Strap a Laser Welder Onto a Motion System for 3D Printing Metal

Laser welding is getting a lot of hype right now as the tech starts to trickle down into the prosumer market. The primary advantages, compared to something like MIG welding, are precision and reduced heat. Those just happen to be attributes you’d want in a metal 3D printer, so Cranktown City strapped his Sky Fire WeldStar laser welding machine to a 3D printer motion system to see what would happen.

Putting a welder on a 3D printer isn’t a new concept. But conventional welding processes produce an absurd amount of heat that tends to ruin things. The heat alone from a basic MIG welder can be enough to make ¼” steel plate look like a Pringle. Laser welders still make the material hot, but the heat is much more focused and controllable.

Now that laser welders are somewhat affordable (this particular model has a pre-order price of $6,300), it is feasible to try 3D printing with one — at least if you’re an entertaining YouTuber that is able to get the machine for free.

Cranktown City’s actual build was pretty straightforward. He used the motion system components from a wacky old 3D printer meant for fabricating shoe insoles. He then built a new metal frame, using the laser welder to join the parts. To suit modern sensibilities, that is a CoreXY design and it is controlled by LinuxCNC.

The question is if this worked, because DIY metal 3D printers are notoriously bad.

The answer is: kinda! There are a lot of variables here and it took a bunch of testing to get there, but Cranktown City was able to eventually produce a halfway decent result. It doesn’t compare to a commercial SLS metal 3D printer, but the quality is better than I’ve seen from any other deposition-style DIY build.

Personally, I think this has enough promise to be worth further exploration. With more tuning of the parameters, like laser power, wire feed speed, and layer height, along with provisions for shielding and cooling, I could see this potentially being suitable for making usable parts.