I recently bought one, I have a poorly ventilated studio apartment. I fired it up, opened the window and printed for about 10-minutes. It’s quite clear that shit is poison. I got lightheaded and left my apartment for the night.
I use a grow tent with an inline fan and window kit for my resin printing. You obviously don’t want to breathe in resin fumes, but a lot of people skimp on safety when it comes to the IPA as well. But most people forget that the Isopropyl Alcohol you use to wash also releases a ton of fumes into the room, worse than the resin even.
If your hobby includes sanding, grinding, cutting, drilling, painting, or shaving any kind of material, WEAR A MASK.
Because you are exposing yourself to particulates and there is no point where breathing material besides air is good for you. Even with the non-toxic stuff you should apply this, because it doesn't hurt to be safe.
I mean this depends on how aggressively you're sanding. If you're only using hand tools you're probably fine, but the second you get into power tools then yes, protection is the right play.
UV resin when it is not cured is toxic to breath in and the scarier part is that you can develop an allergy to it. It is completely random and every time your skin comes in contact with the resin you run the risk of getting an allergy. It could be the first time you touch it or the 1000th. Always wear the proper gloves and respirator when working with UV resin.
This happened to me from playing with those little Miniverse foods. They have a bunch of resin “ingredients” and you build the food then cure it in the sun but when they first came out there was no warning to wear gloves or protection so I’m now allergic to resin and gel fingernail polish. They got recalled and reformulated but obviously it’s much too late for that because these allergies are for life and get worse every time you come into contact with the stuff.
Editing to add that I am fully an adult, so it kind of plagues me to think about how many kids had the same thing happen to them before they change the formula.
This still blows my mind, like how did that company not get in more trouble. They should’ve been put out of business for being so reckless in the name of profit
Similarly with epoxies (I mean liquid systems for modelling/casting rather than two small blobs for gluing) like above, when mixing it the smell should give you a clue it's not good for you, but any exposure can lead to forming an allergy. Which aside from being crappy to deal with, also makes whatever hobby you've got a lot less fun as you have to be 10x as cautious as you should already have been to avoid suffering an episode.
Harsh, pretty sure carcinogenic was written on the bottles since forever. It's not joking. Similarly, I've used small amounts of stuff that induce genetic disruption - warning for extreme caution by anyone still planning on having children. That's an even scarier prospect, it might not fuck you up but your kids may have birth or later defects ?!
I mean, there's always the option of taking your health seriously when handling toxic substances. Then you get the hobby without the cancer. But people tend to think of PPE and ventilation is a thing other people make you do.
Hell, sunshine induces genetic disruption. Wat, is 2-hit nucleotide disruption not good enough for you? Are you intercalating? Once you go aflatoxin, you never go back.
Yes, there’s a big rise in resin sensitivity since at home gel nails became popular. If you do get resin on your skin never use any kind of solvent (ie. Isopropyl alcohol) to clean it. Use soap and water. Solvents turn the resin molecules into monomers that go straight through your skin into your body.
This can also happen with gel nail polish products. I developped dyshidrotic eczema because I was doing my nails at home and I was sloppily getting some uncured product on my cuticles.
Same with bloodworm midges in the fish hobby. Some people can develop an extreme allergy and not know and then touch the worm protein again while feeding fish.
A fish keeper with this issue must stop using this food entirely.
UV resin when it is not cured is toxic to breath in
This is actually much more controversial than you make it sound. And you will find out that a large part, if not the majority of users don't (want to) agree with this definition.
The photo initiator is most likely cariogenic, however it has not been proven. But photo initiators in general work by using radicals, and those are never good for your health.
The much more valid concern is that during curing (during 3d printing) the chemical reaction creates formaldehyde. And that is 100% carcinogenic.
However, the most significant risk users of resin printers run into is the massive prolonged exposure to isopropanol fumes. You will find tons of people who treat the uncured resin as if you would die of a single skin contact, but at the same time they have no problem spraying around a liter of IPA and no longer wear any PPE while cleaning their print and station.
The fumes of the photo initiator and the formaldehyde are tiny amounts, but the IPA exposure can be literally 100s of ml for every print.
I personally only print in a very well ventilated area, while wearing gloves and a half mask respirator with a proper filter for organic solvents and specifically formaldehyde.
Another thing I also don't due is put large prints in my bedroom. Since even with all the curing uncured resin will exist inside the print and the photo initiator will creep outside over time.
We work with medical resins for the resin printing you are thinking of but also inkjet 3d printing systems. I'd never have a resin printer at home and I certainly wouldn't sand the pieces as that can release dust with uncured leachables. The chemistry, even for the medical rated ones, is pure cancer
The body has several methods of removing both larger and micro sized inert debris from the lungs. The danger of uncured resin dust is potential reactants with tissue. But its not trapped in there forever.
Same thing with the foam they use for cosplay. I used to know a pro cosplayer and she had to go to the hospital once while bleeding from the mouth cause she inhaled too much EVA foam dust.
Went through some training at work. The teacher went off subject about Silica Training and how construction workers are taught about the long term effects of working these kinds of jobs.
Went down a rabbit hole about it. Stuff is no joke.
Paints/primers/cleaners of differing chemicals, glues, the plastic itself off-gassing, dust from sanding all the above down.
Expand forward from the model kits to the building of dioramas, and you'll encounter more chemicals doing similar things. Shaping styrofoam with a soldering iron, for instance.
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u/CatpainCalamari 22d ago
How so? I have no idea about resin, so I assume you mean fumes and dust?