6 ms·

Unclear what a "laser 3D printer" means--possibly selective laser sintering, but that doesn't produce carbon monoxide to my knowledge. Possibly a homegrown mach

• lima 10y ago
  Might be a laser cutter/engraver. Would make more sense since those actually do burn the material.
  • dekhn 10y ago
    I don't know anything specific in this case (I have been following it since it was first reported, since it's local, and mysterious). But my first suspicion would be the CO2 gas supply to the laser. Low-quality CO2 gas has CO impurities. I think a leak in the gas supply, combined with really poor ventilation, could possibly lead to this situation, but I'm still surprised there would be enough CO to fatally poison 2 people and 2 cats.
    • adammunich 10y ago
      Co2 lasers are 30℅ CO by design. Kind of like a halogen cycle thing but recombinant. There is very little gas in a tube though.
      • sokoloff 10y ago
        It seems the poisoning came from the operation of the laser, which means that the gases inside the laser were not involved. (It doesn't seem from breakage of the tube, but from usage.)
    • stcredzero 10y ago
      CO poisoning is cumulative. It takes a long time for CO to get unstuck from hemoglobin. It could have snuck up on them slowly, then one evening with the cats "napping" they felt particularly tired and thought to themselves, "We must be in hibernation mode from the chilly weather," then they went to sleep then never woke up. CO is odorless. You might get a headache, or you might only feel tired. What's worse: a lot of CO detectors are pretty shoddy.
      • j_koreth 10y ago
        Your description makes me increasingly worried; do you have any preferred CO detectors?
        • stcredzero 10y ago
          Avoid cheap ebay stuff. I think Consumer Reports have done a rating of those devices sometime. However, that might be out of date at this point. I just did a search on YouTube, and even those random reviews seem to date from 2014. There should be a way to verify those. Maybe Cody's Lab could handle this?
    • xiphmont 10y ago
      The CO2 laser tubes sold to hobbyists are sealed. There is no gas supply. Large industrial lasers use a gas supply in order to cut faster and at higher power. Some home-built tubes do use a gas supply, but virtually no one builds their own CO2 tube to use in a laser cutter when better tubes are available on eBay for $100.
      • dekhn 10y ago
        I never said anything about the laser tube. I think it's more likely they did use a gas supply and that leaked.
        • detaro 10y ago
          What would you use a CO2 supply for with a laser cutter or 3D printer then? I can't think of anything.
          • dekhn 10y ago
            Maybe I misunderstand how CO2 lasers work. But my understanding is that a high-powered CO2 laser can be run using a gas supply from a tank/regulator. As mentioned elsewhere, this is typically only done in industrial settings, but some home laser cutting enthusiasts want more power. The tank contains some mixture of gases, primarily CO2, but containing other gases, likely some CO. If the tank/regulator to laser tube connection is leaking in a closed room, then the CO concentration in the air will increase. This is speculation on my part based on my assumptions. If my assumptions are incorrect that's fine.
            • sanj 10y ago
              The "gas supply" you're referring to is most likely an "air-assist". Laser cutting works better when you have a flow of air (just air), blowing the smoke out of the way. Many folks use small compressors for this purpose. But it won't have anything to do with CO levels.
            • detaro 10y ago
• oasisbob 10y ago
  Glowforge marketed their laser cutter as a 3D laser printer, didn't they? As someone waiting for their Glowforge to ship, I really hope their device wasn't involved in all this.
  • chris_st 10y ago
    From Glowforge's website, for their base model: > It needs ventilation via the provided 4″ diameter (10.2cm) hose. We recommend putting the hose out a window.
    • anigbrowl 10y ago
      I'm guessing this is undergoing a hurried rewrite, to add something along the lines of 'or you may die.' they're gonna get sued out the yin-yang for this even if the dead couple totally ignored the instructions, on the grounds that the instructions didn't state the danger clearly enough. Having said that, while good safety information is important, two MIT-trained engineers should really have known better.
      • sulam 10y ago
        Why should they have known better? He was a software engineer and she may have had exposure to lab technique but a Glowforge doesn't scream "needs an industrial hood" or anything. Yes, they clearly _could_ have known better, but 'should' seems to be making too-strong assumptions about their class work, MIT or other. They could have had economics degrees for all we know (less likely given their careers, but you get my point).
        • dragonwriter 10y ago
          Yeah, while I get that the general public misses this, I'm surprised to see people who apparently think that "engineer" means a Star Trek-style omnicompetent generalist.
          • anigbrowl 10y ago
• trhway 10y ago
  at other sources it is said that they had "laser cutter and 3D printers".