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The most interesting items I have seen done, to date, with a 3D printer and/ or 3D printing technology include the following:
1) 3D printed houses
http://www.archdaily.com/543518/chin...rinted-houses/ It was a culmination of 12-years in the making to design and build a prototype 3D printer large enough to handle the production needs of a house. This technology will only become more widespread in the future, to keep the cost of construction down, in terms of labor and materials.
2) Princeton's replacement ears using material from cows
http://mashable.com/2013/05/24/3d-pr...ear-princeton/ Some speculation in the market says this technology of "digital fabrication" will be ready in as little as three-years.
However, some at MIT feel that 20-years is a closer expectation:
http://www.3dprinter.net/3d-printers...s-for-20-years
3) Research and Development on constructing replacement bones and tissue for humans, or casting devices to help heal bones and tissue when damaged.
http://gizmodo.com/how-doctors-are-p...ood-1474983505
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...nt-faster.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/3d-pr...t-bones-2014-8
4) 3D printed metal components
http://3dprinting.com/materials/meta...rinting-metal/
http://www.manufacturing.net/blogs/2...ing-with-metal
http://www.appropedia.org/Open-source_metal_3-D_printer I happily support the research and development at my Alma-mater.
The next step in the 3D printing/ digital fabrication industry will be a culmination of both plastics and metals together. If I were to build my own 3D printer, I would design it around the concept of composite design; utilizing the full potential of a solid metal component encased or molded together with plastics to increase the rigidity, strength, shear, tension, torsion (material durability), while at the same time reducing the cost of traditional solid-metal parts. The construction and manufacturing arenas could both benefit for an increased presence of composite production for the loads we traditionally place on objects in real life.
The industry that will benefit from the composite 3D market will be the patent industry. Every day people have so many thoughtful designs that are not always brought to fruition. For some, imagination is all that is needed to bring something to life. Others need to feel/ touch and improve upon the process(es). Nonetheless, 3D printers make this possible; they work in the manner humans think - that is what is mostly important.
Thank you for reading my post!