Integrated Buildings & Structures

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  • 1.  3D PRINTING WOOD STRUCTURES

    Posted 03-12-2018 01:08 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 03-12-2018 01:07 PM
    Has anyone experimented or documented some type of 3D Printing of small scale wood structural models, either solid or grid shells or grid net structures? Any suggestions of commercially available 3D printers that could do this type of wood printed structures?

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    Pedro Munoz Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE
    Principal
    PRM Engineering, LLC
    Methuen MA
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  • 2.  RE: 3D PRINTING WOOD STRUCTURES

    Posted 03-13-2018 10:10 AM
    If you are looking for something to help build a small wooden model, I think you should consider CNC machines rather than 3D printers. More information here. If you look up CNC machines online you will see there are many options at a wide range of prices. I do not believe there is any real "3D Printer" that uses wood.

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    Adam Hanks P.E., M.ASCE
    AECOM
    Roanoke VA
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  • 3.  RE: 3D PRINTING WOOD STRUCTURES

    Posted 03-14-2018 09:56 AM
    There are a few types of "wood" 3D printer material, but keep in mind that it's still a plastic composite that's doing all the structural work. Because of the high heat involved with the printing process, you can actually burn the wood during the printing process; it won't combust, but it will darken the material substantially and smell like burning wood for a while. There are a few printer add-on programs that actually fluctuate the nozzle temperature to generate a faux wood grain on the finished product, but I'm not sure if they work with commercial grade printers.

    Getting back to the original topic, I've had some trouble printing with the wood composite in my personal printer. A commercial grade printer might fair better, but it's tough to say given the atypical properties of wood composite versus standard printing plastics. I agree with the previous post that you may want to consider a CNC machine depending on the types of models you're trying to make.


    ------Original Message------

    If you are looking for something to help build a small wooden model, I think you should consider CNC machines rather than 3D printers. More information here. If you look up CNC machines online you will see there are many options at a wide range of prices. I do not believe there is any real "3D Printer" that uses wood.

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    Adam Hanks P.E., M.ASCE
    AECOM
    Roanoke VA
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  • 4.  RE: 3D PRINTING WOOD STRUCTURES

    Posted 03-14-2018 09:57 AM
    ​It would stand to reason that to 3D print with wood you'd need to reduce the timber to individual fibers and then reassemble the fibers into the printed shape. This would created a material analogous to MDF which I'm not aware of any MDF products with structural applications. MDF is also created under high pressure to reach the density of the fibers in the mat. All of the structural composites I'm aware of maintain the structure of the wood fiber (OSB, plywood, LVL, glulam, etc.) and still use high pressure to reform the processed wood into the final composite material.

    With an adhesive / resin binder that could solve the pressure issue you could theoretically print the wood fibers into some type of torsion panel configuration similar to a hollow core door and end up with a 3D printed component with structural properties. I could see this being used in a wall panel setup or maybe even some type of roof truss / framing member but I think there would be performance issues using it in a floor (actual and/or perceived deflection creating a noticeable bounce under foot; this is already a common performance issue with I-joists) so I question the practicality of a fully 3D printed wood structure.

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    Shaun Merrill A.M.ASCE
    Design Engineer
    Wyoming MI
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  • 5.  RE: 3D PRINTING WOOD STRUCTURES

    Posted 03-14-2018 02:21 PM
    Edited by Roberto Anton 03-14-2018 04:03 PM
    As some people said above, CNC cutting machines are more recommended for wood models. I have worked with wood 3D printed structures. In our company we use ANET printers for Fused-Deposition (FD) printing, but most commercial ones are also good as Prusa, Ultimaker or Zmorph.

    In our experience, the extruding component (the HotEnd) is as important as the 3D printer. I would also recommend to print in slow speed and print with supports for grid shells and grid net structures. For small scale structural models, most printers are not capable of print the entire structure in one piece, so printing the model divided in pieces would be a suggestion.

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    Roberto Anton Ing., A.M.ASCE
    Director
    Guayaquil
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