Wood PLA is "Very Unhealthy"

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1

I have my X1C sitting in my home office. Also, I have a Air Quality monitor in there. Normally the AQI (Air Quality Index*) sits around 1 or 2, even when printing.

However, I just printed some parts with wood-infused PLA. The AQI jumped to an ungodly 230. Ho-lee-■■■■. Opened the window, ran an air-circulating fan, plus the air-filtering fan I have, then got out of the office while that was going on. Let that be a warning to you all; that nice-smelling wood smell, while subtle, is quite unhealthy.

* For the non-US folk, AQI is in the range of 0, meaning really good, to 500. 301+ is considered “Hazardous”.

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2

I do not know what kind of equipment you have to measure, but most cheap consumer stuff just measures particle density for PM10 or PM2.5 and CO. Heating wood to 220+ °C will emit those fumes, and more so as the wood particles are nothing more then sawdust size.
Those levels aren’t good, but they usually are not a big concern unless you are spending half your lifetime in such an environment. Light a few candles and you will also see AQI go through the roof.
But clearly it doesn’t hurt to keep a window open and not sit right next to the printer for many hours, but its still far away from a toxic level.

3

It measures PM1.0, 2.5 and 10, with a separate readout for each, plus an overall AQI according to some forumula that isn’t simply “highest” or “average” as far as I can tell. LMK if you want me to hunt down the purchasing link.

4

Would be great!

Thanks in advance.

5

It’s this one .

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6

Oh lol. Seems not to be available in my country and the shop being pissed about it.
grafik
Translation is roughly “For political reasons, this product does not exist.” :tada:

7

Okay, try this link. Amazon should be a less snooty about it.

8

Hi,
I used this here: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B09NDVN6YR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
when I print matrials like ABS etc. it works perfect…

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9

I find Bambu Labs ABS products very offensive for me. So!
I bought this for my printing room.

I had this installed for my house HVAC system.

My printing room is also part of my houses HVAC system.
Works great for me.

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10

Sure, it measures presence of different sized particles, but not whether the content of those particles is toxic or not.

11

Now Im sad, that i bought the Ikea airquality sensor. :confused: (it detects PM2.5 and tVOC)
What did your device measured on the PM 2.5? Mine shows nothing on PLA. (3-5 usually)
But should it show a difference?
Last time i printed 30%wood, i had no sensor so i cant tell atm if it would show something there.

12

For “political reasons”? What kind of political reasons could it be invoking, considering that such a statement would be viewed as "politically incorrect "…(except if the products would have to be imported from the very few countries that are under international sanctions)

13

It’s a huge price difference between the two: one is barely 45 euros, the other is in excess of 250 euros. Definitely I’d go for the first one.