Help with Printing with Laywood

Hi, I'm looking for some advice.

I've been printing exclusively with ABS for a few years and I am happy with my prints.

Prusa
0.35mm J head
Marlin-Slic3r-Pronterface

I just received my order of Laywood, and I can not seem to print with it. The material extrudes into free air, and I can print one layer before the print fails. It seems like the nozzle clogs. I can not find much on line, but I was wondering if my J head is too small for Laywood at 0.35mm ?

Any advice is appreciated.

Regards

I've talked to a few other people using Laywood, and they have pretty much all said that 0.35 mm is just a little too small, though they could stave off clogs for a while if they turned the temp up to 220 or so. I think they've all switched over to 0.5 nozzles when they're printing with it.

^^^ Agreed!
I used a 0.4mm J-Head - fine and dandy for a while but eventually I got some clogging and the print had to stop. Currently waiting for delivery of a 0.5mm nozzle to see if this is any better - I suspect/hope that it will be.
Alan

Thank you all for the confirmation, I will try to set up another printer with a 0.5mm and see how it works.


Regards

I've given my first batch of Laywood a go through my Budaschnozzle 1.1 w/ .5mm nozzle and have had "relatively" good success. There are a few things I have noticed which can complicate printing:

1. Filament diameter (in my batch) is a little larger than 3mm. I think this has to do with the rough nature of the filament. I had to bore out my PTFE sleeve inside the printhead to accept the filament.
2. The wood fibers have a tendency to insulate the PLA. This means that if you were printing at 185-190C you should try 205-210C.
3. The wood also seems to compress within the melting zone of the hotend. I say this because there is a noticeable delay between feeding in the filament and when subsequent material is extruded. For example: when manually feeding PLA (via Repetier @ 100mm/min) there is an imperceptable delay between feeding filament in and when PLA is extruded. With Laywood, there is a 3-4 second delay between feeding filament in and when material is extruded.
4. The same compression becomes an issue during retraction and moves. Once filament has been retracted (anywhere from 2mm to 10mm) material will continue to extrude for several seconds. This can result in some "slop" on the outside of your print during long moves.
5. The insulating properties of the wood also becomes an issue after extrusion as it takes MUCH longer for your print to cool down. The print of Sappho's Head took about 10-15 min to cool to the point of not being flexible and at some of the larger overhangs I had to artificially cool the print (turn an air duster can upside down) to prevent severe drooping. Bridges have a tendency to either droop more due to this slower cooling or break due to the lower concentration of PLA in the filament.
6. Keep in mind that the slower you print, the darker the filament will come out. Printing at 40-60mm/sec produced a layer similar in color to the original print while printing at 10-20mm/sec produced a much darker hue.

Keep in mind that I am not complaining, far from it, I think this stuff is one of the best innovations in FDM printing in a long time. We are very excited about the possibilities! It just has some "unique" properties which need sorting out before you can get useful prints from Laywood filament.

As a follow up,

I set up one the printers with a 0.5mm J Head, and recalibrate it for PLA settings. Once tuned, I fed in the laywood, and instantly was printing in wood.

Having only printed with a Heatbed, and ABS on glass; I turned off the heat bed, and put down a few strips of (green) painters tape. The first print turned out fantastic. I am pleased with the results, and will add this filament to my colour pallet.


Regards