Concerns regarding fumes and fire alarms from 3D printers

[LCDR E-314 - Professor G]

I am looking to get my own 3d printer, as the university I am studying at seem to not let students outside of the Design Faculty (I'm in SciTech) use there FFF and Resin printers in free time. I am looking at getting something from FlashForge or TierTime as I am already familiar with their printers and have used them in the past. However as a student, I live in the student subsidised accomidation situated in the area of the campus, and as such, things are bound to their building. In this instance, the fire alarms are notoriously painful because of the alert going to the Fire Department, and will lead to a fine to the tune of ~$1463 for a false alarm, if the firefighters and building management declare it as that.

My conern is that will an enclosed printer, using a varity of materials (mainly ABS, PLA, and the occasional PVA), set off fumes from the filament, printer, etc. set off the fire alarm, as I would lose a lot of money, the worth of the printer in the fine if it goes off and I can't shut it off. And if the fumes set off the alarm every time I use the printer, then it will never get used or I go bankrupt.

As a side note, any Aussies out there, do you know of where the best place is to buy 3d printers and consumables, other then JayCar, they have some but not a wide range.

Cheers...

[Hackentosher]

Oh how I don't miss 3am fire alarms in dorms.

 

No FFF fumes wont set off any fire alarms. I'm not sure exactly how smoke detectors work, but I believe they only detect certain particulate matter. I've never seen low temperature melted plastics set off a smoke detector before so I doubt you'd have to worry about it either.

 

For printers, I strongly recommend you have a look at the Creality Ender 3, it's a wonderful little printer. Out of the box, they print better than my Ultimaker original and cost about 1/7th as much. For materials, I'm not sure what Amazon Australia looks like, but Hatchbox and Amazon Basics PLA are both quite good.

[LCDR E-314 - Professor G]

2 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

No FFF fumes wont set off any fire alarms. I'm not sure exactly how smoke detectors work, but I believe they only detect certain particulate matter. I've never seen low temperature melted plastics set off a smoke detector before so I doubt you'd have to worry about it either.

Thanks for your response and I can't wait to get a printer. I am even hopeful that it will become more useful further into my course.

6 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

I strongly recommend you have a look at the Creality Ender 3

I respect your recommendation, and I have talked to people about the Ender 3 and 5 Models in the past with high regard. I know of a little software start-up that I met at PAX Aus last year that use them internally for testing their cloud printing software. However my main problem is they are not enclosed, which was a stipulation of me buying a printer, and the one Creality make that is enclosed is to expensive.

Cheers...

[Hackentosher]

1 minute ago, LCDR E-314 - Professor G said:

I respect your recommendation, and I have talked to people about the Ender 3 and 5 Models in the past with high regard. I know of a little software start-up that I met at PAX Aus last year that use them internally for testing their cloud printing software. However my main problem is they are not enclosed, which was a stipulation of me buying a printer, and the one Creality make that is enclosed is to expensive.

Why does it need to be enclosed? Are you printing with materials that warp like Nylon or HIPS?

[LCDR E-314 - Professor G]

Maybe in the future but at the moment, No. Since it is a dorm room 1 person studio apartment, sitting right next to where I am working on anything, fun or uni stuff, I would prefer the noise to be at a minimum. If I was in class or playing games looking at the same monitor I am now, the printer would be sitting at my 4 o'clock under 1m away.

[Hackentosher]

1 minute ago, LCDR E-314 - Professor G said:

Maybe in the future but at the moment, No. Since it is a dorm room 1 person studio apartment, sitting right next to where I am working on anything, fun or uni stuff, I would prefer the noise to be at a minimum. If I was in class or playing games looking at the same monitor I am now, the printer would be sitting at my 4 o'clock under 1m away.

In my experience an enclosure doesn't help much for noise. Most of a 3D printer's noise is from the motors resonating with the frame and the surface the machine is on, so if you isolate it from the surface and get a pack of these bad boys, you can have a really quiet printer https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Stepper-Vibration-Damper-Screws/dp/B07415N1FN. Swap out the stepper drivers for some Trinamic drivers and the only thing you'll be able to hear are the fans.

 

No joke, my coworker put those dampers on his CR10 and you can't hear the thing. It's quieter than our Prusa i3 MK3s.

[LCDR E-314 - Professor G]

Thanks for the Idea...