4 ms·

The standard PLA plastic is fine. It is non toxic although may provide a surface for bacteria to grown on. Although the whole toy does as well

eurasiantiger 5y ago
PLA is only fine if it’s food-grade and only if the extruder and hotend have never been used with any non-food-grade materials. Otherwise, there is no telling what additives and dyes are in those filaments, or what they do to a child after prolonged exposure.
- Macha 5y ago
  The article indicates the maker sought out advice on child safety from people who validate toys and was asked to change materials, which he did. So that implies he did have to change from whatever the default material he was using at least
- foobar33333 5y ago
  >what they do to a child after prolonged exposure. You could say this about most plastics. If you are concerned about PLA purity you should be triple scared of the much worse plastics we use regularly.
  - eurasiantiger 5y ago
    I don’t disagree, but this discussion was about PLA specifically.
- James-Livesey 5y ago
  Is it possible to clean existing extruders that have been previously used with non-food-grade PLA to make them fit for food-grade use, or do you have to purchase a brand new extruder?
  - OJFord 5y ago
    Unless you don't cook anything without your binder of US FDA datasheets and guidelines in hand, you don't worry about it. (And if you do that, you're already screaming 'not food safe' any time anybody mentions 3D printing anyway.) Aside from direct and prolonged contact, (you probably don't want to print and repeatedly use a spoon for example) the main somewhat legitimate concern is bacterial growth in all the tiny crevices that arise as a result of the printing process. Don't 3D print food storage jars and try to wash and re-use them? For a child's toy, there's not really a reason to worry about or treat it differently than anything you buy. Once it's been chucked on the floor, smeared through the dogs breakfast, and stuck in their mouth, it's pretty inconsequential that it happened to be 3D printed.
- sen 5y ago
  Even off-the-shelf cheap PLA still has orders of magnitude less random crap in it than any of the other plastic toys they already play with. I wouldn't make a pacifier or chew toy from it, but I've got no problem making dozens of PLA toys for my kids (after having done the research on the filaments), and I'd say 50% of the toys my kids have, have been 3D printed by ourselves.

eurasiantiger 5y ago

PLA is only fine if it’s food-grade and only if the extruder and hotend have never been used with any non-food-grade materials. Otherwise, there is no telling what additives and dyes are in those filaments, or what they do to a child after prolonged exposure.

Macha 5y ago
The article indicates the maker sought out advice on child safety from people who validate toys and was asked to change materials, which he did. So that implies he did have to change from whatever the default material he was using at least
foobar33333 5y ago
>what they do to a child after prolonged exposure. You could say this about most plastics. If you are concerned about PLA purity you should be triple scared of the much worse plastics we use regularly.
- eurasiantiger 5y ago
  I don’t disagree, but this discussion was about PLA specifically.
James-Livesey 5y ago
Is it possible to clean existing extruders that have been previously used with non-food-grade PLA to make them fit for food-grade use, or do you have to purchase a brand new extruder?
- OJFord 5y ago
  Unless you don't cook anything without your binder of US FDA datasheets and guidelines in hand, you don't worry about it. (And if you do that, you're already screaming 'not food safe' any time anybody mentions 3D printing anyway.) Aside from direct and prolonged contact, (you probably don't want to print and repeatedly use a spoon for example) the main somewhat legitimate concern is bacterial growth in all the tiny crevices that arise as a result of the printing process. Don't 3D print food storage jars and try to wash and re-use them? For a child's toy, there's not really a reason to worry about or treat it differently than anything you buy. Once it's been chucked on the floor, smeared through the dogs breakfast, and stuck in their mouth, it's pretty inconsequential that it happened to be 3D printed.
sen 5y ago
Even off-the-shelf cheap PLA still has orders of magnitude less random crap in it than any of the other plastic toys they already play with. I wouldn't make a pacifier or chew toy from it, but I've got no problem making dozens of PLA toys for my kids (after having done the research on the filaments), and I'd say 50% of the toys my kids have, have been 3D printed by ourselves.