Making 3D Printed "Honeycomb" Coasters with Wood PLA

Today we're going to design this eye-catching coaster set in Fusion 360, and 3D print it with wood PLA!

STL file: https://morleykert.com/shop/honeycomb-coasters-and-stand-stl-file

Wood PLA is made from wood fibers mixed with PLA (a common plastic used in 3D printing), and allows you to create complex shapes that have a "wooden" texture and feel, and you can use it to create objects that you wouldn't be able to create with traditional woodworking techniques!

I printed the coasters on my Prusa i3 mk3s, and used the colorfabb woodfill preset filament profile in PrusaSlic3r. This uses an extruder temperature of 200°C, and a bed temperature of 60°C. I used the 0.15mm QUALITY layer height preset, and got really high quality results with my stock 0.4mm nozzle (no clogging!!).

The first five coasters printed with no problems, but then I started having problems with bed adhesion. I suspect that the wood PLA dirties the PEI bed faster than traditional PLA, and I think my bed is overdue for an acetone cleaning. I don't have any acetone on hand, but printing in a fresh area of the bed and cleaning the bed with dish soap improved the adhesion enough to print the sixth coaster and the stand.

The wood PLA gives these coasters a really nice, natural color tone, and they feel a lot more premium than if they were printed with standard PLA. However, they don’t feel quite like real wood, and I think a major reason for that is all of the straight edges and sharp corners in the design. They actually remind of the high quality plastic you find in Playmobil furniture, but with a bit of extra texture from the 3D printed layers.

I’m really excited to experiment more with wood PLA. I think a more organic shape would increase the "woodiness" of the final object.
I’m very happy with this coaster design, and apart from making your drink look extra fancy, they tessellate and are really fun to play with!

Thanks for watching!

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STUFF I USED IN THIS PROJECT (affiliate links):
Hatchbox Wood PLA: https://amzn.to/2RvKm0G
Prusa i3 MK3S 3D Printer Kit: https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/51-original-prusa-i3-mk3s
Dial Calipers: https://amzn.to/3hRfH92
Rotary tool accessory kit (mini sanding drums): https://amzn.to/2HaBGKZ

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Camera - Panasonic Lumix G85: https://amzn.to/2WJhYdk
On-Camera Microphone - Rode Videomicro: https://amzn.to/2WFGU5I
Remote Microphone - Rode Wireless Go: https://amzn.to/3g3MzdM

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