Are ABS fumes carcinogenic?

Hi folks,

I have my printer in my basement, in its own room, well ventilated. I never go in there unless I'm pulling a print off the bed. However, the room still smells a bit even an hour or so after the print is finished.

I have no short term exposure issues, but I'm wondering if I'm hurting myself in the long term.

Do ABS fumes increase your risk of cancer? If so, what types of cancers? Do we even have enough data to know?

Thanks!

... it's not only the ABS - there are different additives mixed into the plastic (for optical, mechanical and other reasons), which are much more problematic ... and this mixtures are secret

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Viktor
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I don't think anyone knows the answer to this? the actual burning of any plastic releases carcinogens, but heating it up to melting point is a different reaction.

It is possible that the only fumes dissipated at 190-250c is only water vapour, but that's probably wishful thinking..... If you're worried, stick it the printer in a chamber with an extractor running.

EDIT: I was wrong, turns out there is a study! [www.dezeen.com]

Releases styrene which is carcinogenic.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2016 11:04AM by Origamib.

The problem is that i have yet to see any information about the actual levels and information on what the limits are for the material in question to become harmful.
The presence of harmful chemicals alone is not usful information.

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

There are a load of threads on here about filtration etc.. I have resorted to buying a home air cleaner unit and run it in the room where I have my printers. As long as its HEPA and Charcoal (replace the charcoal element frequently), you will remove the majority of the volatiles and ultra-fine particles. Its not quite as good as an enclosure with external vent, but it helps and they can be had off ebay for a very modest cost.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Printing exclusively ABS for the last 14 months, one thing I didn't do was leave the printer in the house, it got put into the un-attached garage that gets quite a bit of fresh air. For me this was enough for the one printer. When I enclose the large delta I'm building it will get ducting installed to send fumes outside.

I have a significant feeling that the level of MDF dust and general woodwork dust I've swallowed over the years may well be far worse than some ABS fumes in essentially an open area.

There is a list of articles about 3D print fumes and particles in the wiki here :

Gaseous_pollutant_filtration#References [reprap.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2016 09:24PM by PRZ.

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Pierre

- Safety [reprap.org]
- Embedded help system for Duet and RepRap Firmware [forums.reprap.org]
- Enclosed delta printers Lily [rouzeau.net] and Lily Big [rouzeau.net]
- OpenScad delta printer simulator [github.com]
- 3D printing on my site [www.rouzeau.net]

Having the room be ventilated isn't enough?

You need filters also?

The real answer to this question will be found with plastic injection molders. They melt tons of ABS every week. They would know.

Quote
foul_owl
Having the room be ventilated isn't enough?

You need filters also?

I think it depends how well ventilated. The ideal from a health and safety point of view would be an enclosure with venting to the exterior. But even this has issues, if you have an enclosure you'll want to heat it, an external vent will cool the enclosure (unless you want to get really fancy and have a heat recovery unit too - maybe print one?). I print indoors in winter as its too cold in the garage for the printers to function normally. For one of my printers that is not enclosed I have an air cleaner (hepa/charcoal) unit in the room to minimise pollution.

Having a large window open would also work, but then drafts will affect your prints.

The option I settled on with the most positives is an enclosure with a recirculating system, air is drawn from the enclosure passed through HEPA and charcoal then returned to the enclosure, the airflow can be quite low and the filtration efficiency is quite high as the air is polished repeatedly as it recirculates. This thread will be useful [forums.reprap.org]. As an added bonus if you want to heat your enclosure and need a fan to move the air around you can use a hairdryer to do both (needs a bit of modding to work as they have a thermal cut-out). If you take the air from the top of the enclosure and return it to the bottom you are also equalising the temperatures in the enclosure.

In the image my rough and ready test of this concept has a vacuum cleaner conical HEPA filter inside the large green cone which is loosely filled with cooker hood activated charcoal beads (cheap and readily available). The air is sucked through this filter by the hairdryer then returned to the base of the enclosure (below the bed to minimise drafts). The hairdryer is modificed with a large diode in series with the heater coil to halve the power by effectively blocking half the AC , and I have drilled a hole above the hairdryer to draw in some cold external air to further keep the thermal cut-out from tripping. It still cuts out occasionally. The hairdryer is controlled by a DC-AC SSR running off my ramps board E1 (2nd extruder) MOSFET, This means the fan and heater reduce in power as the temperature rises towards the optimum 45 deg C. An alternative scheme would be to wire the heater coil in the hairdryer to the SSR leaving the fan to run at full speed. This would solve the problem of the thermal cut out tripping as the air flow would always be high even as the heater power reduced during heat up. Plus this would keep the filtration circuit moving at full speed even when heating was complete and just being maintained. However this means the rather noisy fan runs at full speed all the time, and unlike the system I am using which controls the whole hairdryer I would not be able to automatically shut down the fan when printing completes, only the heater.

I have been thinking what would be a nice thing to make (if I had the time) would be an add-on box containing a fan, a heater, HEPA filter and charcoal (with a LED and dial to set the temperature) with a duct for air in, and a duct for air out that could be connected to the enclosure and wired to a spare digital output on the printer's controller so it could be activated at the start of a print and shut off at the end, that would do all the heating/filtering and recirculating and be able to be turned on/off remotely.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

This compact commercial unit (136x174x100- printclean scrubber) [3dprintclean.com]
do recirculation AND heat extraction (there is two fans).
It is adaptable to any enclosed printer/enclosure.
[edit] It extract heat via an exchanger, not by extracting air.

Very nice as an add-on on existing printers, but I think printers shall be designed from start with filtration in mind (this is what I have done for mines)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2016 09:59AM by PRZ.

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Pierre

- Safety [reprap.org]
- Embedded help system for Duet and RepRap Firmware [forums.reprap.org]
- Enclosed delta printers Lily [rouzeau.net] and Lily Big [rouzeau.net]
- OpenScad delta printer simulator [github.com]
- 3D printing on my site [www.rouzeau.net]

Quote
PRZ
This compact commercial unit (136x174x100- printclean scrubber) [3dprintclean.com]
do recirculation AND heat extraction (there is two fans).
It is adaptable to any enclosed printer/enclosure.
[edit] It extract heat via an exchanger, not by extracting air.

Very nice as an add-on on existing printers, but I think printers shall be designed from start with filtration in mind (this is what I have done for mines)

Nice looking unit, shame it does not actually provide heating - it does everything else.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Ok, so I can add scrubbers. Fair enough.

What about mitigating or detecting the health effects from exposure we have already had?

What types of cancers can develop from abs fume and UFP exposure? I'm going to guess leukemia, lymphoma, lung, and brain but I honestly have no idea.

Maybe we should collect some more data on this. I hate to think about what I've exposed myself to already.

How long have you been printing? Unless it's 30 years I would rest assured that cancer is a stepwise process and carcinogens build in effect. Also age is the biggest risk factor and genetics, so unless you are old, have a family history of cancer, and have been exposed to carcinogens for many many years I would minimise your current and future exposure and don't worry about it. Do you smoke? I'd be willing to bet cigarette smoke is 10-20 times more carcinogenic than abs fumes if not more.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2016 03:54AM by DjDemonD.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Honestly walking down the street is likely more harmful to your health, like all things in life, reducing un-needed exposure is a good thing but stressing about it may well be more harmful than the causal factors.

I say the above not to belittle or demean the issue but to hopefully to make people think outside the immediate issue.