this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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Magic Mineral (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

How do printers create microplastics? I'd think they wouldn't be significantly different than other ways of manufacturing plastic parts. Genuinely curious.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

After printing you have to not only trim the extra bits, but you have to sand it down, whereas manufacturers use molds and only have to trim the seams.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Ah so the finishing work. Makes sense.

E: Reading about PLA specifically, it appears to be compostable. Also burning it doesn't produce nasty byproducts. So perhaps 3D printing with PLA isn't that bad, of one takes care of the excess.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's compostable in the same way that taco bell is mexican food; you have to add a lot of qualifiers before anyone will agree with you.

As far as regular people are concerned, pla isn't being composted.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

That was a really frustrating little factoid for me to learn. I think 3D printing can be an amazing hobby, but the safety bits aren't really discussed until you bring up resin! If we find a good way to break down PLA, or heck invent a compostable plastic, it would go a long way.

I still feel stupid breathing so close to my PLA printer while it was operating as I was trying to troubleshoot stuff. Gah.

The printers can be bought for dirt cheap, but decent enclosures and ventilation are still seldom talked about and turnkey solutions seem to still require the resources of a university department or popular influencer.