3D printers with laser engraving

Laser engraving

— the ability to use a printer for laser engraving — burning an image on a specific surface using a laser beam.

This technology allows you to get a relief image, which, moreover, may differ in colour from the base material. And materials of small thickness can also be cut along a given shape using a laser; such cutting is characterized by fairly high accuracy (although it depends on how the material being processed behaves when heated). The power of laser engraving in modern 3D printers is usually low; however, it is quite suitable for wood, leather, plastic, etc., although metal and other heat-resistant surfaces may be difficult.

Separately it should be noted that the presence of this feature is typical mainly for units operating using FDM/FFF technology (see “Printing Technology”); at the same time, both the built-in laser in the standard print head and a separate module installed instead of the extruder can be responsible for engraving. But printers with the laser principle of operation of SLA usually do not support laser engraving — in particular, due to the fact that fundamentally different laser power is needed for 3D printing and image application.