3D printing

I have been thinking about purchasing my very own 3-D printer. The decent consumer grade printers run from $400 to $1500. Thus, I think the low price justifies "why not?", of course I will probably spend at most $700 and try to get a more obscure brand (to lower the cost). Another justification is that I would be able to print cool gadgets along with patent prototypes.

 After some research, I realized that the 3d printers release VOC compounds and other toxins. This was expected because when you melt plastic, you are going to get these compounds. I decided that I would build an acrylic box around it and either hook it up to an air filtration unit (the ones you get off amazon for $150) or exhaust it out the window via 4" pipe. I would suggest doing so if you want to purchase one. Some people actually sell hoods but they only have some cheap charcoal and fabric filter which is not extremely effective.

3d printers have actually been around since the 1980s-80s but they were only for corporations and industry. The invention of desktop ones has been fairly recent; it is surprising that the large pioneer companies did not come up with the idea first, rather it was small startups.