2 weekends ago at the Atlanta Maker Faire I picked up a sample of woodfil to start playing with and after 3 printers getting better and better I came to this (attached image). I slowed all the speeds on the Makerbot 2x down to 35 mm/s and bridging down to 45. This is the best loop on his head I got, I assume because I turned the bridging speed down. The recommended heat is 190-220c and used 205 for all the prints.
Can anyone give me advise on how to make it better?
Hey @lalap, there’s no image attached. Would you be able to share how your prints look so far? Cheers
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That’s weird…my computer showed the image uploaded, here is the image. Thank you @gabriela3d for the heads up.
Cheers, @lalap! Maybe @ might be able to help, or @ @loganj13?
Hey @lalap
I have used quite some WoodFill so far and I have a few suggestions.
-Thick layers.
Don’t go below 0.2mm layers. This seems to be the critical dimension for the wood particles. In my mind this lead to the uneven surfaces in your case. Also bridging abilities get better with thicker layers.
-Print fast.
If your frame can take it, go 50mm/s or above. The slower (and hotter) you go, the more likely it becomes, that your nozzle will spontaneously clog up, leading to immediate print failure and an afternoon of cleaning the extruder and hotend. I don’t have enough knowledge on plastics and their composites to tell you, why this really happens, but the filament starts to break down into a brown sludge at print temperature. So keeping it moving through the hotend quickly will increase your chances. Plus, the material actually seems to print smoother.
-Print cool.
This is somewhat related to the previous point, but dialing in the lower bound of the quoted band has helped me in the past with smoother walls and more successful prints (meaning they actually finished without clogging).
-Keep 'er dry.
Wood is natural stuff, duh, so it will always have some residual moisture content. So the dryer you store it, the better. This improves the surface finish and reduces the “fur” that the parts will inevitably receive, resulting from tiny steam “explosions” from the nozzle that take a very small amount of material with them.
Hope this helped,
Jonas
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Thank you! I’ll have to try all of this tomorrow! I’ll update you later.
