Asa filament;
I’ve looked for a comparison to ABS as far as smell, but haven’t found anything? From what I can gather it’s very similar (better for outdoor parts) but no mention if it smells like abs does or not?
Anyone used it that can offer an opinion? Only reason I’d buy it is if it does smell less, I’m not making parts for outdoors (uv) environments.
No personal experience with ASA but I believe the styrene in ABS is what causes the smell so ASA shouldn’t be any different.
As a bonus, Tom’s review of ASA:
@Adam_Steinmark it’s more complicated than that. It is the butadiene is what makes worst of the ABS smell. Butadiene is an artificial rubber, giving ABS the burning rubber part of the smell. If you don’t believe me, melt some HIPS, which is a styrene-based polymer, and note it doesn’t stink anything like ABS. It does still stink a bit though, it’s less offensive in my opinion.
@jerryflyguy ASA is less offensive in my opinion but it might be subjective. I would consider MABS, which is methacrylated ABS. 3DXTech sells it as ABScent. Form Futura sells something similar. I don’t know who else offers it.
I think @Thomas_Sanladerer once had a review where he said an ABS plastic did not smell. Sometime in the last six months, I think.
I’ve had ABS filament’s smells from nearly odorless to unbearable, depending on the brand and temperatures.
Rigid.ink’s ASA still has that characteristic ABS smell, it’s on the lower end of the spectrum compared to what ABS does, but it’s not odorless and I’d recommend having good ventilation or an enclosed chamber either way.
optional parts.
Thanks everyone!! I’m intending on enclosing my machine and adding a hepa & charcoal filter eventually but that’s down the road. No point in spending the extra money on ASA if it’s no better than ABS 
I think at least a few of us would agree that you should not print ABS around, small birds, fish, babies and small animals without a good ventilation system in place. I think it killed some people’s fish before.
@NathanielStenzel I’d assume the same goes for ASA then too?
It’s the styrene that’s of the most concern, so probably yes.
@jerryflyguy I would not know. I never used it. I do not know its chemical composition. PLA is made from more natural stuff and is assumed to be safe though.
ABS can give me headaches but ventilation causes my prints to fail, so I tend to either leave the room or have a lesser amount of ventilation.
Guess I will wait until I get the filtration components onto my printer. No fish, but do have kids so no point in doing something questionable. Thanks everyone for your input!
I use ASA from @Fillamentum as it produces less dangerous emissions than ABS and it is also better for exterior use thanks to UV resistance (PDF datasheet: http://www.dropbox.com/s/s579e4zxqkbfvgn/datasheet_asa_extrafill.pdf?dl=0).
http://www.dropbox.com/s/s579e4zxqkbfvgn/datasheet_asa_extrafill.pdf?d
@Tomas_Vit Where did you get the idea ASA is less dangerous than ABS?
@Jeff_DeMaagd Good point. I have picked up a phone and called well known material engineer after your question. ABS and ASA has a quite similar base so even if ASA has some better performance characteristic (and better UV resistancy) and for me is far less stinking, emissions during printing are possibly very comparable between those two (ABS and ASA). Good to know.
OK, I was curious if you knew anything that was new to me. The smell is from butadiene (the B in ABS) and I don’t remember anything specific about that. Last I understood, the styrene is the point of most concern, and that’s in both plastics.