2014 - The Year of the 3D Metal Printers?

The way things are shaping up, it looks like 2014 may just be the year that we begin seeing affordable Metal based 3D Printers released for consumers. Why do I say this:

1) Several major metal 3D printer patents are set to expire in 2014
2) Michigan Technical University has recently created an affordable way to print with metal in 3D, and has just announce a deal with Sigma Labs inc. "Sigma Labs has a unique knowledge base in advanced sensing and process control for gas metal arc welding"

I expect to see several Metal printers coming out in late 2014, early 2015.

I think it will be closer to mid 2015 that we start seeing more Metal printers arrive on the market, but you could very well be correct.
Ed

A key innovation that will happen with metal 3D printing, coincides with the user demand for non-skilled use of a 3d printer. Said differently, laser scanning creates the opportunity for small object re-creation without knowledge of solid modeling, mesh triangulation restrictions, etc... little, to no, digital interface. A key part of 3D printing will be quality control.... i.e. a laser scanner could be outfitted with lower wavelengths to investigate the structural capacity of new metal prints. Low melting point metals could also encourage iterative design of parts on an accelerated pace... metals are important in this process because they have capacity for repeated recycling. A user could print a metal piece, scan it, physically test it, and do so over and over with the same metal without breakdowns in the molecular strength. If the work flow was designed well, the only loss would be energy and printer heads.

You make some great points chrisclerc.

I believe that the real need is for metal 3D Printer that comes with something that allows you to recycle metal to use for printing. Imagine, having a device that could crush down soda/beer cans and make things with that aluminum. Or how about something that allows you to melt down soup cans, or old jewelry, or nuts and bolts? This is when average people will go out and buy a 3D Printer. No cost to print stuff at home will be the major turning point in the 3D Printing industry IMO (other than electric usage, which is minimal).

Eddie, I think 2014 will easily be the year of metal 3D Printers, but perhaps more importantly high quality plastic printers. The Laser Sintering techniques which are under patents which expire next year means the the current fused deposition modeling method used in most plastic printers, which gives you lower quality prints, will fade into the background, while plastic products will begin to be printed at a quality that can be used for all sorts of things, with no trace that they were 3D printed. A few years back the fused deposition modeling patents expired and we saw prices go from $15,000 per printer to under $300 for some. I think it's possible to see similar price drops for laser sintering printers, both metal and plastic.

Why do I think 2014 will be the year of the metal 3D Printers? Because the patents expire in February. There are already several companies about to release some cool new printers as soon as those patents expire. Prices will be driven down greatly, and in my opinion, the future demand for metal printers will be far greater than plastic printers. The questions will be, will prices of metal powder also drop?