Say if one were to use foodsafe and or medical grade materials, would (m)SLA print be any less hazardous than one created with FFF printer, being eventually suscectible to bacteria buildup?
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$\begingroup$ Food-safe has nothing to do with ability to harbor microbes. It merely means that ingesting the material is not harmful. "Medical grade" depends on the use cases. Medical instruments designed for invasive procedures are subject to drastically different requirements than, e.g., an autoclaved tongue depressor. $\endgroup$– Carl WitthoftMay 22, 2019 at 19:29
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$\begingroup$ @CarlWitthoft Food safe is more general than that. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_contact_materials#Food_safe_symbol and the article I linked in my answer. $\endgroup$– T. M.May 23, 2019 at 23:18
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2$\begingroup$ The question would be more helpful to future readers if you mentioned in more detail the problem with FFF printing you hope to overcome with SLA printing. $\endgroup$– cmmMay 28, 2019 at 15:53
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The best information I could find was this article from Formlabs about food safe 3d printing. It has a fairly detailed discussion of the different food safe requirements and the conclusion basically is that SLA prints are not food safe by default and can create conditions for mold and bacteria growth. SLA resins are toxic when uncured.
The article goes on to list a few options that can increase the food safety of printed objects.
- Dipping in a food safe coating such as a food grade epoxy or polyurethane. But it does note that this may not make the object food safe as the coating may be compromised.
- Making a mold from the 3d printed part and using the mold for food contact.
- Electroplating the printed object with metal.
- Printing with ceramic filled resins, burning out the resin in a kiln, and glazing the part with food safe glaze.
