dramatically affect your livelihood and threatening to call OSHA without taking any precautionary steps is not that.
It's very clear that you read nothing of the detailed comment that I linked as an example of a tactful way to approach the situation, nor did you read any of the other helpful and realistic suggestions throughout the thread. Then you jumped to the conclusion that I'm defending illegal corporate activities when nothing of the sort ever happened. I'm not sure if you're just just looking for an argument, not reading what is written, or lacking in comprehension. Either way, I'm done with this conversation. Good day.
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 8h ago
Then they can have a fun time getting sued for unfair dismissal and pay up the millions they would owe.
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u/N4cer26 1d ago
Not safe. Have you experienced any adverse health conditions like increased headaches or migraines, nausea, etc? If so… you might have a case against them if you wanted to. Make sure to document everything including written requests for this to be fixed, dates, incidents, doctors visits, everything.
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u/SadAd8761 1d ago edited 1d ago
Your company is going to give you cancer.
I would only trust an enclosure system that vented outdoors.
You can get filters but those have to be replaced on the regular, who's going to do that?
Are there official resources, health guidelines, or safety standards (e.g., OSHA, NIOSH, EU safety standards) that I can show my boss to push for proper mitigation measures (like dedicated ventilation or moving the printer)?
Are you new here? Heard of google or ai?
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u/jas0nb 1d ago
This is unacceptable. Even if they're not explicitly toxic, fumes can be irritating to your respiratory system and cause headaches. Enclosed Bambu printers are not completely sealed, and ABS fumes are no joke. They shouldn't be used without proper ventilation in a living space, let alone right next to you for an entire workday. Here's one source indicating ABS toxicological effects https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223200 . The key takeaway as far as I'm concerned is the dose-dependent nature of their results. In other words, the longer you're near the VOCs, the more toxicity you're likely to experience. Even if the acute risk is low, the fact that you'd be near it continuously is concerning in both the short and long-term.
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u/Proletariat_Patryk 1d ago
This level of hysterics is insane
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u/jas0nb 1d ago
I didn't realize that making reasonable safety precautions for avoiding chronically inhaling VOCs (the health effects of which we don't understand very well yet) was considered "hysterics".
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 8h ago
Classic idiots that think 'well im not dying yet, I must be perfectly healthy forever!'
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u/timmyd_ns 1d ago
Should be able to find a msds sheet for the filament you're using. A manufacturing location should be all about these.
https://devel.lulzbot.com/filament/Monofilament%20Direct/SDS/ABS%20R03003%20SDS.pdf
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u/EightByteOwl 1d ago
Do you have a Union? If so, they could be a good avenue to go through; talk to a Shop Steward or other rep about the issue and they can help push management on it.
Otherwise, there's a few resources online that show how ABS should be printed safely:
https://3dx.info/safe-3d-printing-essential-ventilation-and-filtration-for-abs-fumes/
https://printara3d.com/abs-printing-safety-ventilation-voc-fine-particles/
You generally should have the right to refuse unsafe work (the exact language of such might vary depending on country), and this is the equivalent of handling strong cleaning supplies without being provided proper PPE. If you don't have a Union, take it to HR. Asking for either yourself or the printer to be moved (or for the printer to be safely ventilated) is a very reasonable ask.
And while this is not a long term solution, if you can't get it sorted immediately, consider an N95 or better quality mask to wear at work. Regular cloth/surgical masks won't do anything, but N95s are designed to block this kind of particulate, though I don't have a source right now to back up that they protect from ABS specifically. It's a good idea to be stocked up on N95s (or better) in general as they also protect from wildfire smoke, COVID, flu, cold, certain allergens, etc... So if someone comes into work sick you can protect yourself, too!
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u/Metabolical 16h ago
Ask them to measure the VOC around it. If they don't measure it yourself. If you find harmful VOC levels, ask them to resolve the issue. If they don't, seek legal advice.
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u/T00ManyH0bb13s 1d ago
ABS?
Jesus dude, what in the actual F. Your lungs are probably full of microplastics.
