4 ms·

For all the grief 3M has put on humanity they still make some pretty neat stuff.

bragr 4y ago
Sometimes I just bump around their site looking at all the neat stuff they offer and especially the oddball niche application stuff. They really have a glue or tape for just about any scenario!
- jasonhansel 4y ago
  The best places for that are websites like Grainger and Fastenal. They sell all the things you see all the time in commercial businesses, but never realized you could actually buy. (Of course, they tend to be surprisingly expensive.)
  - hedora 4y ago
    Also, check out U Line. They are more packaging / facilities focused.
  - xeromal 4y ago
    I remember 3d printing a pokeball that I wanted to swing open automatically when a latch was opened. Struggled finding anything useful until I hopped on Grainger where, lo and behold, they had a little spring that was perfect for it. The guy on the phone was really helpful too and held it for pickup.
anoother 4y ago
Genuinely serious and ignorant question: What grief?
- bragr 4y ago
  As a huge chemical conglomerate with a long history, they've been involved in their fair share of pollution incidents and other controversies. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-3m-pfas-toxic-forever-chemicals-europe/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-3m-pfas-toxic-foreve... https://www.reuters.com/business/3m-agrees-pay-98-mln-resolve-suits-over-forever-chemicals-2021-10-19/ https://www.reuters.com/business/3m-agrees-pay-98-mln-resolv...
- swader999 4y ago
  Management by post it notes comes to mind.
- exmadscientist 4y ago
  3M products are great because they always do what they say they're going to do. They usually even overperform by a large margin. They're one of my suppliers of choice for industrial applications or anything R&D where we don't quite know how good it has to be yet. 3M toxic chemical waste is also a core 3M product, and overperforms too. Some of their Superfund sites, particularly the C8/PFOA/fluorinated crud ones, are among the worst around. (I grew up on the other side of the city from their worst one! Yay!) And, like any company in the fluorinated chemicals business, 3M has overperformed at ozone depletion and greenhouse forcing. I can give them a pass on that particular one, since society as a whole didn't care much about that stuff until recently. I can't, however, give them a pass for how nasty Scotchgard was/is and how much of it was sprayed on/near me as a child. If you remember Scotchgard, don't look up what it really was or you might regret your parents' life choices.
  - hinkley 4y ago
    I recall once researching superfund distribution on some sort of thesis that the West Coast is Better, only to discover that Washington State is top ten for a superfund sites, and in large part because of all of the nasty ways we’ve come up with to preserve lumber over the years. Well, shit. It’s no PFOAs but it’s a class of chemicals specifically selected for preventing decay so it’s up there. We really should know better by now.
    - b112 4y ago
      People get mad at concrete re:co2, but compare its lifespan to wood, without preservatives. How many houses, without preservatives in the wood, would rot and be rebuilt, compared to 100% concrete/rock housing? And with each rebuild, comes all the wiring, plumbing, which is rarely recycled well, and recycling isn't environmentally cost free. ICF seems a good idea to me.
      - LgWoodenBadger 4y ago
        Probably very few since interior wood is not pressure treated.
- hinkley 4y ago
  Scotchguard is the biggest black eye I know of. I don’t know what’s in it now but it used to be cancer in a can.
  - hinkley 4y ago
    Old formula Scotchguard had PFOS in it from the 1950’s until sometime in the last decades. People sprayed it on their furniture, indoors. We’re worried about off gassing from pans, and here was a can of the stuff in aerosol form. Maybe ask instead of downvote?
- markdown 4y ago
  You (and most Americans... maybe most humans), have PFOA's (forever chemicals) in your blood that came from 3M. https://www.healthvermont.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016/12/PFOA_blood_test_result_Qs%26As_07_20_2016.pdf https://www.healthvermont.gov/sites/default/files/documents/... https://theintercept.com/2018/07/31/3m-pfas-minnesota-pfoa-pfos/ https://theintercept.com/2018/07/31/3m-pfas-minnesota-pfoa-p...
hinkley 4y ago
There are times when they have been less recalcitrant than their competitors. Faint praise for sure but when you are doing PR bits for recapturing solvents for reuse instead of exhausting them or burning them, years before your peers are getting sued for not doing the same, you might not be angels but you’re also probably not the devil either.
amelius 4y ago
One of those 3 Ms must stand for "malevolence".

