Hatchbox Wood PLA
Pros/Cons-
Pros:
-Ridgid
-Several wood colors available
-Fairly easy to print with
-Can be stained
-Has some wood textures and sounds
Cons:
-Can only seem to find them for online ordering and from only 3rd party
-Wood filament is more corse and needs hardened hot end and extruder gears
-May need to address if you can print it based on your printer and do some research in the community
-More Brittle
-More expensive than other wood PLA filament
Review-
Going into this review, I honestly had no expectations. A friend had given me the opportunity to test TPU, Wood PLA and Carbon reinforced PETG and I was happy to try it out, but didn’t really know what to expect. Will it print nicely? Will I have adverse failures? Will it come out any different than normal PLA, but with a wood texture or color? Thankfully, it did not take long to find out.
As per usual, I start with a bit of research to see if there is anything that could cause issues or as a manufacturer recommendation to make sure I give it the best shot. The recommendation from several online sources including Bambu Labs is to make sure your printer is using a hardened steel hot end and a hardened extruder gear set. After a quick amazon order and about 30min of fiddling with installing the new parts and I was set to go! I slipped the wood PLA from Hatchbox in the AMS, told it that I was using generic wood PLA and clicked print.
I don’t know how much is the PLA and how much is the Bambu P1S I run most of prints on, but the prints came out very easily with no real issues to speak of. The finish is a matte brown and the texture is significantly more rough than your typical PLA. The material can be sanded and stained similarly to if you had a finished product was made out of wood. The infinity cube did make more wood-like noises when the cubes collide during folding and when you snap a piece off(my girlfriend likes to break the pieces off of the overhang test) the material is more brittle and makes noises similar to balsa wood.
Overall, the Hatchbox Wood PLA is really easy to use and if you need a wood finish or ability to stain, I would definitely recommend this material. You will definitely need to have the upgraded print nozzle and extruder gears due to the corse material, but overall an easy filament to work with.
Files Used:
Yet Another Fidget Infinity Cube v2
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