This is the process I go through to make Polymaker Polywood look like actual wood (or at least I had a good go at it)! It will assume you already have a 3D printed components made from Polymaker Polywood Filament. This is a PLA (polylactic acid) filament which exhibits the same density and appearance as a medium to softwood. Now, this material has a foaming agent inside of it which helps it achieve this and does not actually contain any wood fibres. This is done to prevent jams in your nozzle as actual wood particles can do this and burn up inside the extruder nozzle. However, if you have a filament with wood particles inside of it than this process will yield even better results. No matter what if you have this filament or filament with actual wood particles inside of it you will be able to get swell results using this technique. All the objects seen in this guide are made from Polymaker Polywood Filament.
This guide will go through the process of post-processing a wood filament component made from a 3D Printer. The contents of this guide can be seen below.
- Before and After
- What You Need
- Process
A great guide to refine and nail the settings for your 3D printer to print all types of filament really well, and particularly so they will undergo this process very effectively, check out the guide Improving 3D Printed Models. As always if you have any questions, queries or things to add please let us know your thoughts!
Before and After
Below is the before and after shots of the 3D printed material close up after it has undergone post-processing. Pretty good. Straight off the build platform this material feels like wood, something like MDF or tough balsa wood, but has tell-tale 3D printed layer lines throughout it.
What You Need
To go through this process you will need the following.
- Paintbrush
- Stain and Varnish Lacquer for Timber
- 280 and 400 Sandpaper. (The More the Better, Nothing worse than running out)
- 3D Printed Component made from Polymaker Polywood Filament or something similar
- Mask
Below is an image of everything you need to create your own 3D printed "Wood" masterpieces as home.
Process
Sand that wood like it has stolen something from your auntie (and you like your auntie like me). Starting with 280 and then 400 Sandpaper. You're going to try to emulate wood grain by scratching/carving some depth with the sandpaper. Also, you're going to sandpaper in a straight line so that the grain travels as it should. See below images for this happening.
Then you're going to clean up the workbench as start laying on a thick coat of Wood Stain and Lacquer. This is going to really pop if your filament has actual wood fibres inside of it. Finish each coat by spreading out the lacquer evenly. You're going to want at least two coats, preferably three. Sand between each layer lightly to garner a really great final finish. See below images of this happening.
Once you allow the first layer to dry (a day or two) come in with some light sanding then hit it with another layer of lacquer. You can see this happening in the images below. (Side Note - before putting on more layers directly below is likely the closest I got to getting a wood effect)
With that, we will leave it to dry for another day or two. Below you can see the result after a day of drying.
This layer is thick enough now to sand back in a single direction so as to emphasise a wood effect. See below for an image of the sandpaper and the end result from sanding.
Now we will lay on the final layer of wood lacquer. Should not be as thick as before but make sure to brush in the direction of your desired wood grain. See below for two images of this.
And once this is dry I will show you exactly the final result with some nice close-up images which you can see below. This stain has given the 3D print a very dark, black wood texture. I am keen to redo this experiment with lighter stains, only two layers and with a filament that contains real wood particles. Real wood particles will potentially cause the extruder nozzle to clog so this is important to watch out for. Nevertheless pretty psyched with how this has turned out, has a very nice feel in the hands and an extraordinary gloss finish.
