CannaOnerStar
Well-Known Member
PLA does release microparticles and it is not foodsafe(unless especially processed to be foodsafe). I mean its not the worst, but i dont think its good. Especially if there is some light from your growlights hitting the pots, they will degrade even more.i use PLA witch is bioplast should be pretty safe changed hotend to a hardned one aswell
Ideal material would be PVDF, but its expensive as hell and not all consumer(or even pro) desktop printers can print it. PP would also be pretty much as safe as can be and its not very expensive. PET/PETG is kinda on the fence, it should be safe enough if no bright lights shine on it, because the plastic itself is food safe, but strong lights do degrade PET and cause it to release microparticles.
But the thing is that im not sure about how much actually gets absorbed in the plant, you might be inhaling more microparticles directly from printing. But the thing is that some plastics turn way way more carcinogenic and might even release other more poisonous gasses when heated up over a certain point(higher than printing temps). For example if you heat up PVDF too much, it starts to release some fluoride gasses that can cause sudden death(but PVDF is completely inert and would not leak from the pots to plant at all even if you used them for 100 years straight). But thats quite an extreme example. But the thing is that we dont know everything about these microparticles or what poisons the plastics might release if heated and what levels are we even talking here.
So it might be ok, but it might not be so ok. It wasnt too long ago when people thought that PLA microparticles from printing are completely fine, but now that safety is being questioned. So even tho many say that its completely fine to print where ever and not care about fumes from printing PLA, it might not be safe afterall and i recommend keeping the printing area well aerated as a caution, because we are dealing with a lot of unknown things here. There simply has not been enough research on these things to be sure if its safe or not, but even common sense says that inhaling plastic microparticles doesent sound like a good idea.
PLA being sourced from plants does not really make it much safer for this, in fact, because of it, it is also biodegradable and would compost if you would give it enough time and suitable conditions. Strong light and water are THE conditions to make it degrade as fast as possible. Its the non bioplastics that are the safest, but they must the the kind of type that does not release any microparticles or degrade. Its like PLA releases more microparticles in those conditions compared to for example PET, but they are not as bad.
What printer do you have by the way? Advising people on printing materials is part of my job and i have had some advanced material trainings from one of the biggest material manufacturers etc. So feel free to ask if you have some questions about printing Im not too familiar with cheaper printers, but materials are the same.
I designed a mini bubbler hydro that fits in 20x20x20 printing area few years back when i was in school, but never printed it. Maybe i should see if i can find the files and print it one day. Would be nice for cuttings.