How To 3D Print With Wood

Nowadays, it becomes possible to 3D print with a lot of different materials. Researchers are one such group of people whose work is to keep on discovering more and more possibilities and we all know it very well.

However, one of the groups of such researchers has recently attained admirable success in the concept of 3D printing with wood material. The base of them is present at Columbia University. The best example of 3D printing’s innovation is the use of wood.

If we look at it for the first time, it seems irreconcilable with the basic process. When it is heated it melts into a pliable material. Also, it degenerates into a straight burn. Moreover, like other 3D materials like plastics reliable in their structural strength, it also lacks a homogeneous structure.

The enthusiasts of 3D printing look for new potential in wood as a natural, unique material. Particularly if we talk at the sector finds more ways to become eco-friendly.

Why You Should 3D Print With Wood

One of the greatest materials for your 3D printing projects is wood. When we create an object by using this skill it projects an old-school craft look without you needing to learn a whole new skill. To both of your objects and the waste that comes from making them, it adds a great and beautiful natural touch.

Variety

There are chances probably a way to 3D print it whenever you can name a wood. Most of the wooden 3D printing filaments are mixed with PLA and their stability remains the same. Moreover, for the filament makers, this makes it easy to add pieces of whatever wood they want without having to go through a different process for each.

There is also an extensive diversity of wood-based 3D printing materials out there. Everything is available in some form to 3D print from decorative ebony and olive to more utilitarian birch, cedar, and pine, to exotic bamboo and coconut wood.

Customizable Finishing

The 3D printing with wood away from the variety of the filaments themselves also allows for as much end customization as actual woodwork and model. The flexible characteristics of wood are reserved by your 3D printed object.

It also allows suitable for sanding down and painting whatever colors you want not to like full-plastic products. To preserve its natural finish, we have to add a sealant or leave as-is for a rustic touch. You can always make post-production changes that the surfaces of PLA and ABS, for example, don’t allow and the choices are as infinite as your imagination.

Bio-Friendly

The wood 3D printing filaments are composed at least partially of a natural material and several of them are recyclable or biodegradable. To your 3D printing, this is a great way to add a more environmental-conscious angle.

Moreover, it also avoids each year adding to the growing heap of non-recyclable plastic waste that comes from the industry. Everything you get from them is recyclable because brands of wooden 3D printing filament are even coiled onto wooden spools instead of the typical plastic packaging.

For each type of wooden filament you acquire, you must have to read the directions. Some of them can recycle without any processing. Some of them before they can be broken down require soaking in water or other primary steps. Therefore make sure you know before you dispose of it, what your specific wooden filament requires.

Longevity Of Finished Product

The PLA itself as a 3D-printed object can last up to fifteen years. However, it can be extended up to several decades when the wood fiber is mixed into it. By the way, adding sealant and other post-processing classics to complete wooden objects, can also help along even further. 

Types Of Wood 3D Printing Filaments

The inception of 3D printing with wood occurred in 2012. By mixing pieces of sawdust into the ordinary plastic filament PLA, the first wood filaments were prepared. The one which is produced by subpar finishes is looked much more like cardboard than actual wood grain.

After this, the producers of filament have become successful in bringing real wood qualities to prints instead of its byproducts, by mixing fibers from pieces of the wood itself. The ways to make wood particles into filaments are the two. One of them is that has been around since the sawdust days and consumes the same process. The other is that developing is a unique process all of its own.

Winding Wood Particles With Natural Binders

The year in various companies has announced a new way of producing 3D wood filaments that disregards PLA completely is 2021. A natural material obtains from trees and used for binding purposes is lignin is used by them.

Also, they used wood waste material for a plastic-free printing experience for an all-natural look that can be completely plain or printed with grain lines for an all-natural look. To save forestation, this process is being tested by several furniture companies right now.

In the next few years, keep an eye out for wood and lignin filaments to be available in the general market for your own home 3D printing use.

Stringy Printing

         The pieces of wood fiber that are mixed with PLA are naturally lengthy and stringy. This can make areas of printing with filaments of material hanging into what is thought to be empty areas of your design.

During your printing process with wood to prevent this, there is not much you can do. The strings of the wood are much lighter and weaker than the lines of your printing. This also does not adhere to your object very tightly.

Brittle Filament

The process of blending wood with PLA, while wood is a strong building material on its own. This resulted because its plastic majority has the unsuccessful side effect of making the whole filament take on the brittle properties.

In the designs in which the heavy layers to be held up by lower ones are required, wood filament should not be used in such designs. The guidelines on how to design and avoid cave-ins for PLA and if you follow them then your wood filament objects will also stay unbroken.