In this study, the fatigue strength of 316 L stainless steel manufactured by selective laser melting (SLM) is evaluated. The effect of powder layer thickness and postmachining is investigated. Specimens were produced with 30 and 50 µm layer thickness and tested under high cycle fatigue in as-printed and postmachined conditions. Examination of the specimens reveals that in the as-printed condition, fatigue strength suffers from high roughness and surface tensile residual stresses as well as defects such as pores and lack of fusion voids. After machining, the fatigue strength was improved due to lower surface roughness, presence of compressive residual stresses, and removal of surface porosity. The results show that increasing the layer thickness (within the range tested) has a minor negative impact on fatigue strength; however, it has a major positive impact on the productivity of the SLM process. In addition, it is clear that the impact of postmachining on fatigue is far greater than that of the layer thickness. © 2020, The Author(s).