Laser Your Way To Smoother FDM 3D Prints

A maker mounted two diode lasers to the X-axis of an FDM 3D printer to smooth print surfaces by melting layers, as an alternative to filling primer, Bondo, or acetone vapor smoothing. Top surfaces were easier to smooth since the laser has direct access, while smoothing side walls required oblique angles and multiple experimental approaches, with results depending heavily on object size and geometry. This builds on the same maker's earlier work using laser melting to improve layer adhesion, and follows a related but different project that used non-planar laser passes for post-print smoothing.

Source: https://hackaday.com/2026/08/29/laser-your-way-to-smoother-fdm-3d-prints. 8 Sync News only summarizes and links out; content copyright belongs to the authors and original sources.