Printable View
Don't get me wrong. I am all for 3D printing, and I think what it can do is quite amazing. However, is it really practical to own a 3D printer that prints in plastic. Are there really enough uses for it? Is it worth spending $2,000 to have a printer that can make plastic objects about the size of a Baseball? It just seems to me that there is too much excitement over printers that can make toys, and that's about it.
It's a fine point. The technology is useful in situations where an injection molding would be prohibitively expensive.
Consider an entrepreneur who wants to design a prototype - or 20. Each injection molding would cost tens of thousands of dollars. But with a 3D printer, you can make as many as you want.
Or consider a factory that will get shut down if a single part breaks during production. With a 3D printer handy, they can print out a part and get up and running within minutes instead of hours (or days).
Jay Leno prints parts for really old cars where there is literally no replacement part available anywhere.
But beyond these needs, I agree. It's not that useful. Certainly not the panacea that nanoassembly could be.
When I built my first printer I learned so much about steppers, construction, arduino, etc. It was awesome. What it has done for me since then is changed my thinking process about what is and isn't possible. I have much fewer limits when I think about designing and putting something together. I try all kinds of things. Now, I also have a small CNC (Shapeoko II) that I use in conjunction with my printer. I'm working on prototyping some scientific instrumentation now. Who knows where this will lead me? In my mind 3d printers are a really easy way to get into the Maker movement, explore possibilities and remove limitations. I'm almost 50 and it has had this impact. For young people this can be a profound effect that will set the stage for an amazing future. Yes! We need these in homes!
When you start brainstorming seriously about it, you will start to see many more applications. On the other hand, also the limitations become more visible of course. I would recommend Chris Anderson's book Makers, about the maker movement and the next industrial revolution - the democratization of production. I think the main benefit of 3d printing lies in personalization - not creating a large volume of duplicate products, but small amounts of unique individualized items.
Whether it's worth investing money into getting one for yourself - that's entirely up to you and your own circumstances. In most cases nowadays it's still advisable to rely on the services like Shapeways.