Ventilation, Filament and Safety Questions for Ultimaker 2+

[Ilara 1]

Hello all! I recently purchased an Ultimaker 2+ and am very new to this 3D printing business so bare with me, decent sized post incoming

I did a fair bit of research before my purchase and pretty much came to the conclusion that as long as you're printing with filament such as PLA there's probably very little to worry about in terms of emissions etc. My printer sits on my desk in my living room, next to patio doors that I try to keep open when printing.

However, after taking a closer look at some data sheets for filaments I've noticed that adequate ventilation is still very important regardless of what you're printing, many recommending at least 10 air changes per hour. Would simply leaving doors and windows open be considered enough ventilation? I ask this mainly because any emissions studies focus primarily on pure PLA and not other filament mixtures such as Colorfabb's XT range (which has been my filament of choice). I also tried my first print with Colorfabb's GlowFill (and only afterwards contemplated how safe it might/might not be...woops...glows like a charm though ). After contacting Colorfabb I was told that emissions tests on special filaments hadn't been conducted which has left me a little concerned; they assured me that PLA always fares well in tests and to ensure no filament burns.

 Which leads me to my next question: what is 'burning' classed as in this regard? I've noticed that filament does frequently get stuck to the outside of the nozzle which forms lovely black gloop that I am usually very quick to scrape off. Could this not be regarded as the filament burning and therefore be responsible for toxic emissions? Are there any other efficient approaches to ventilation other than expensive filtration systems?

  I'm probably being overly cautious but as I have a toddler in the house and the printer is part of my home based business I'd like to know everything is as safe as possible.

  Any answers to my many questions would be appreciated haha!

Edited May 18, 2016 by Guest