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Hands On With MakerBot's 3D-Printed Wood

Posted by Soulskill on from the how-much-wood-would-a-wood-printer-print dept.

angry tapir writes: 3D printing has lost a bit of its novelty value, but new printing materials that MakerBot plans to release will soon make it a lot more interesting again. MakerBot is one of the best-known makers of desktop 3D printers, and at CES this week it announced that late this year its products will be able to print objects using composite materials that combine plastic with wood, metal or stone.

2 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. The real questiion by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Will it have properties of the material. If I printed a 3d pan. Will it melt? Will it have magnetic qualities? Will it be strong enough to do the tasks. Or will it just look like wood, stone and metal but suffer from the same drawbacks that plastic has.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. Re:Laywood by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not necessarily. The motives are more about appearance and cost than any sort of heroic material properties; but using 'wood flour' as a filler to modify the appearance (and cheaply bulk out) polymers is old and common. Given that the stuff is basically just sawdust with quality control it isn't terribly pricey and it has proven adequate to the job over decades of use.

    Not very glamorous; and if Makerbot is selling this sort of filament as a 'premium' option compared to ordinary dyed stuff they are probably playing you for a sucker; but a perfectly sensible adoption of an established practice.