“Those Argon cylinders were fail-safe” declared the fire fighter after having put out the killer fire…
This is how a hamster could save your operators from a dire end as happened to these…
“Those cylinders were fail- safe” announced the firefighter, still under shock after the incident. “They were fire extinguisher cylinders. “They should protect, not kill!” his trembling voice was solemn as he spoke to the reporter.
In spite of careful maintenance and checks, something went wrong at Mundells, an area near Welwyn Garden city, Hertforshire, England on the 5th November 2008:
Six people were severely injured and one person died as a result of the explosion of a cylinder containing Argon in a building.
After the tragedy the gas spread and 50 buildings had to be evacuated.
A lot of time had to pass before it was safe to go back to work.
Sadly, it is impossible to control everything, that is why adopting alarm systems and prevention against gas leaks of Argon is like going to a casino, throwing your dice in the hope of not losing your precious chips.
Technology is not perfect! Even your PC can break down, let alone a prevention system for Argon!
An expedient must be found, and that’s where our little four legged friend comes in.
What have hamsters got to do with 3D printers? And why should I transform my company into a pet shop?
Let’s start from basics:
If you are reading this it is because you are interested in additive systems.
Teeth, clothes, houses, space shuttles! You keep hearing about these systems for printing anything.
You can print using different materials: plastic and metals.
I will limit the field and speak only about metals.
Additive systems using a metal powder, need a gas to print.
Which are the most commonly used gasses ?
Argon
Nitrogen
Hydrogen
Helium
According to Air Products Technologies Solutions, the most commonly used gas is Argon.
Argon is the most widespread gas, because to print with reactive powders, such as aluminum and titanium, it is necessary, unfortunately, to use this killer gas.
If you have a 3D printer, or you want to buy one which uses Argon, then you will seriously have to think about transforming your company into a pet shop.
Let’s look at the reason why, if you are dealing with a 3D printer using Argon, you have to buy a hamster or your operators could end up dead
Do you want to 3D print aluminum and titanium, so a 3D printer that uses Argon gas?
In that case, I think you will really have to go to a pet shop and choose a wheel-turning friend.
It is necessary to know that this gas is called the Silent Killer because it is:
- odourless; not even your truffle dog could smell it out;
- colourless;
- tasteless.;
Like all self-respecting serial killers, its secret lethal weapon is weightlessness.
While your are working and whistling the tune of “Yellow Submarine”, completely unawares, Argon, silently like a dancer on tiptoe, nimbly floats upwards, pushing oxygen up to the ceiling and working its way into your lungs like a professional thief.
You think you are fine but Argon, meanwhile, is stealing your breath and your life.
On your death certificate the coroner will write: death by asphyxiation from inert gas.
Inert gasses are all those gasses which are not in themselves toxic, because they do not poison you and do not interfere with your hemoglobin or your heart: they simply take away your oxygen little by little
and therefore your life force!
In fact Argon is one of the most dangerous of inert gasses: compared to Argon, Jack the Ripper is Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother!
“I can always dress like a diver for protection.”
Remember that Achilles, the half-god who was dipped in the River Styx by his mother to make him immortal, always had a weak point: his heel, the only part of his mortal body which did not touch those divine waters, was the cause of his death.
When Argon is involved saftey is never enough, and there is no divine solution that can protect your team of technicians.
I will reveal the most economical solution to protect yourself from the silent killer which is lurking in your 3D printer for reactive metals
Go to a pet shop, buy a hamster and a cage with a wheel (rodents loves wheels) and put it at the base of your 3D printer for metals.
If your operators notice that the hamster is lying on its back with its legs up in the air and its tongue lolling out of its mouth, then they must make a quick exit or they could be joining the hamster underground.
A clever strategy which however has one great fault! Apart from having to sacrifice the life of a small pet…
If your operators are concentrated on printing your components in 3D, how can they watch the hamster at the same time to check that it is still alive?
They can’t. Either they work or they babysit our hairy friend.
At that point you are obliged to pay an employee, who instead of working like the others, will pass the time watching the hamster.
“Are you really telling me that I have to hire someone to babysit a hamster?”
Correct and you can’t pay him peanuts, just like you can’t hire someone to pass their days at work, watching a hamster.
You can’t even count on the fact that your operators will notice that they are short of air, because the gas hampers parts of the brain, and the capacity to perceive sensations.
You have no time to lose with Argon! If your operators are busy doing other things, they could notice the death of the hamster when it’s already too late.
For “too late” I mean two seconds.
It only takes two intakes of Argon for your operator to risk giddiness, nausea, vomiting, blackouts and to cap it all, death.
If the concentration of Argon in the air is 50%, serious symptoms start to appear.
If the concentration is 75% you can start calling the undertakers.
The situation is worse in closed environments with no air, just like the room where you keep your 3D printer.