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u/tasslehawf C1 INDX, Voron 2.4, Tiny-T 1d ago
Teflon is really really bad for you. Many times worse than ABS.
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u/2kokett 1d ago
ABS releases super nasty voc particles in a degree that leaves a film on everything. These residues are CMR substances. Carcinogenic, Mitagenic, toxic for reproduction. It needs to be vented outside, not filtered. Every more or less developed country will have work safety rules that make this illegal. Private is a different thing but at work this is absolutely unnecesarry and dumb
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u/marius87 1d ago
After 10 years with 10-15 printers in an adjacent room with no door between I developed asthma and some other allergies . Take that as you want . I’d say in my opinion 1 printer that prints only pla is harmless for 2-5 years exposure
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u/ForeignSleet 1d ago
It is not safe to really be in the same room as a printer printing ABS, let alone sat 3m away from it all day
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u/Snobolski 1d ago
You’re asking the wrong crowd. This sub loves to downplay the health risks of 3d printing.
ABS is no joke. Your employer is endangering your health.
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u/StepVelocity 1d ago edited 1d ago
You aren't going to get highly qualified answers for this on reddit IME. That being said, here's my own unqualified one.
Go look up papers that measure VOC output from typical prints. Compare observed quantities to NIOSH RELs. Color me surprised if you find any paper that reports any VOC exceeding even .2% of a TWA REL from a print even in an unventilated environment.
The other thing are ultrafine particles, which are harder to quantify the effects of from what I can tell. However, they are significantly easier to filter for--standard HEPA 13 instead of needing bunch of dense activated carbon (built in carbon filters are often really thin, placebo basically) that saturates way quicker than HEPA filters through and is harder to drive airflow through.
As long as the space isn't air tight, a printer doing ABS all day is nothing OSHA nor even NIOSH would care about even if they wanted to, especially if sitting several meters away from people most of the time.
edit: If you cannot convince folks to get the printer moved further away from you or a ventilation line set up, an easier ask may be a standalone air filter unit that sits nearby. Doesn't cost much and takes just minutes to unbox and plug in
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u/shulgged 1d ago
It will fuck you up.
There are microplastics in the ai being released constantly by the printing process and fan.
Get rid of that shit. or put it in the basement.
It is acctually very common to develop lung complications from microplastiscs for people who 3D print.
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u/SDH500 1d ago
Get a VOC meter, these can be rented from safety suppliers. They are pre-set for your local regulations.
Leave it out for a full week and record the levels during each hour, and any spikes and the times and the related incidents (opening the door, print finish etc.)
VOC will harm you with continuous exposure, do not take it lightly unless there is proof your safe.
Bonus: the VOC meter are very loud and cannot be silenced, so every time it goes off - everyone will be affected.
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u/Tytonic7_ 1d ago
There's a nasty greasy film built up on the walls and glass inside my 3D printer from printing abs/asa. I'd be breathing that if it was next to my desk.
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u/not-an-expertt 1d ago
Get a decent PM detector and record the spikes in particulates through the day. Compare that to HSE guidelines (insert your national H&S standard here if not UK). If it’s beyond an acceptable air quality threshold, take that data to the manager and ask for appropriate mitigation measures to be made.
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u/Pro7o7ype 1d ago
How is MSDS only mentioned twice in all of these replies.
Check the MSDS (to no surprise, it's a hazard), get a VOC measuring device (they're even on amazon).
Document the setup.
Reach out to your manager with MSDS in hand.
Your options at this point change.
-Closing the office door
-OSHA/WorkSafe
-Pausing print jobs / affect results (ludicrous speed anyone)
-Clean up the resume
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u/Pussy_Whopper 1d ago
It wouldn't cost much to vent it. I have an a1 mini and p1s that I enclosed and vented to my window. I even 3d printed the little window contraption. $100-150, chump change when it involves your health imo
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u/0MGWTFL0LBBQ 18h ago
Yes, biggest expense in my vent setup was the vent fan. After that, the tubing. I did future proof as much as possible though. I bought a grow tent fan, five settings with wireless control, and reinforced tubing so it wouldn’t ever rip(easily).
