Economic Analysis and Open-Source 3-D Printers

Life-Cycle Economic Analysis of Distributed Manufacturing with Open-Source 3-D Printers

LOL, then tell me you read the entire 'paper'
... I didn't, best (ADD friendly) to simply go right to their 'conclusions'

'They' would suggest and imply 3D Printing is ready to go 'viral' pretty soon ...

Well, given a big chain-store, Staples are selling 3D Printers now I might have to agree ...​

-w00d​

... at WiKi

A few PRESS Release ... more at (Source: Wiki)

• Make It Yourself and Save—a Lot—with 3D Printers - MTU News, Nanowerk, Cool 3D printing, Science Codex, Product Design and Development, Innovation Toronto, Space Mart
• Study: At-home 3-D printing could save consumers 'thousands' - CNN, CBS Channel 3 Memphis
• Printing Keychains and Shower Heads: 3-D Printing Goes Beyond the Lab - ABC News ,Yahoo news
• A 3-D Printer Can Pay For Itself In Less Than A Year - Popular Science
• Study Finds 3D Printers Pay For Themselves In Under a Year - Slashdot
• Household 3D Printers Can Pay For Themselves in a Year - Gizmodo
• MTU Study: 3D Printing Will Reach The Home Soon - CBS Detroit, Worldnews, Detroit City and Press
• 3-D Printers could soon be a household items - 97.7 the Wolf
• Make It Yourself With a 3-D Printer and Save Big Time - Science Daily, My Science Academy
• Economic analysis shows 3-D printing is ready for showtime - Phys.org
• 3D printing at Michigan Tech- Prototype Today
• 3D Printers Can Save You Money - Red Orbit, Before it is news

...

I didn't read any of these, but it seems clear from the titles that someone thinks you just speak into a microphone to tell it what you want and then put a coin in the slot. They must have missed the fact that you need a file for your dream part specifically tailored to your printer. There are getting to be a lot of sites with downloadable files, but they are mostly for trinkets and they won't run on most printers without modification. This is the ultimate geek toy, but it's light years away being a real tool for the home. It is however a wonderful prototyping tool for a business that has the need, software tools, and talent to pull it all together.

...Tiger

Yup, I'm also of the opinion that most of items you can actually 'print' amounts to nothing more than "trinkets"
... Nothing I'd be interested in making, errr 'printing'

As interesting as 3D printing tech is, it's still relatively new (maybe too NEW) and to echo your thoughts a little, to 'print' machine parts as the dream implies takes pro-level printers costing huge amounts of capital. Printing complex machine parts certainly is NOT the stuff entry level consumer printers (TOY printers) are capable of printing. In fact some of points you mention are also touched upon in the PRESS releases.

And what stuck me about the PRESS releases and their headlines is they are making the 'paper' look grander than it actually is ...
... In short I would agree with what you have said.
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