You know, there are some pretty neat choices
for specialty materials these days – 3DPrima’s PrimaSelect WOOD is one of them, selling for
70€ per kilogram. Based on PLA, but filled with around 35% wood
particles, it doesn’t require any specialty hardware to use and makes for prints that
have a texture much like MDF wood. It’s a bit softer and creamier than the
real thing, but it would fit right in with a woodworking project. As it is filled with natural particles, a
0.4mm or larger nozzle is recommended, with that nozzle size I did have single jam in
the middle of a print, which is acceptable for a wood filament. Interestingly, the molten filament and the
residue on the nozzle are incredibly sticky, even when almost cooled down, so I’m thinking
that might actually be the Lignin of the wood melting.
It’s also interesting to note that the PrimaSelect
WOOD filament consistently stuck to the printbed perfectly well, with no trace of warping,
even when printed at the PLA defaults of 210°C and a 55° heated bed. A cold bed would probably work just the same. When printing, it does smell like wood dust,
and as is typical for particle filaments, performs perfectly on overhangs, but needs
quite extreme settings for bridges to come out right. Both the 3DBenchy and the fine details test
showed quite a high tendency of stringing. On the mechanical side, I did manage to break
the two layer adhesion specimen before even getting them in the test jigs, but even reprinted
versions done with higher print temperatures didn’t really improve things. The layer strength tests did show a bit of
robustness, but still only managed to nudge PrimaSelect WOOD to total score of 6,5kg,
meaning you should really stick to using it for super-light-duty and decorative parts. Temperature stability was surprisingly low,
with the part practically deforming on its own under boiling water. So even though the PrimaSelect WOOD is a material
that isn’t suitable for load-bearing components, it still brings a very unique look and feel
to the table.