Health hazards

[cdotjdot]

Hey guys is there any air quality hazards when using purging compounds,nylon, hdpe,polypropylene TPO, or glass filled materials and do you take any special precautions with certain materials?

[JayDub]

Thermoplastics, by and large, are not hazardous until they degrade, so aside from general good practice (ventilate the press, don’t let the material cook in the barrel too long, etc.) I don’t think there are any special precautions for particular materials. Note, however, that the consequences of ignoring good practice are far more severe for some plastics than for others.

Glass is pretty inert but you don’t want to breathe it – wear a dust mask while conveying or re-grinding.

[rickbatey]

Check the resin manufacturers for their recommendations as some resins aren't very nice when over heated. I've ran a resin, Ellastolan, that recommends respirators due to possible cyanide out gassing!? I ran a rubber like resin years ago that required a hood over the mold and the fumes caused the fan blades to weaken and break in the evacuation hood blower.
I'm pretty lucky to have had minor issues like burns, a few sharp tool shut offs cut me, and a shorted heater shock me over the years. But really little else!
Rick.

[cdotjdot]

So the smell and the smoke of purging compound is relatively harmless if you have a good ventilation system? How about resin removers and moisture guards any special precautions when using these or other chemicals related to these?

[Suhas]

After all these years of 'smoking' this, I think i would rather not read it now :) :) J/K
Ask them for a MSDS sheet. They will have to give you one by law. But as the people above have said, they are mostly harmless unless you breathe into them.
Be safe!,
Suhas