[Moosewood]

I am somewhat aware of the dangers of fumes while cutting acrylic, however after I engrave, there still seems to be a lingering smell on the acrylic itself. Is there any danger to that smell? Also, is there a difference between acrylics and their toxicity? Cast versus extruded or different grades and colors?

[chrbau]

Read this:
http://www.ehponline.org/members/1975/011/11022.PDF

[Geof]

Did you wade your way through the link that was provided?

Yes the fumes from acrylic can be harmful.

Are you doing this all day every day and breathing the fumes? That is a really bad idea and you should have proper fume extraction and probably be wearing a respirator which can remove organic vapors.

Are you doing this a few times a month and do you have enough ventilation that the fumes dissipate in a few minutes? Probably not going to harm you but it is not good practice; get a good organic vapor respirator.

All acrylics are the same and produce the same fumes but I have never read anything about the dyes for color adding any extra hazard.

[Moosewood]

Geof and chrbau, thanks for the replies. I'm still reading the link... I guess my question was asked poorly, as I know the fumes are toxic and I really don't have a smell problem during engraving as the fan seems to do quite well, but if I transport the etched acrylic in my car a couple of hours later, the whole car stinks. Is that considered dangerous?
Thanks again for the replies.

[Geof]

... but if I transport the etched acrylic in my car a couple of hours later, the whole car stinks. Is that considered dangerous?
Thanks again for the replies.

No not really.

The thing with a lot of these hazards is that you can only detect them statistically.

What I mean is that if you had a sample of thousand of people who drove many hours a day in a car filled with acrylic vapors you can expect to see an increase incidence of health problems among these people after many years. But these health problems take the form of increasing the risk for certain cancers and things like that by maybe 20 or 50%. Which sounds like a lot but if the risk for these cancers is 1 in every 100,000 people for a normal population then increasing it by 50% makes it 1-1/2 per 100,000 people.

You really need to know what the numbers mean; a doubling of risk that is almost negligible in the first place is still negligible.

It is very different when you are exposed for several hours a day every working day to some chemical vapors at the concentrations that can occur during manufacturing if care is not taken; then the risks can be multiplied many fold.

The bottom line is that it is a good idea to take precautions but don't become paranoid.

[webb1john]

That was a very good answer.

[Moosewood]

Geof, that was a great answer and thank you very much. I guess the only concern is transporting people with hyper sensitivity to odors and perfumes etc...
Cheers.
Mark

[apache405]

Geof, that was a great answer and thank you very much. I guess the only concern is transporting people with hyper sensitivity to odors and perfumes etc...
Cheers.
Mark

I tended to get very bad headaches when I was very young and my mom would wear perfume. I always found that opening up windows up fixed the problem quickly. I eventually grew out of it (for the most part, I still have to avoid the perfume/makeup dept at the department stores). Now whenever I get a bad smell in my car, I open the windows and let the air filter in the A/C take care of it. It usually takes ~1hr to vent offensive odors out of my 4 door sedan.

[simplify sandy]

Acrylic will outgas for long time after cutting. Immediately after cutting I put it in sealed container - especially for auto transport. I'm the "canary in the coal mine". I'll be dead before anyone else smells it!! ACRYLIC RELEASES CARCINOGENIC SUBSTANCES WHEN HEATED!! If it stinks...take necessary precautions.

[MrW]

Read this:
http://www.ehponline.org/members/1975/011/11022.PDF

An updated link for this study: Structure-toxicity relationships of acrylic monomers.