Wood filament printing tips

Hout filament print tips

Wood filament is often a combination of PLA and wood particles. Often around 30% of wood particles are processed in the filament. An exception to this is, for example, Polywood from polymaker. This woody filament is made without wood. In this article I mainly focus on filament that does contain wood, such as Easywood from Formfutura. This contains up to 40% of wood particles. This makes it very similar to real wood. Both in appearance, how it feels and the weight.

In contrast to other composite filaments such as carbon and metal, the wood particles are not very abrasive through the nozzle. Because the wood particles are quite soft.

Advantages

✔ Highly realistic woody look & feel..

✔ Does not require expensive wear-resistant nozzles.

✔ Aromatic and pleasant smelling.

Cons

✘ Sensitive to stringing.

✘ Small nozzles can clog over time.

✘ A larger nozzle size may be required.

Hardware requirements.

Before you order Wood filament. It is advisable to check whether your 3D printer has the correct hardware. So that you can also achieve optimum print quality with wood filament.

Bed

Heated bed is optional.

Temperature: 45-60 °C

Closed printer is not necessary.

Construction area

PEI sheet
printafix

painters tape

extruder

Temperature: 190-220 °C.
No special hotend needed.

cooling

Fan is necessary.

Pro Tips.

Post-processing is often very easy. Because you can just sand the printed object. This will give you a nice smooth result.

With wood filament you can print on a higher layer thickness. Because the lines between the layers will be less noticeable.

Start with Wood filament 3D printing.
Frequently used applications.
Decorations in the house.
Toys.
Examples.
Available brands.

Avoid problems when printing.

With these tips you can reduce the most common problems when printing with wood filament.

Use a larger nozzle size.

3D printing with the standard nozzle size of 0.4mm can be a challenge. The wood particles tend to form lumps in the nozzle. This can cause inconsistent filament flow or blockage. The minimum nozzle size we recommend is 0.5mm. The chance of blockage is much smaller in this case. It is also advisable to clean the nozzle regularly. This can be done, for example, with the help of cleaning filament.

Overview different filaments