Practical 3D Printing: Safety
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Safety
05.02
| 00:00 | It's important to understand that the liquid photopolymer resins used in SLA 3D printing contain chemicals that can be toxic, meaning it can be poisonous, as well as caustic, meaning it can burn or corrode organic tissue. |
| 00:14 | We don't need to get too deep into the science of it all, but what this means in practice is that exposure from inhalation or ingestion can cause irritation to the skin, eyes or respiratory system. |
| 00:27 | Exposure can also cause allergic reactions in some people and even be carcinogenic, in other words, lead to cancer. |
| 00:35 | The isopropyl alcohol commonly used as a cleaning agent for the printed parts can also pass through into the bloodstream and cause poisoning, so we'll include these in our discussions as well. |
| 00:47 | I want to make a note from the start that reaction to exposure can differ from person to person, and while some will prefer taking every safety precaution possible, others are naturally a little less careful. |
| 00:59 | At HPA we strongly recommend erring on the side of safety, as the risk of any reactions or side effects far outweighs the inconvenience of using personal protective equipment, or PPE for short. |
| 01:12 | FDM only really requires good ventilation when printing certain materials like ABS, and some care around the hot end to avoid burns. |
| 01:20 | SLA 3D printing on the other hand demands the use of PPE whenever working with the liquid resin or cleaning agents. |
| 01:29 | Unfortunately, it can also be quite a messy process, so the chance of exposure to the resin is reasonably high. |
| 01:35 | It only takes one small splash to get on our skin or in our eyes. |
| 01:40 | Let's start with the ventilation of the resin fumes. |
| 01:43 | Just like FDM printing with ABS, resins have an unpleasant smell to them, which will likely cause headaches at the very least, but again for SLA these fumes are toxic and can cause some serious issues. |
| 01:56 | Ventilation can be trickier than it sounds, as we want to avoid ambient UV light as this will cause the resin to cure, so we don't really want to leave a window open without blinds. |
| 02:08 | Working in a room without windows but with an extractor fan is really the ideal setup, but if that's not an option, just be sure to promote some airflow and allow for ventilation through a doorway at least. |
| 02:20 | Additionally, we should wear some form of respiratory protection, and while the basic masks that are sometimes provided with the 3D printers will probably help if someone coughs on you, they just won't cut it for the resin fumes. |
| 02:32 | Instead,, we should be using a proper respirator, even if it's just a budget -friendly disposable option. |
| 02:39 | Next,, is skin protection, and nitrile gloves are really the go-to here for handling the resin and freshly printed parts. |
| 02:46 | Avoid using the cheaper latex gloves as they won't hold up as well here and there's a good chance of tearing them and then that causing exposure. |
| 02:54 | Besides the gloves, long sleeves can obviously help a lot with protection, but it should go without saying that we don't want to spill the resin on our nice clothes. |
| 03:03 | So,, an apron or even overalls is a good idea. |
| 03:06 | If we're completing tasks like cleaning our 3D prints, which is something that we're going to be covering soon, and our hands are going to be submerged in some form of alcohol, then it's best to use the longer, chemical-resistant rubber gloves like something you'd use for washing the dishes. |
| 03:22 | Eye protection follows a similar mindset. |
| 03:25 | At a minimum, this should involve safety glasses, but ideally you should be using goggles to completely protect our eyes from any splashing or spraying of resin. |
| 03:34 | The last thing that needs to be covered is contamination and this isn't so much about contamination of the resin, although this should clearly be avoided as well, but more about the surfaces of everything else. |
| 03:46 | If we have resin on our gloves and close the hood of the printer or touch the screen for example, the next person could very easily come and touch the same surfaces or even go and eat lunch, potentially leading to some serious exposure. |
| 04:02 | Each surface of the printer and the surrounding area needs to be considered here, and that includes the cleaning station and the bottles containing the resin. |
| 04:11 | Ideally we'll have a list of clean surfaces that we can only touch with clean hands, like the printer controls, hood or even the sides of the bottles for moving them around, and then a separate list of contaminated surfaces, like anything inside the printer, the area below, or even the lids of the bottles. |
| 04:29 | The important thing to remember from this module is that 3D printing resins are toxic and we should seriously avoid direct exposure to them. |
| 04:37 | At a bare minimum, when handling the resins, we should use nitrile gloves, a respirator, and glasses, or ideally goggles. |
| 04:44 | It's also important to ventilate the nasty fumes as much as possible. |
| 04:49 | Past this, be sure to consider what's been contaminated by contact with resin, and try to keep certain surfaces, like the controls of the printer, clean. |
