Purchased a UV printer, concerned about health, ventilation, etc?

[MR T SHAKER]

Hi,

This is my first post on the forum. I'm based in the UK. I've been looking into getting a UV printer for a while and have recently taken the plunge. It's a Chinese A3 UV printer which I should be receiving shortly. I know the Chinese printers have a really bad rep, but I've managed to find a manufacturer who seems to offer good after sales as I've contacted someone who purchased the printer from the same company and gave me positive feedback regarding his experience. This is obviously quite important as the printer needs maintenance and repair from time to time and I don't have the expertise to diagnose and fix myself yet. I'm in the process of renting a shop space which will be 300 sqft. This is the space https://imgur.com/a/8SgYuBj

I've heard that UV printers are notorious for producing smell but these chinese UV printers sound like they may be next level The ink is also coming from China, and I am concerned about the possible health consequences of using their ink. I'm thinking of building a small enclosure around the printer using polycarbonate sheeting, cutting a hole in the top and extracting the air with a inline fan out through one of the windows of the room. The inline fan I'm looking to purchase is the AC Infinity Cloudline T8 which would be able to turn over the air in the room every 3 minutes if it was on maximum. The good things is it's adjustable as I don't think I would hopefully need to run it on max. I'm also thinking about getting an Air Purifier - BlueAir claim to clean air contaminants with a particle size of 0.1 micron. Not sure if the Air Purifier is overkill.

Really excited to be getting into this business, I wish there were some good online learning resources but I'm hoping to learn as I go.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice for me about this or what the best course of action is.

Thanks everyone,

Tarek

 

[Troy Lesher]

have them send you the MSDS sheets on the ink, that will tell you what you need.

 

[Troy Lesher]

for your enclosure which is a good idea either way, just make sure you do not create a negative vacuum while venting it out. can cause other issues.

 

[Gino]

How are you gonna maintain prints, load and unload the machine or be there for watching certain things going on which need attending if you have it closed off ?? I don't know about in the UK, but you can't direct fumes directly out a window in most civilized places. Next, according to what kinda building that is, you might not be allowed to have a commercial printer which needs all this ventilation in there at all. Other tenants, residential or business might complain about the smell or noise.

 

[MR T SHAKER]

Thanks for replying back to me Troy and Gino.

have them send you the MSDS sheets on the ink, that will tell you what you need.

That's a good idea, I'll ask them, although I would probably still be sceptical coming from China.

for your enclosure which is a good idea either way, just make sure you do not create a negative vacuum while venting it out. can cause other issues.

How are you gonna maintain prints, load and unload the machine or be there for watching certain things going on which need attending if you have it closed off ?? I don't know about in the UK, but you can't direct fumes directly out a window in most civilized places. Next, according to what kinda building that is, you might not be allowed to have a commercial printer which needs all this ventilation in there at all. Other tenants, residential or business might complain about the smell or noise.

I'm planning on a simple design for the enclosure an open front and no base. Technically not an enclosure I suppose, a box with no front or bottom panel + hole in top for extraction, that is light enough to remove and place back when I need access. Regarding the space I'm renting it's in a industrial site - there are already multiple commercial printers in the building.

 

[Dasdesignguy]

have them send you the MSDS sheets on the ink, that will tell you what you need.

I'm curious why you would trust a Chinese MSDS sheet? Does China even have an equivalent to OSHA? I imagine that even if they did have an MSDS it would just be rip off from another legit ink manufacturer. Why put the actual work in if you could just steal it, just like the tech, the design, etc, and face zero repercussions for it. Sorry for the rant but I had a really bad experience with a SID Mercury a while back and it still bugs me to this day.

 

[Gino]

I'm planning on a simple design for the enclosure an open front and no base. Technically not an enclosure I suppose, a box with no front or bottom panel + hole in top for extraction, that is light enough to remove and place back when I need access. Regarding the space I'm renting it's in a industrial site - there are already multiple commercial printers in the building.

If it's gonna be half open, it will kinda be senseless to do at all. If it's not air tight, forget about it. However, you still cannot vent your air through a window without some real filtration system built into it. Having a fan just means you'll get it outta your tiny quarters a little faster and into the air everyone else is breathing. Not too pretty good.

Why don't you look in at the other commercial printers and see what make and models they have and how they have theirs filtered and vented. Once yu know thier types, you can get an idea of how nasty these inks and fumes really can be. Just remember, if you can't smell it, it has some really powerful masks on it to hide it. Another thing we need masks for coming outta china.

