There are several colored filaments that give the impression of wood, but in reality, they usually just look and feel like plastic because they don’t actually contain any wood particles. Depending on the filament producer, wood filaments nowadays typically contain a combination of 70% PLA and 30% hardwood fibers. We promise you will be amazed by how realistic the prints feel, even if the wood content is very low. Because they are the most popular, wood-infused PLA filaments for 3D printing will be the focus of this essay.
1. Amolene Wood Filament
Key Features:
- Material contains 30% real wood fiber
- Unparalleled wood grain and texture
- High-speed printing support
- No bubble, No jamming, No warping
The recycled wood filaments used to make AMOLEN 3D printers are compatible with the vast majority of consumer-grade FDM 3D printers on the market today. Combining PLA with reclaimed wood particles makes it an eco-friendly product. Aside from a few key differences, it prints identically to standard PLA filament. The surface wood color and texture are very stunning. When the extrusion temperature is between 190 and 220°C, it can function with even a modest heat bed.
A diameter variation of no more than 30 microns or slightly less is possible due to its precise dimensions. If you want your 3D printing to be consistently good, this is the way to go.
Designed with professional 3D printer users in mind, it meets or exceeds all quality and performance standards with its wood filament and extremely tight tolerances. Get this wood filament if you care about your 3D printer running smoothly and without issues. It produces first-rate outcomes with no bubbles, jams, or warping and excellent shaping.
The careful packing ensures that it melts easily and feeds continuously. You can use this wood filament without worrying that it will jam the extruder or nozzle. Designers, engineers, and anyone else interested in 3D printing that demands the best will often consider this wood filament to be their first pick for this reason. Actually, you’d have a hard time finding a more suitable filament than this one. Once the hot end is heated to the correct temperature, it flows effortlessly out of the nozzle.
The filament diameter is the industry standard 1 75 mm, and it comes on 1.0 kg spools. You may get it in walnut and dark wood finishes. The price is quite affordable.
2. Sunlu Wood Filament
Key Features:
- printing temp: 205?-225?
- 75mm with a precision of +/- 0.05mm
- no nozzle clogging
To achieve the desired wood grain pattern and color, SUNLU Wood Filament uses a carefully balanced blend of polymer and 20% recycled wood particles.
The clog-free filament is crucial in its development and production to ensure a steady and trouble-free 3D printing platform. Once it has cured for at least 24 hours, it is vacuum-packed in aluminum foil to prevent moisture damage and guarantee a high-quality print. One thing to keep in mind is that wood prints at a little different speed than other PLA fibers. How hot the filaments are when printed is a major factor here.
For a high-quality print, the folks at Sunlu use both mechanical winding and rigorous hand inspection. Because of this, you can be certain that your wood filaments will be neat and easy to feed into your 3D printer’s nozzle. If you are not completely happy with their 3D print filaments, the company offers a three-month money-back guarantee. You can get this printing material in spools weighing 1 kilogram, and the diameter of the wood filament is 175 millimeters. At a reasonable price, it comes in a light wood color with an oak-like feel.
Price: $26.99.
3. ISANMATE’s 3D Printer Filament
Key Features:
- Filament Diameter: 1.75mm
- Tolerance: +/-0.02mm
- Length Around: 340m
- Print Temp: 190-220 degrees
- Hot Bed Temp: 50?
- Print Speed: 40-80mm/s
This PLA, also known as ISANMATE’s Wood Filament comes with Dimensional Accuracy +/- 0.03 mm, 1.75 mm Filament, PLA, 1 KG Spool of Various Colourful Rainbow.
iSANMATE Wood Filament features a wood color and texture in addition to 80% PLA and 20% wood flour. It works wonderfully with 3D printers to make things that have that lovely wooden feel.
Superior high-layer-height bonding, durability, and non-toxicity characterize this premium 3D printer filament. Despite being incredibly user-friendly, it outperforms standard PLA filament in terms of strength. The diameter of the spool is 197 mm.
The company’s customer service is top-notch, and this 3D printer filament has a limited guarantee of one year. They aim to address all customer concerns promptly and usually respond within 24 hours.
Price: $18.99.
4. Polymaker
Key Features:
- Wood mimic PLA matte finish
- Weight: 600g
- Diameter: 1.75mm/2.85
- Print temperature: 190-210?C
- Print speed: 30-50mm/s
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 have any wood fibers. Instead, its special “foaming” process adds 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: $50 per kg.
5. Lay Wood Flex
Key Features:
- Composition: 65% PLA, 35% wood
- Diameter: 1.75 mm
- Price per kg: ?$100 (250-g spool at ?$25)
- Printing temperatures: 190-250 °C (hot end); heated bed not required
Lay Filaments stands apart from the crowd because of the extensive selection of high-quality filaments it offers for 3D printing. The first person to ever make a wood filament was Kai Parthy, a German inventor and creator of Lay Filaments. The LayWood-Flex is one of the wood filament varieties introduced by Lay Filaments since then.
The composition of LayWood-Flex includes a flexibilizer, a bonding polymer, and wood fibers amounting to 35% by weight. In terms of surface smoothness, texture, pliability, and odor, these substances aim to imitate real wood.
For all appearances and textures, LayWood-Flex is real wood. As a result, it’s great for making sandable and paintable components. It is possible to change colors because the temperature range at the hot end is so broad. The wood particles burn more quickly at higher temperatures, giving the material a darker look.
6. Protopasta
Key Features:
- Nozzle: 0.4 mm standard brass w/ sock
- Nozzle Temp: 205C
- Bed Temp: 60C
- Bed Type: Glass, PEI, BuildTak, or other
- Great for rigid, artistic prints with no special hardware required
Protopasta is a reputable and widely recognized company that makes high-quality fibers. This company 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 real 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
Having looked at the wood filament for 3D printing, it’s also important to have a look at the best 3D printing software that you can use to prepare your designs for 3D printing. There are many that are available but we recommend using SelfCAD. SelfCAD is an easy to use 3D design software that you can use to create both simple and complex designs with ease.
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. It has an image-to-3D feature that makes it easier to turn photos to 3D models. You can also import STL files and modify them based on your needs.
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.
Elevate Your 3D Printing: Choose the Perfect Wood Filament
Wood filaments are a type of composite filament that usually incorporates wood particles into a PLA (Polylactic Acid) basis. While exact percentages may vary by product and maker, the typical make-up of wood filament is 30% wood and 70% PLA. Most of the filament’s characteristics are associated with PLA since it is the major component.
When compared to standard plastic filaments, the distinctive visual quality of 3D-printed wood objects is the primary draw. The texture and appearance of 3D-printed models made from wood filaments are very similar to those of real wood. 3D printing allows for the creation of patterns and designs that would be highly challenging, if not impossible, to accomplish with conventional woodworking methods. Composite 3D printing filaments made of metal or carbon fiber are far more likely to distort and shrink than wood filaments, which are far less abrasive.