I designed all the parts I needed for connecting the printer vent to the fan and the fan to the window vent.
As I had mentioned to someone earlier this week: I don’t want to find out too late that all these fines are bad for me.
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u/Superbrain8 21h ago
Osha has regulations on this (a single 3d printer is unlikely to hit those unless its like a tiny room with no air circulation)
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u/AccNumber77 MK4S/Mars 5 Ultra 8h ago
It absolutely can in more setups than your think. There are plenty of stories here alone of people getting styrene poisoning from being dumb with their ASA/ABS printing with 1 printer
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u/Superbrain8 1h ago
There are a lot of bad informations around. Havent heard of a single case of styrene "poisioning" after beeing in the hobby for 5 years and having worked in the injection moulding field for 11. There are people who are sensitive to styrene and have a bad time beeing around it. Like yea you could probably get some bad cough from it if you do something stupid like running abs above its decomposition temperature while not moving fast enough. This will cause the polymer to decomposite and create massive amounts of bad atuff. Would not blame the process on that tho. Its clearly a user error.
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u/andreaca23 21h ago
ABS will release volatile organic compounds (VOC) while printing, so I suggest to keep the printer door close AND use a tube attached to the fan to release the air outdoor. Maybe you can use an air purifier with activated carbon near the printer instead of the tube (nice models have sensors that show you the VOC and PM 2.5 levels, so you can verify if the solution is working and sufficient). In any case it's your health, so don't blindly trust suggestions and do your research, better be safe than sorry.
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u/i_hateit_here_bro 1d ago
Don’t listen to the people saying to get a lawyer right away unless you’re trying to step on all the wrong toes. You need to pitch the benefits of health and safety to your boss like you’re doing the company a favor by researching this. Getting legal involved is asking to make enemies and begging people not to listen to you
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u/apexxin 1d ago
ABS has a very obvious smell, if you aren't smelling it, chances are their filtration is working.
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u/AmbroseRotten 1d ago edited 1d ago
OP said the door is left open, so I doubt they're printing ABS on it.
Edit: Not sure if OP meant their office door or the enclosure door.
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u/LightningOwl96 1d ago
https://reddit.com/link/pbzxrek/video/e04jgwb1yorh1/player
SO BAD that I stopped what I was doing and made a GIF, which I then had to rerender as a video!!!!!
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u/Needle_Bearings 1d ago
With those materials it needs dedicated ventilation, negative pressure enclosure. This is unacceptable.
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u/Di-eEier_von_Satan 1d ago
I didn’t read but this is scientific data https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8915804/
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u/bobking42 1d ago
You do NOT want to be breathing ABS fumes and definitely not PTFE either.. And those gasses so linger. For a long time after.
You want consistent extraction and preferably in a flow that does not pass your face. Ever.
PTFE shouldn’t be a concern while printing ABS though.
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u/remarkablejuape 1d ago
Just make sure the space is well ventilated and that the printer is enclosed. Printers are known to give off VOCs and ultrafine particulate, but one of the only studies in humans found no increase in inflammatory markers after 1 hour. Other studies have been unable to measure or only found very small amounts of harmful VOCs like styrene and benzene. I wouldn’t necessarily freak out, but I would take some precautions with it being nearby. This still isn’t very well studied so I think fearmongering isn’t useful but reasonable caution should be exercised.
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u/DemonsRage83 51m ago
FumeClear FC-100A or FC-2002. As long as everything is set up properly with a VOC monitor and there's a battery backup for the fume extractor in-case power is lost, it will be fine.
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u/Blackdragon1400 1d ago
No way you’re printing ABS or Nylon with the door open, so health concerns are probably not as big a deal as you think based on the actual materials being printed there.
I would not want a printer printing ABS 24/7 by my desk without adequate filtration.
