Filament Health Hazards

Overblown FUD, ventilation is good even necessary but having a venting system is not usually required. If you are running a 3D printer farm then that would be a different story.

 

First understand that volume is a key ingredient here. How much printing are you considering doing for a given sized space?
The fumes off of most filament are not wildly toxic (some are certainly NOT PLEASANT, but that is a different story). Add this to the fact that there is very little volume of out-gassing from filament even if you do an entire spool...

To keep this answer short and uncomplicated I will say that for almost all normally available filaments good air flow with normal air exchange in a reasonably sized space is more than enough. If you have folks who are extremely sensitive to things then a vent hood can't hurt, but it is not really a requirement.

Like @WheresWaldo said ... if you have a lot of printers in a space and are melting a lot of plastic then you need to think about it. For most folks in a home environment -- nope.

 

I fall into that alot in a little space. Ventilation for me = window fan and keeping the windows open. you know when its to bad...trust me. we run everything from pla/abs to polycarbonate 24/7 and as long as we keep the window open and fan blowing out even the smell is small. I suppose a small factor that may be helping in my particular enviroment is the AC runs non stop (65 deg) ...maybe?

Just be safe and if the smells are bothering you...ventilate.

 

If it were just me... and just one printer...dont worry about it unless it makes you feel wierd. It honestly *shouldnt* bother you. Try without before you spend a bunxh of time and money

 

Correct pla likes cold abs likes hot....dont print in abs unless you have to. Its a nightmare

 

ABS was formulated to be injection molded and used under pressure. It also has an incredible amount of shrinkage while it cools and molds are purposely created with imperfections so that the cooled parts are the correct size. At least that is the way LEGO does it and they have chemical engineers that actually develop their own blends of ABS. Despite the few people that say they never had a problem, it is not a matter of if there will be issues with an ABS print but rather when. Most common after part shrinkage is warping of parts as they cool.

Some people only print trinkets with their printer so any issue that they might have with ABS is masked by the low precision requirements of the models they print. Besides this, ABS does emit VOCs when melted or burned. Unless you need high temperature resistance and work around the limitations then ABS is simply a poor choice, there are other filaments with nearly as high or higher tensile strength and temperature resistance than ABS, Here is a sample of a few:

http://taulman3d.com/how-to-choose.html

 

I've used their PLA+ and it is a bit less brittle than straight PLA, I have never used their ABS. I have used their Stainless Steel, copper and Carbon filled filaments as well as PETG, nylon and Polycarbonate materials.

And just blindly comparing ABS to PLA is a fools errand since they have completely different compositions and you have to choose filament based on intended use, not availability or coloring or because everyone says so.

 

Never have picked on based on color.

 

I have

 

But then intended use didn't matter to me, just the color.