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3Ders.org reports
[On December 21, 2015,] a British 17-year-old named Tom Taylor was killed in an explosion after using hairspray to make objects stick to the bed of his 3D printer. An inquest found that the hairspray had left a cloud of propane in the air, which was then ignited by a spark from either the 3D printer or a power outlet.
In an effort to help makers maximize the potential of their low-end 3D printers, various websites and online communities have recommended ways to make [PolyLactic Acid AKA "Poly" AKA] PLA objects stick to the bed of [a fused deposition modeling (FDM)] 3D printer more effectively. These DIY methods have included use of tape, kapton, and hairspray--with the latter explained in articles like this 2013 Hackaday contribution. The tragic death of British teen Tom Taylor has just given makers everywhere cause to abandon this technique, after an inquest heard that flammable gases from the hairspray exploded after being ignited by an electric spark.
On the afternoon of his death, 17-year-old Taylor was using his 3D printer to make a school art project at his family home--a converted retail building in Lincoln, UK, which also served as the family's independent magic shop. The teen was using the hairspray technique to provide extra adhesion to the 3D printer's build plate, allegedly in accordance with an article he had found online. However, after gases from the hairspray had built up over several hours, a spark--which may have come from the 3D printer itself or a nearby socket--caused the cloud of gas to ignite, causing a large explosion.
The fire from the explosion was worsened by large quantities of flammable flash papers stored underneath the desk at which Taylor was working--these flash papers, commonly used by magicians, were to be sold at the magic shop, but are usually stored in sealed containers and destroyed after two years. When the explosion occurred, Taylor attempted to escape from the back office, but inhaled fumes and died from smoke inhalation.
[...] Companies like FLEKS3D and LokBuild have proposed safer solutions for warp-free FDM 3D printing, and the popularity of their products may rise in the wake of this incident.
Some topics I am seeing: propane; workspace ventilation; unsafe storage methods; hoarding expired goods.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 11 2016, @02:43AM
You beat me to the punch.
The tragic death of British teen Tom Taylor...
It wasn't tragic... It was spectacular, but not tragic.
Let this be a warning to the rest of you retards.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday November 11 2016, @03:10AM
What a tard. Every babby knows that the go-to fix to make 3D prints stick is, well, a glue-stick. Probably inhaled too many fumes from his ABS filament.
Or perhaps microwaved and then ate from the bowls and plates he printed.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Friday November 11 2016, @01:04PM
Obviously Eth-OH and I both have printers because I was going to post the same thing, hair spray is an ungodly F-ing mess from overspray and its hard to clean up, but a glue stick works and isn't stinky and cleans up in about 15 seconds with a wet paper towel and its simply superior in all measures to hair spray.
Mostly I print PLA on heated kapton with glue and its freaking beautiful. Sometimes things stick almost too well.
Mostly I print stuff like jigs/fixtures mounting brackets spacers for electronic things and its mostly flat and smaller than a deck of playing cards. I suppose geometry could influence what you think you "need".
Kapton lasts forever if you don't abuse it and its rapidly cheaper than blue masking tape. Kapton tape and sheet is cool in general, I have some laying around for general electronic purposes. Imagine yellowish scotch tape that won't burn even at like 500F and its reasonably tough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 11 2016, @08:28PM
Asshole. Don't conflate a disability with stupidity.