 

[MR T SHAKER]

If it's gonna be half open, it will kinda be senseless to do at all. If it's not air tight, forget about it. However, you still cannot vent your air through a window without some real filtration system built into it. Having a fan just means you'll get it outta your tiny quarters a little faster and into the air everyone else is breathing. Not too pretty good.

Why don't you look in at the other commercial printers and see what make and models they have and how they have theirs filtered and vented. Once yu know thier types, you can get an idea of how nasty these inks and fumes really can be. Just remember, if you can't smell it, it has some really powerful masks on it to hide it. Another thing we need masks for coming outta china.

I'm not sure why it would be senseless. I need to position the ducting over the print head which would allow me to catch any emissions. I could also put in a carbon + HEPA filter in between the in line fan I suppose so the air extracted out is also filtered. UV inks according to environmental protection are classed as harmless (I'm just slightly sceptical about the chinese one), but they all produce smell which is the main reason why I want to vent out.

 

[MikePro]

its my understanding that UV inks have no VOC's, but +1 to MSDS request from ink supplier because you should be checking any & every chemical you're exposing yourself to anyways. I even have MSDS documents for my soap&water application fluids.

edited to add: i've also seen people put hoods on their Latex printers, but after confirmation that they knew that there was nothing but water vapor being exhausted from the printer, I was made aware that they just didn't like the smell in their office. Can never be too careful, or picky, but whichever direction you choose in this case.... do it with confidence that you most likely won't under-do it.
However, MSDS logbooks are standard practice in any productionhouse, so I'd definitely start with at least documenting what you have in-house.

 

[FireSprint.com]

We have not had many issues with our UV inks here - and we have had multiple air quality tests. Do what you can to exchange air as often as possible, but that's a careful balance between humidity, outside air, dust and temperature.

This will likely be less of an issue than you think it will, but still a good thing to be following.

 

[Andy D]

In my previous print room we had a couple flatbeds and a couple RTR printers.
The flat beds weren't an issue, but you couldn't be in the same room when the 15' RTR was running, it would fume up the whole plant.
What we ended up doing is putting in a hood vent that was as big as the printer, hanging thick, clear plastic (like banner material but clear)
and rigging it up to open up kind of like privacy curtain around a hospital bed.

One thing I was told about vapor (I have no idea if it's true) is that it's heavier than air and will pool on the floor.

 

[Troy Lesher]

I'm curious why you would trust a Chinese MSDS sheet? Does China even have an equivalent to OSHA? I imagine that even if they did have an MSDS it would just be rip off from another legit ink manufacturer. Why put the actual work in if you could just steal it, just like the tech, the design, etc, and face zero repercussions for it. Sorry for the rant but I had a really bad experience with a SID Mercury a while back and it still bugs me to this day.

"Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS)" is a system created by UN to address the classification of chemicals by types of hazard and harmonized hazard communication elements, including labels and safety data sheets. It aims at providing a basis for harmonization of rules and regulations on chemicals at national, regional and worldwide level, an important factor also for trade facilitation.

As an international agreement GHS is non-legally binding in the member countries of United Nations. Thus many countries and regions have published their own regulations or standards to implement GHS. For example, the GHS criteria were introduced into Europe via the Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the Classification, Labeling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP).

China is one of many countries that have agreed to implement GHS. Chinese government has published several compulsory national standards (starting with GB) and recommended national standards (starting with GB/T).

Companies selling chemicals to China and chemical companies in China are required to adopt these standards to classify, label and package chemicals as well as prepare safety data sheets in accordance with the requirements of GHS as from 1 May 2011.

 

[Dasdesignguy]

"Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS)" is a system created by UN to address the classification of chemicals by types of hazard and harmonized hazard communication elements, including labels and safety data sheets. It aims at providing a basis for harmonization of rules and regulations on chemicals at national, regional and worldwide level, an important factor also for trade facilitation.

As an international agreement GHS is non-legally binding in the member countries of United Nations. Thus many countries and regions have published their own regulations or standards to implement GHS. For example, the GHS criteria were introduced into Europe via the Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the Classification, Labeling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP).

China is one of many countries that have agreed to implement GHS. Chinese government has published several compulsory national standards (starting with GB) and recommended national standards (starting with GB/T).

Companies selling chemicals to China and chemical companies in China are required to adopt these standards to classify, label and package chemicals as well as prepare safety data sheets in accordance with the requirements of GHS as from 1 May 2011.

The GHS was developed by the United Nations, as a way to bring into agreement the chemical regulations and standards of different countries. In short, it is an international attempt to get everyone on the same page. ... The GHS is not a global law or regulation– a common misconception – it is a system.