When I see epoxy I start to get suspicious about whether this product/process is as sustainable as claimed. Can I throw the whole thing in a compost bin? Or is this just a fancier plastic that will inevitably end up in our oceans?
Today in "GPT-3 ramblings or marketing spiel":<p>> "We are honoring the cellulose and lignin of the trees by rearticulating them into assets for present and future generations. By allowing millions of trees to remain in place in their forests, Forust is launching a highly evolved technology for the circular technosphere.”<p>hmmkay hmmkay, so you're making money off wood waste, that's cool...
Bio-epoxy my b**. We should stop using difficult or impossible to recycle materials, just for minor convenience or arguably aesthetic improvements, only when its the best option for something meaningful. I like binder jetting production method and the possibilities it will bring to us but, as happens with other production methods, we should use it with responsibility. Many of the examples show should be do it with normal wood.
Wooden crafts (turned bowls, cutting boards, small sculptures, etc.) typically rely for their uniqueness on features of natural woods that this 3D printing method can't replicate. That includes unusual grains and burls, live edge, and gluing up multiple species.<p>From the few examples in their store, it looks like their main esthetic tool is lots of piercing. I wonder if their minimum hole size is small enough to improve on hand-held sandalwood fans?
Hasn’t there been wood-based filament for many years already? Given that this just reads as a press release, it doesn’t says what’s new or original about their method.
This is effectively printing MDF, which is very different from what most people consider "wood". The novelty is in using binders with fusion jet printing instead of pre-bound FDM filament as has been available for some time. It's an interesting alternative to traditional powders used with fusion jet printing. Personally, I'd much rather CNC real wood to maintain the fiber structure of something like a propeller, but this is nice for aesthetic pieces.
It looks like MDF with extra steps. Also, eco-friendly like "PLA is biodegradable" (which is technically true but practically false)? With epoxy? I don't think so.