Yes 'DJNOS1978', agreed.

People who buy 3d printers because they want to stop going to WalMart for objects will be unsatisfied. Your wife is like a lot of people probably. Why spend 2 days making a phone case when you can order a really nice one on Amazon for under $10? 3D printing has been sold in sort of an improper way by the press. They are really not going to be useful to the average homeowner because once you made a few keyfobs, phone cases and vases, what else do they need it for, right? 3D printing is not going to eliminate the need for the average person to buy things that are made of plastic. Sure, 1000's of crazy (some useful some not) items can be found online and then printed but again, after you print a dozen different things, you are out of uses. What these printers are BEST for in my opinion is if you have a specific need and can use it weekly to achieve that goal.

For instance, if you are developing a product it is very, very expensive to retain a model maker or prototype shop. If you can make your own prototypes you can save 1000's of dollars. Once the prototype is good you can then explore your production options. So say you come up with the best iPhone case around. Maybe 3d printing it is a good solution for the end product to sell but most of the time, there are better and more economical "existing" mass production methods, and certainly faster ones. That might change and we see signs already of faster technologies. But, those are not accessible to we mortals because of cost. It's also a great to have a 3d printer if you meed replacement parts for something on a frequent basis. You can now print those at will. That's a perfect use for them. But, to think buying a 3d printer will enable you to make 1000's of things you used to buy, it won't because you'll soon realize that the manufactured item is probably always better and less work. Our time is valuable so if you modestly value your time at $30/hour and you spend 4 hours making an iPhone case, then you have over $120 into it. That's on expensive case and it's still not perfect. It has layer lines and minor defects that are inherent in all 3d prints. Sure, it's fun and educational, but sooner or later, spending 4 hours every time you want to save $20 is inefficient. You could make more money applying your free creative time elsewhere.

Finally, if the end user is not handy at all and not inclined to tinker, turn screws, solder or learn a tiny bit of code, then a 3d printer is a really bad choice. Whether you buy one built or build it, you have to be willing to be a little bit of a mad scientist to keep it running.

I hope that one day you'll be able to walk into your house and say, "hey, 3d printer (like saying "hey Siri"), make me a set of yellow candle holders." You don't touch the machine or anything and it goes on the web, downloads the file, heats the printer, prints the items and then calls your cell phone to say the print is finished. You go back to it, lift it out of the bin and it has been perfectly printed and ABS smoothed and it ready to use. That will be great day, but, we certainly aren't there yet.