Now that anyone can go online and get a fairly decent 3D printer for around $200, they’ve officially fallen out of the “Elite Hacker” arsenal and are now normal, if perhaps highly specialized, tools.

There’s an old saying, that in theory there’s no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is. That sentiment could easily be applied to refitting a 3D printer to hold a laser.

Is there such thing as an affordable laser printer? Well sure, even ones that print in color. What about a 3D scanner? Those tend to run several hundred dollars, and can easily creep into four-digit ...