As well as the person watching the hamster, you should pay a first aid team, who are already on the spot, to prevent the death of your employees.
The Association Assogastecnici often repeats the need for preventive intervention. Nor do not hide the fact, that the first aid team also risk their life. So pay your first aid team well, because they are like soldiers on a mission in Afghanistan: ready to die for their country.
“But if the person watching the hamster is distracted? I will have to employ at least two people to work shifts!”
Even this solution has an Achilles’ heel.
3D4STEEL is trying out a prototype which could save your operators from asphyxiation and your hamster- sitter from deadly boredom.
Here is the solution to ensure that your Argon-smelling hamster stays alive
My research laboratory has created a prototype of an electrocardiogram for your “Argon-smelling” hamster, which will save your operators from an atrocious suffocation.
While your operators are working at the 3D printer, the hamster at the base of the printer, will play in its cage, and, thanks to the electrocardiogram attached to its heart, you will always hear its heartbeats and you will always know if it is alive, without having to watch it continuously.
Beep, beep, beep…
As long as the operators hear the beep they can work FAIRLY tranquilly.
When, however, they hear an annoying continuous noise and see the notorious flat line on the monitor, then it’s time for them to take to their heels.
And exit quickly.
“Are you seriously telling me I have to attach an electrocardiogram to the heart of my hamster and make my operators work with an annoying beep, beep, beep, all day?”
And just think when the hamster gets on the wheel, how deafening those beeps will become!
I’m obviously kidding!
I know it sounds like a funny joke, but it is a necessary gadget, that it why I am talking about it. Nobody has invented an electrocardiogram for hamsters yet, if you buy a 3D printer using Argon, this could be a tool which saves your operators.
“But at this point isn’t it easier to buy a 3D printer not using Argon?”
Of course it is!
It is easier.
It is safer.
It costs less.
Since I, Ivano Corsini, am concerned about the health of my workers, I want to sleep peacefully without having anybody’s death on my conscience, and since I like hamsters and I would like to keep them as pets, I have decided that:
my 3D printer for steel, The Blue Bear, can use only nitrogen and does not need Argon at all
“Ok, but even nitrogen is dangerous!”
Not as dangerous as Argon.
While the quantity of Silent Killer present in the atmosphere is 0.93%, the quantity of nitrogen is 78.08%.
That is why you don’t even have to pay gold for the gas you need to print.
For Argon you have to break the bank and fork out € 0,90 per normal litre, thanks to a generator installed in the Blue Bear you can source nitrogen directly from the air present in the atmosphere.
That’s right,
Nitrogen is free
Also take into consideration the comfort of your operators who are in contact with Argon: if they are dressed like Armstrong when he landed on the moon, their movements will be more robotic and less precise.
Operators dealing with 3D4STEEL using nitrogen, wear a more comfortable jumpsuit and a practical mask.
I will briefly sum up the advantages of a 3D printer using ONLY nitrogen:
- You will source nitrogen free thanks to a generator which I supply with the printer;
- Nitorgen is safer than Argon because it does not push oxygen upwards, suffocating your employees;
- Your operators will work more efficiently because they will feel safer and will wear more comfortable outfits: antistatic shoes, an overall and a mask, that’s all!
If you still want to buy a 3D printer for Argon…
Do so at your risk and peril!
I am warning you: buy a hamster with an electrocardiogram or employ a hamster-sitter and a first aid team ready to give their life for your components printed in 3D.
If, however, you want to avoid all mortal accidents, then put your trust in nitrogen.
“How do I know that the Blue Bear can print the components I need, better than a 3D printer for Argon?”
Don’t believe just my word!
You have the chance to check personally if the 3D4STEEL printer, using nitrogen, can print the components you need, even before buying one!
Not only…
You will also receive something no other supplier of standard 3D printers will give you:
A document with the economic and financial costs and the production times to print your components in 3D
The system which will give you access to a 3D printer for steel, using nitrogen, without even buying it. It is called 3D4YOU!
3D4YOU is a customized system which allows you to have:
- the specific component you want to print in 3D with the Blue Bear;
- the economic and financial costs of printing yourself with the same printer;
- the production times;
If even only one of these points is tempting, click on the red button down below, fill in the form and you will be contacted by one of our assistants specialized in 3D printing for steel, who will give you all the necessary information.
I am the only supplier of 3D printers who will give you this chance.
Hurry up because being the only supplier to guarantee a customized assistance, I cannot accomodate everyone!
I can only accept 4 companies a month and there is a queue!
3D4YOU is a solution created for the curious, who would like to install additive systems in their company, but still have doubts, and rightly so, you want proof and concrete data in hand.
Let’s get rid of our doubts together: let one of our experts contact you!
If you wait until tomorrow, your place could already have been taken.
If however you act immediately, your operators will thank you for not having chosen a 3D printer for Argon…
And your hamsters too.
