Clear resin seem to have the least smell, white, black are also not so bad. But i tried flexible before, and i do not want to use the printer because i cannot take it. So i remove the flexible and find another solution to print flexible/tough another day. (ongoing)
I am talking about the smell of resin from forms 2. When i was in japan, i saw they use a container full of small marble size balls in locker area, I think it is call odour eliminator gel beads. After using for a month, all the bead disappear. I want no odour type. i want to get rid of smell not introduce some funny smell. I cannot find it in Europe, Only USA with smell and Japan, china , taiwan etc for what i really want, odourless eliminsator gel beads.
What do you do for smell form forms 2? Do you know where can i buy the odour eliminator in Europe.
I cannot talk directly about the odor eliminator beads, however in our lab we had a blower installed. (OK, technically it existed before we owned the form 2). It is in the ceiling just above the printer and connects to a duct which vents, presumably to the roof. I turn it on any time I am using flexible or extensively using alcohol as the fumes can feel almost overwhelming at times. When the blower is on the smells mostly go away…its not 100%, but better than breathing it all in I suppose.
My lab/warehouse workers also have various masks and ventilators. The later I do use when dry sanding any piece.
OK, after month of laziness, i finally put my Form 2 at my balcony, i finally can use my flexible and tough resin!!! without huge headache from the smell. It is very cold outside now, i hope i will not overwork the heater. Waiting for first print to analyse. I hope i can control the printer from my computer. while the printer in the balcony. Remote control and Camera for Form 3??
Yes, I second the concern about the humidity/weather and the printer. It’s quite an investment, so needs to be protected.
Also, I don’t know if this is helpful. I’ve started to store the resin in a sealed plastic container in a cabinet when I’m not printing, and put the tray in large plastic Ziploc bag, then put it in the box… With the castable resin, I had a problem with a crack in a tray after about 6 months (I don’t use it every day, and leave the tray on the printer with castable v2 resin), so there was a suggestion that the resin not be stored IN the tray. I’ve started to do that, but noticed that there is less of a smell in my studio.
It sounds like you might be outside the US. (Lucky you…anybody want to adopt a nice American? Can I get Formlabs resin in Australia or New Zealand?). So I included a picture of the 1 quart mixing container I got at a hardware store in the paint department (why are we not using the metric system again?) A lid can be purchased separately.
Balcony is not enclosed, very cold, but i have some sunlight cover that block a bit and also i bought a recycle cupboard made of plastic that help protect it from rain, and i made outdoor power connection to go into the cupboard.
It is so cold now, winter, that if i leave the cupboard open, the printer does not print, since it does not reach 31C. But when i close the cupboard, it go well.
I much prefer to put inside my warm apartment, but the smell is just too much, i cannot take it. But the smell of Formlabs normal resin is ok. That is ok for indoor uses.
It is about 5 dec outside, lower at night, but when the printer is running, it warm up, 3 days running with no issue.
After trying out several air purifier or air cleaners. I manage to find something that work with the smell of Formlabs normal resin. I tried the traditional carbon , hepa air cleaner - no go. I tried air cleaner which use water to clean the air - no go. Finally i found one that work with formlabs normal resin. Worse of all normal resin is grey v3, worse smell of all 4 resin. I place this very small air cleaner inside a cupboard together with form 2 - for noise reduction. No smell at all in the room. Success! I wonder if the effectiveness will fall after a few months, i need more time to test.
For the worse smelling formlab resin - flexible resin, sadly does not work for that. I am looking for another cleaner that will work with flexible and tough resin. Still after the horrible flexible v1 resin uses, after 2 days, the smell totally gone. Which is much better than carbon,hepa filter which took 1 week.
This is it.
Steba LR11 catalytic air purifier - it uses a UV lamp and TiO2 filter, which i think remove the smell of resin.
Pls anyone ! find one air cleaner that make using flexible resin workable indoor. tell us about it.
Can anyone tell me what is your experience with various technology. I thought about it, but it will be hard to buy all types of cleaner to test. Anyone have plasma wave air cleaner , how effective to remove resin odour? What about electro static air cleaner? how effective to remove resin odour again? I think there is also UV air cleaner? These are three left for me to test out.
I am myself looking for a good air purifier to get rid of the bad smell from flexible/tough resins. I tried this one and it does seem to help but not by much.
I’m thinking about trying the one you suggested above and see how it impacts the smell. Maybe someone from Formlabs can help with this (@Frew )
Steba LR11 and Germguardian AC4825 have the same technology, LR11 is much smaller, i tried it with flexible resin, does not work. Your bigger AC4825 did not work either, therefore it will not help you getting LR11. We need an exhaust system that suck out air from cupboard.
I am building a small enclosure for the Form 2. Unfortunately we don’t have a fume hood (which is the real solution). I am planning on putting a small air purifier on top of the enclosure (with some venting from the enclosure to the intake of the purifier).
I will use some acrylic panels and silicone to seal the box. When I start a print I will put the enclosure on and fire up the purifier. The enclosure is 24" tall x 18" wide x 18" deep. I will let you know how it works out. I am using Quickframe from 8020 and the cost isn’t too bad.
Keep us posted. I really need to find a good solution for that smell. Also I’m not sure how bad it would be to be smelling the fumes for extended periods.
Bringing this back up. I have just started using my F2 for the first time today using grey resin 3. There is quite a bit of a chemical smell as a result of the resin heating up and I notice I get a slight headache being in the same room. I need to work in the room on my computer at the same time and its only a 3.5 x 4 meter space.
My main concern is health. Breathing these particals in can’t be good so I am also curious if building an enclosure that has a vent tube going out the window may help. Also the portable aircon might be a good solution as aircons suck the air out of the room. Does anyone have any updates on their solutions?
Have you considered making a fume extractor? I’m working on such a project right now where I will be using multiple filters (AC filter, HEPA & Carbon filters) I hope this will help with the smell. If it doesn’t then I’ll just drill a hole in the wall and use some suction fan to get rid of the smell.
I think the best solution is to suck the fumes straight out into the open so they are not lingering inside the room. Air conditioners would do a good job but use too much electricity to be on all the time and make the room cold. I was thinking something like what Randy Cohen is suggesting a container box with an extractor fan inside and hose exhausting the fumes outside. I have an air vent in the room above the printer so may modify that for the hose.
The printer could even sit in a tray that has sealed holes for the cables so the casing would sit airtight on the tray. The tray would also be good for capturing spilt resin if the valve fails and at least its not all over the desk and floor
I like the idea of it being clear perspex as someone suggested (or even UV protected perspex for that double sun protection) so you can still see the print. Dam! This would be perfect and very simple to make. Anyone good at designing this stuff?
This is what my company opted for. We have something similar to this in the room, right above the printer. We have it running whenever the printer is running and someone is in the room with it…which is not often.
Or course that is not practical for home use. I think something similar to what @sloh posted back in April could be a good option for home use…or the box with built in extractor if you want to go that far.
I sucked the fumes out through a fume extractor since the smell was bothering a coworker.
The hose is hooked up to the top of the acrylic box. You can see the shadow of the hose against the whiteboard.
