Guidance for the handling of 3D printing resins

[Bill Bedford]

The Photopolymer Additive Manufacturing Alliance (PAMA), the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), and RadTech have jointly released a revised guidance titled “Proper Handling of UV Curable 3D Printing Resins” for photopolymer.

This can be found here: Proper Handling of UV Curable 3D Printing Resins | PAMA

 

[adrian]

Thanks for that - I was half expecting an extended jargon loaded data sheet, but it was a refreshingly easy and clear read. Definitely worth spending a few minutes reading for anyone with a 3D printer.

 

[Marc Dobson]

Interesting bit about latex gloves. When both my printer's arrived they came with latex gloves.

 

[simond]

The gloves that came with my Saturn were amazingly good.

I assume they were latex, in any case, they lasted ages, rather than wear once and in the bin. Happily I’m not allergic to latex, I understand it’s quite a common problem.

the blue ones I have boxes of are nowhere near as good. They’re slightly too tight, and the next size up are a bit loose.

 

[Big Train James]

Latex breaks down with either the resin or the alcohol, can't remember which. I'd be surprised if the ones that came with the printers were latex, but I've never checked. I use the blue nitrile, and reuse them many times until they are no longer fit for purpose.

The waste is one of the few things I don't like about hobby 3d printing.

Jim

 

[adrian]

I assume they were latex, in any case, they lasted ages, rather than wear once and in the bin. Happily I’m not allergic to latex, I understand it’s quite a common problem.

Unfortunately after years of working in a lab environment my wife is highly allergic to latex, the cheaper the stuff is the more reactive she is to it, sufficient to be verging on anaphylaxis . So no latex gloves, it's all nitrile gloves in our house. Some fruit contains latex sufficient to trigger a mild reaction particularly kiwi fruit and bananas. She doesn't even have to touch it, if she walks into a room with rubber balloons then there will be enough of the latex proteins floating in the air on dust or whatever to cause her breathing difficulties.

So I would suggest minimising any prolonged exposure to latex, especially gloves.

 

[simond]

The waste is one of the few things I don't like about hobby 3d printing.

can’t argue with that.

 

[simond]

Having just done a fairly busy print, it looked a lot so I weighed the waste - 27g from a calculated total of 98.4g so just over a quarter.



I suppose if you compare that with etched brass or scratch building, it’s likely to be a similar proportion.

Then again, if you were to include the scrap parts that just were not good enough, and given that I’m printing v5 today…