Sometimes I just bump around their site looking at all the neat stuff they offer and especially the oddball niche application stuff. They really have a glue or tape for just about any scenario!

jasonhansel 4y ago
The best places for that are websites like Grainger and Fastenal. They sell all the things you see all the time in commercial businesses, but never realized you could actually buy. (Of course, they tend to be surprisingly expensive.)
- hedora 4y ago
  Also, check out U Line. They are more packaging / facilities focused.
- xeromal 4y ago
  I remember 3d printing a pokeball that I wanted to swing open automatically when a latch was opened. Struggled finding anything useful until I hopped on Grainger where, lo and behold, they had a little spring that was perfect for it. The guy on the phone was really helpful too and held it for pickup.

anoother 4y ago

Genuinely serious and ignorant question: What grief?

bragr 4y ago
As a huge chemical conglomerate with a long history, they've been involved in their fair share of pollution incidents and other controversies. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-3m-pfas-toxic-forever-chemicals-europe/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-3m-pfas-toxic-foreve... https://www.reuters.com/business/3m-agrees-pay-98-mln-resolve-suits-over-forever-chemicals-2021-10-19/ https://www.reuters.com/business/3m-agrees-pay-98-mln-resolv...
swader999 4y ago
Management by post it notes comes to mind.
exmadscientist 4y ago
3M products are great because they always do what they say they're going to do. They usually even overperform by a large margin. They're one of my suppliers of choice for industrial applications or anything R&D where we don't quite know how good it has to be yet. 3M toxic chemical waste is also a core 3M product, and overperforms too. Some of their Superfund sites, particularly the C8/PFOA/fluorinated crud ones, are among the worst around. (I grew up on the other side of the city from their worst one! Yay!) And, like any company in the fluorinated chemicals business, 3M has overperformed at ozone depletion and greenhouse forcing. I can give them a pass on that particular one, since society as a whole didn't care much about that stuff until recently. I can't, however, give them a pass for how nasty Scotchgard was/is and how much of it was sprayed on/near me as a child. If you remember Scotchgard, don't look up what it really was or you might regret your parents' life choices.
- hinkley 4y ago
  I recall once researching superfund distribution on some sort of thesis that the West Coast is Better, only to discover that Washington State is top ten for a superfund sites, and in large part because of all of the nasty ways we’ve come up with to preserve lumber over the years. Well, shit. It’s no PFOAs but it’s a class of chemicals specifically selected for preventing decay so it’s up there. We really should know better by now.
  - b112 4y ago
    People get mad at concrete re:co2, but compare its lifespan to wood, without preservatives. How many houses, without preservatives in the wood, would rot and be rebuilt, compared to 100% concrete/rock housing? And with each rebuild, comes all the wiring, plumbing, which is rarely recycled well, and recycling isn't environmentally cost free. ICF seems a good idea to me.
    - LgWoodenBadger 4y ago
      Probably very few since interior wood is not pressure treated.
hinkley 4y ago
Scotchguard is the biggest black eye I know of. I don’t know what’s in it now but it used to be cancer in a can.
- hinkley 4y ago
  Old formula Scotchguard had PFOS in it from the 1950’s until sometime in the last decades. People sprayed it on their furniture, indoors. We’re worried about off gassing from pans, and here was a can of the stuff in aerosol form. Maybe ask instead of downvote?
markdown 4y ago
You (and most Americans... maybe most humans), have PFOA's (forever chemicals) in your blood that came from 3M. https://www.healthvermont.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016/12/PFOA_blood_test_result_Qs%26As_07_20_2016.pdf https://www.healthvermont.gov/sites/default/files/documents/... https://theintercept.com/2018/07/31/3m-pfas-minnesota-pfoa-pfos/ https://theintercept.com/2018/07/31/3m-pfas-minnesota-pfoa-p...

hinkley 4y ago

There are times when they have been less recalcitrant than their competitors. Faint praise for sure but when you are doing PR bits for recapturing solvents for reuse instead of exhausting them or burning them, years before your peers are getting sued for not doing the same, you might not be angels but you’re also probably not the devil either.

amelius 4y ago

One of those 3 Ms must stand for "malevolence".