Has anyone installed hepa filter on their enclosed 3d printer. Currently my 3D printer is in my bedroom and I don’t stay there while it’s printing. In addition, I have the printer completely taped up while it’s printing. I am looking to make a HEPA filter attachment for filtering out micro scale particles. Can’t do much about the gases though. BTW, if you guys are wondering if the particles have any effect, yes, they make my nose stuffy in a couple of hours.
Found this on thingiverse. Thinking of giving it a try. Basically it sucks airs from inside, passes through the filter and puts it back into the enclosure. It also let’s some of the filtered air out to maintain a negative pressure inside so that the fumes and particles don’t venture out of the enclosure, other than through the filter.
1 Like
Here’s a YouTube video of another design
1 Like
honestly, I don’t worry about the particles from 3d printing.
basically – do you cook in your kitchen?
welcome to 10x the particles from cooking compared to a printer
1 Like
Well I have noticeable effects on my body. When it was in the living room of my old apartment I didn’t have any issues because it was far away from me. My roommate, who used to spend most of his time in the living room, however used to suffer from stuffy nose. He attributed that to his allergies. But recently i moved to a new place and had to put the printer in my bedroom. Now I have stuffy nose and headache (pain behind the eyes) when I print.
Regardless of what you believe in, there are multiple studies that show that the amount of tiny particles and volatile organic compounds the printers produce when placed in an unventilated area far exceeds what is acceptable for humans. Especially when printing ABS and nylon. PETG, PLA and TPU are still on the safer side.
As for your cooking the whole world cooks and has done for millennia, so I am not too worried about that.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming that the particulates from 3d printing are good for you! I wouldn’t stay in a place that had printers running 24x7 without air filtration. Running in the other room, when my ac/heater already has Hepa? I’m fine.
As far as VOCs – it depends on what you are sensitive to. New car smell, new carpets… also far exceeds safe levels – look it up.
Smoke from searing steak is a known carcinogen. Tylenol would have never been approved under modern drug safety.
I guess what I’m saying it that one ought to take sensationalized safety warnings with a grain of salt – maybe look up other risks to put them in context, so you can judge how risky a thing is compared to something you already accept. Doing that with artificial trans-fats has made me extremely unwilling to eat foods with any amount.
As far as a good method to control the particulates – have you looked at an ionic dust collector? an enclosed printer with one of the non-fan based ionizer would cause the particulates to collect on the grounded frame – likely reducing gunk collecting on bearings as well.
