Resin Printing is killing you.
Resin Printing is killing you.
Please, use adequate ventilation (with a heat exchanger if you need to keep A/C in the room) if you're going to be resin printing inside. I don't want to see all of you guys get cancer from this hobby.
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Fuck this video. Dude claims it’s killing you and offers zero reason as to why or how. Pure clickbait bullshit here folks
Let's say the chemicals aren't healthy. Disclaimer: RTFM (MSDS and technical datasheet) and consult with professionals.
There are a few issues here at play. One major issue is that repeated exposure has a risk of sensibilization. Once this happens there is no way back. Your life will change.
The consumer industry has already moved. I remember explaining to Anycubic sales what an MSDS is and why I need it (if you need a good argument in such conversations: REACH). These days you can download it on their website.
To this day the packaging might not be CLP conform. At least their marketing got better: Water washable has now a section about waste treatment but plant-based resin is still advertised as "low odor and safe to use" or "truly environmentally friendly". Worst of all they still suggest that the odors are safe to breathe as everything is soybean-based: The truth is they aren't and neither is it soybeans. What once was soybeans is heavily modified.
Sadly this is not just an Anycubic issue.
Btw. If you use Anycubic though resin: According to their MSDS they switched the product and kept the name the same (approx. 2 years ago).
I'd love to have understood any of your funny words magic man.. eli5?
Don't breathe it; don't get it on your skin and wear safety glases. Don't flush it down the toilet.
Gloves: Those single-use gloves are spill protection and nothing more. If you can avoid touching resin avoid it and swap them immediately if they contact resin. Keep in mind that approx. 1-2 gloves per box (100 pcs.) can have holes/defects.
For waste treatment: Follow local guidance. As a rough rule of thumb: expose the resin to the sun (fully cure it), let the IPA evaporate and dispose it as a solid.
Flammable liquid storage: Keep the amount stored (inside) as small as possible. If the room is an escape route move your IPA washing station to a different room. Obviously, have a smoke detector in every room of your household, test them every few months and replace after 10 years.
How to check for contamination? Most printer resins are UV-reactive. Get a handheld UV-lamp/black light (those to check bank notes) and if anything lights up in green (fingerprints or spots) you have contaminated it with resin at some point (unless the object/material is also UV-reactive). Especially at the beginning, such a device is useful for learning good work practices (e.g. resin on the glove and touching the curing station or spills on the silicone matt around the washing station).
Any chemical is as safe as you make it: If you are careless it's dangerous. You do your homework and it's suddenly safe to use.
If you don't feel safe or scared by a chemical don't work with it. In this case ask around if somebody already does resin printing and get familiar with it before doing it on your own.
Honestly what worries me the most are the fumes
Is flushing it down the toilet going to cause fatbergs or worse?
No fatbergs, but it's absolutely terrible for the environment in liquid form. If you need to dispose of resin, pour it into a pie tin or something and leave it out in sun for a day or two. After it's solid, chuck it in the garbage.
Health and Safety says:
Don't breathe in the fumes.
What is "sensibilization" and why is it not a good thing?
They mean sensitization. It's where you react more strongly to exposure the more you're exposed. It's a problem for a couple of reasons. The scary one is some people move along the reaction continuum from "mildly annoying" to "oh shit call an ambulance" pretty fast. It's not common but it happens. I actually have a condition that predisposes me to that so I always carry an epi-pen. Good times.
The more mundane one is, even with controls to remove fumes and PPE to avoid them, it's not uncommon to still be exposed to a small degree, especially in a hobbyist setting. Let's imagine you're lax on avoiding exposure and become sensitized due to prolonged and/or heavy exposure, so you set up proper controls to try to avoid it. Now the small amount of remaining exposure which may have never been a problem with proper controls may actually become a problem. Now you can't work with that material at all without having some sort of reaction.
Did you actually watch the video?
He literally presents a list of reasons around 5:12. Then he goes on to describe how formaldehyde already affects him.
Resin priting can be a lot of fun, but he's correct: that shit is toxic. It needs to be respected, and he's also correct in pointing out the carbon filter on many printers is basically a placebo for the consumer.
Still don't believe him? Fine. Go checkout the small book that is the set of warnings with this stuff from a resin producer: https://entropyresins.com/safety/epoxy-safety-tips/
He mentions VOCs within the resin, just because you can't wrap your head around why inhaling "volatile organic compounds" can be bad for you, does not mean it's wrong. Take proper precautions to ventilate the area while printing resin, please.
You know volatile just means it readily evaporates, right?
Alcohol is a volatile organic compound.
Nothing about the term 'volatile organic compound' means dangerous. You need more information.
Even when you cook food there are volatile organic compounds all around you and nobody would say they're dangerous.
Oh, we're supposed to read the manuals before handling chemicals now?!
I'll check the manuals after mixing up this sweet bleach and ammonia cleaning spray.
Mhhh, clorine gas
It really helps freshen up the sauna if you got a bad smoke draft. Just removes the smoke smell immediately. If you pour the mix on the hot furnace you are golden
volatile organic compounds
Perfume and air fresheners are VOCs, you need to know specifically what ones.
You clearly have no idea what that even means.
When you cook food there are voletile organic componds. Almost everything you smell are voletile organic compounds. Parfums are voletile organic compounds. Your air is full of voletile organic compounds.
It doesn't say shit about how bad something is for you.
And the difference being that those VOCs are not specifically isomers which are carrying polymers for additive manufacturing. Volatile meaning they are airborne (or readily made airborne at least, it has to relate to vapor pressure), organic meaning that they've got carbon bonds which readily interact with other elements.
Plenty of people have already suffered anaphylactic shock and other immune sensitivities from coming into direct contact with resin. These sensitivities are permanent. There is no reversing them.
Basically everything that has a smell is a VOC. If it wouldn't be volatile it wouldn't have a smell. Something being volatile alone doesn't say anything about it's toxicity.
Something being organic also doesn't say anything about toxicity. Your whole body is made out of carbon. Something being an organic compound doesn't say anything about it's reactivity either. That's simply not how it works.
Something being a polymer also doesn't say anything about it's toxicity. Proteines are polymers. DNA is a polymer too and neither are particularly toxic. Polymer just means that's its a structure that repeats itself. Poly = multiple, mer = parts.
Everything you said doesn't say anything about toxicity. Toxicity depends on the individual compound. Even small alterations can make a harmless molecule toxic.
All VOCs are reactive. VOCs range from "Known Cancer causing effects" to Mildly harmful, but VOCs are considered harmful. At the ranges presented in the video, they are immediately harmful. If you wanna go huff your resin, you deserve what's coming to you. I've talked to Resin chemists (mostly through the 2019-2020 Midwest RepRap Fests), and they agree with most of what's in that video. Go ahead and get mad about things if you feel resolve in doing so. I'll continue warning people of the dangers.
I had no idea reskin could cause serious injury with mere contact. Why is it so dangerous?
Resin typically has chemicals which are auto-immune sensitizers. The more often your immune system comes in contact with them, the more strongly it reacts. You could be one of the lucky ones, and have it contact you a hundred times and nothing happen too drastic other than dermatitis. Other people have gotten it on them a handful of times and are now highly sensitive to it (I'm one of those).