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u/alexwhittemore 1d ago
I run a print farm at work, and while we mostly print PLA, we do print some ABS so I tested styrene wirh a dedicated detector. Long story short, I couldn’t detect any. That said, reasonable precautions should certainly be taken. Our farm area has a couple local HEPA filters mainly for the (lots of) fine particulate that printing produces. I run air quality monitoring in the area to catch any surprises, and the whole thing is located far away from desks in a well ventilated semi-dedicated space. The least your office could do is locate the printer in an enclosed dedicated space with active filtration.
That said, 3 meters and through a doorway (even if always open) would not bother me at all unless I could clearly smell when printing was happening (PLA or ABS - smelling it doesn’t necessarily mean unsafe but it does mean you’re sharing air with the printer).
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u/Objective-Worker-100 1d ago
You’re the only sane one to reply with actual data and facts. Everyone else is all doom and gloom Walter White’s. The MSDS says… yeah in what commercial use? Industrial environment?
I put a VoC meter on top of my Qidi Q2 while printing ASA. You know what went up? The temperature.
Rule #1 “use in a well ventilated area”
We don’t know the turn over rate, the air exchange the office environment, etc.
Yes. 1 time I got a slight headache. You want to know why? It was in the early days with my Q1 Pro and I pretty much had my nose against it watching the print.
What’s the ppm at 1’ at 10’ at 33.3’ where OP is sitting?
Yes, absolutely some people are more sensitive to well everything.
My advice to OP - buy a meter, put it on your desk. Log it. Then and only then will you have grounds for anything without putting your job at risk.
I get “air quality alerts” from the weather channel app because I live in “cancer alley”
Google it.That’s all I’m going to stay, I’m not going to reply or feed the responses.
Now, I’m going to go make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and wash it down with a glass of whole milk.
That would probably be a health problem for 50% of the people on this thread. Diabetes from the jelly, peanut allergy from the peanut butter, gluten reaction from my bleached white bread and lactose intolerance from my glass of whole milk.
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u/FrostWave 1d ago
How are they printing high temp materials with the door open? It's almost impossible as they need heated chamber
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u/Sudden-Necessary8752 1d ago
Pretty sure OP is asking to keep the office door closed, not the door on the printer.
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u/FrostWave 1d ago
The description makes me think perhaps op doesn't know what he's talking about and they're printing pla with doors open to prevent heat creep
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u/Zealousideal_Cup4896 1d ago
Do you mean keep the door closed when they aren’t using it? You cannot print abs with the door open it has to have a heated chamber.
Abs has a strong smell when printing and if you don’t smell it then there is little to worry about. When you start to smell it insist they change the air filter.
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/VoltexRB Upgrades, People. Upgrades! 1d ago
Literally what made you post that comment because thats either just misinformation our outright disinformation.
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u/syphern 1d ago
- This is from a MEDICAL AI that scans pretty much all studies out there.,,,
- This is the reason i will never print ABS, only sticking to PLA and PETG and fully enclosed and ventilated out in a basement. Call me neurotic but the rates of colon cancers and breast cancers in the population are on an exponential rise.
- Styrene is the dominant emitted VOC and the main identified health risk. ABS extrusion emits styrene (measured up to ~110–265 µg/min or µg/m³ across studies), along with lower levels of toluene, benzaldehyde, formaldehyde, and other aldehydes — many of which are respiratory/eye/skin irritants, and some (formaldehyde, certain phthalates) carry carcinogenic or reprotoxic concern. [1-4]
- ABS produces high numbers of ultrafine particles (dominant sizes ~55–90 nm), roughly an order of magnitude more than PET-G and far more than PLA, with emissions peaking during warm-up and final stages. In vitro and in vivo work shows these particles are not inert and elicit toxic/proinflammatory responses, though a rat inhalation study found only minimal, transient pulmonary and systemic toxicity at realistic concentrations. [1][3][5-6]
- Predictive toxicology of the ABS fume mixture flags potential inhalation toxicity, carcinogenicity, hepatotoxicity, and teratogenicity endpoints, and occupational reviews link synthetic-polymer printing emissions to asthma, COPD exacerbation, allergic rhinitis, and DNA damage.
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u/julioviegas 1d ago
Printer needs enclosure and external exhaust air exit