Laser Your Way to Smoother FDM 3D Prints

Per Hackaday, a maker going by [I changed a thing] is smoothing FDM 3D prints with lasers — two diode lasers mounted to the printer's X-axis melt the surface, producing results similar to vapor smoothing without the chemical exposure or explosion risk. Top surfaces proved much easier to smooth than walls, which need the laser to reach them at an angle, and the maker found the best approach depends on the object's size and geometry. Hackaday notes the work builds on earlier experiments using lasers to improve layer adhesion, and while laser smoothing isn't new, previous attempts used non-planar movements for a post-print pass.

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