Everything You Need to Know About PLA Wood
The main reason people 3D print with PLA wood is because it looks different from other wood filaments. The finish on models made with PLA wood filaments appears a lot like the natural, rough finish of real wood. With 3D printing, you can create intricate designs and patterns that would be difficult or impossible to make with standard woodworking methods. Additionally, PLA wood filaments are much smoother and less likely to bend or shrink than other hybrid 3D printing filaments made of metal or carbon fiber.
Understanding Wood-PLA Composite Materials
Wood PLA filament is the best of both science and nature. This plastic-like substance is made mostly of PLA (polylactic acid) and tiny wood fibers or bits. People like PLA thermoplastic because it is popular and biodegradable. It comes from green sources like sugarcane or corn flour. Adding wood particles, which can range from sawdust to finer wood powders, creates a fabric that is easy to print with PLA, and it has the smell and look of wood.
The amount of wood in the thread can be different, but it's usually between 20% and 40%. With this mix, printed items have the look and feel of wood, right down to the natural tones and grain patterns that you see in real wood. Plus, they often have a light, pleasant, woodsy smell that makes them even more appealing.
Printing Settings for PLA Wood Filament
1. Finding the Best Temperature Range for the Extruder
When working with wood materials, the temperature of the extruder is very important. It's like getting the right temperature for cooking: if it's too hot, it could burn, and if it's too cool, it won't cook right. Usually, wood filament works well at temperatures between 175°C and 220°C, which is about the same as regular PLA. Depending on the type of wood and fiber used, this may not always be the case. Some brands even say to turn the heat up to 240°C for darker results. The important thing is to start with the range that the maker suggests and then make changes to it based on your printing needs and the look and feel you want your print to have.
2. Bed Temperature
When it comes to the warmth of the bed, it's essential to consider the appropriate base. A warm bed isn't always necessary for wood filament, but it can make the print better and help the filament stick to the bed better. For warming beds, a temperature range of 50°C to 70°C works well most of the time. This range improves the first few layers of your print stick and lessens warping, giving your work a smooth, even base.
3. Print Speed and Flow Rate Settings for the Best Results
Changing the print speed and flow rate of the wood filament is like planning a dance. For ease and accuracy, you need to time every move. A print speed of 40 to 60 mm/s is usually recommended. For more complex patterns, going slower can help get better detail and a texture that looks more like wood. You may need to change this speed, though, based on what your printer can do and how complicated the model that you're printing is.
Similarly, it may be necessary to slightly increase the flow rate, also known as the extrusion factor, from its default setting. For wood filaments, some users say that setting the flow rate to between 100% and 110% works well. This change makes sure that enough material is extruded since the wood bits in the filament can change how the material extrudes.
Top-Rated Wood PLA Filaments 2024
1. FormFutura
For those in the Netherlands, FormFutura makes a line of wood fibers called EasyWood. The company that makes it says it won't twist and comes in seven different colours. Even though there are cheaper options on this list, the wide range of colors makes this plastic a very appealing choice for people who are new to 3D printing wood.
Price: € 32.99
2. Protopasta
Protopasta is a reputable and widely recognized company that produces high-quality fibers. It has been around since 2013 and makes products that are biodegradable, reusable, and recyclable.
Their high-quality matte fiber wood HTPLA has a lifelike wood look and sticks well to the bed. Little bits of gold and black make these colors look even more like natural wood. People who have used this filament say they are happy with the results and don't have to make many changes to their slicing settings. The only bad thing they said was that it stringed more than normal PLA. This filament comes in different types of wood, such as olive, walnut, mahogany, and more.
Price: $6
3. Fiberlogy
Fiberlogy, another company that makes 3D printing filaments, produces FiberWood. FiberWood comes in five colors, some of which look more "natural" than others. Additionally, FiberWood is a great wood PLA fabric that Fiberlogy suggests for printing toys, containers, and other shapes that you might want to build that look like wood.
The company that makes the filament says that it has a diameter error of only ±0.02 mm. This is very good news, and it means that you shouldn't have any problems with heat end clogs when printing FiberWood. It's also important to note that Fiberlogy's printing instructions say you might need to use a bed temperature a little higher than usual PLA (70 °C). Aside from that, fiberglass should be pretty easy to make.
Price: $33
4. Polymaker
Polymaker, a popular 3D printer filament maker, produces PolyWood, a line of wood PLA filament. PlasticWood comes in two different sizes, 1.75 mm and 2.85 mm, but it only comes in one color: a light wood that looks incredibly real.
Polywood isn't normally on this list because it doesn't contain wood fibers. Instead, a special "foaming" process added wood's qualities to PLA plastic. Because of this way of making things, their wood filament is about 35–40% less dense than standard PLA filament. It looks and feels like wood.
According to the many reviews found online, people seem to like how PolyWood prints turn out in terms of texture and surface appearance. However, it's important to know that this thread costs about $50 per kilogram, which is quite expensive.
Price: $29.99
5. eSun
Another well-known 3D printing brand is eSun. They have a variety of printing materials for different applications. Some of the most popular fibers are wood PLA, PCL, ABS, and PETG.
This filament, like Polymaker's, uses a similar "active foaming technology" to make PLA less dense and give it a wood-like texture without actually having wood in it. Still, eSun says the fiber has a high success rate and a nice surface finish, which makes it possible to produce accurate and beautiful things.
This filament's low price makes it great for trying out beautiful wood-like textures for art projects, toys, vases, and other things. eSun also says that the filament doesn't warp much and has a tight diameter limit, which makes sure that it feels evenly and prints are stable. On the other hand, the thread only comes in a natural wood color.
Price: $29
Having looked at PLA wood, it’s also important to have a look at the best 3D printing software. There are many available that you can use to prepare designs for 3D printing, and a good example is SelfCAD. It is an easy-to-use 3D modeling software that you can use not only to create 3D models but also to edit meshes and slice designs. It comes with interesting 3D modeling tools like freehand drawing and sketching that you can use to create designs from scratch.
There are also easy-to-use selection modes as well as various modification tools to help you modify your designs based on your requirements. Its image-to-3D feature makes it easier to turn photos to 3D models. You can also import STL files and modify them based on your needs, as shown in the video below.
The software also comes with an in-built online slicer that one can use to prepare designs for 3D printing. The video below shows how to slice STL files and generate the Gcode to send to the 3D printer.
Sculpt Your Ideas with Versatile PLA Wood
Making hybrid things out of different materials is one of the most exciting new areas of 3D printing. When you mix wood thread with metals, ceramics, or even different kinds of plastic, you can get interesting results. A designer might print a vase in wood filament and then add PLA filament for artistic purposes. This would make a piece that contrasts the warmth of wood with the coolness of PLA. If you want to make something useful, you can mix wood filament with stronger materials for parts that need to hold up under stress while keeping the look of wood in places that don't. The only things that stop you from making something are your ideas and your willingness to try out different combinations of materials.
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