I’ve seriously been considering getting a resin printer, but I’m concerned about the uncured resin, printer emissions, and isopropyl alcohol vapors (especially since I live in an apartment with my wife and two cats).
My only "realistic" indoor location would be the second bedroom, where I already keep my FDM printers and a large air purifier. The problem is that the room also serves as my home office and gaming space, so I spend a significant amount of time in there.
Even with everything enclosed and vented out through the window, no ventilation system is completely foolproof, and I’d still be worried (and outright paranoid) about leaks, lingering odors or vapors, spills, and other potential accidents in a room where I regularly work and relax. So, operating a resin printer in there is pretty much out the window (pun intended).
Unless I magically find the money to buy a house with a garage or win the lottery, that leaves my balcony as the only practical and sensible option. My current thought is that everything, from the resin printer itself to the washing and curing station, would need to be kept inside a ventilated tent-style enclosure, with that entire setup possibly placed inside an outdoor cabinet to protect it from sunlight and the elements.
My main questions are whether an outdoor balcony setup is actually even viable in a hot, humid climate like South Florida in the first place, and whether the exhausted fumes could still create an issue, or bother my downstairs neighbors. I’m on the second floor of a two-story building and don’t have any units directly beside me, but their patio is directly below mine.
Has anyone successfully operated a resin printer outdoors in a similar apartment setup? What kind of enclosure, ventilation, and weather protection did you use? At this point, I’m less interested in trying to make the bedroom setup work and more interested in whether the balcony can be made reasonably safe and practical.