Exactly what I thought. Given that 3D printing is a whole family of technologies, purchasing a DIY model of one type of 3D printing technology would be a waste of money (for me). Thanks to online services I can get 3D prints in all sorts of high quality materials from SLS-printed plastic to ceramics, so much so that I have no idea why I would ever print anything out of a plastic spaghetti at home (I am referring to the FDM technology used by most DIY 3D printers). The only caveat with online 3D printing services is the delivery time, but in 99% of cases I'd rather wait a week (SLS plastic) or two (ceramic) for a piece to arrive in the mail than to spend a week or two tinkering with a DIY machine in order to get something remotely similar.

Depends on who you are, and what you're using it for. If you're printing stuff out that other people designed, more likely than not, you're willing to wait.

If you're designing the object, a shorter iteration process means faster learning and better creative flow. There's a significant difference between being able to think something up and try it out within an hour vs waiting a week for it. If you're a programmer, it's the difference between having a REPL and sending a deck of punch cards for overnight batch processing.

The current designs of single head FDM machines average about 60mm/s. The fastest XY heads can achieve 400mm/s, and the deltabots are around 300mm/s or so. There is an upper limit to how fast you can move a head around, but it doesn't feel like we've hit it yet.

In addition, I think as the FDM designs get explored and played out, we'll see explorations in other possibly faster methods. So as the home desktop printers get faster, I believe it'll find a niche that's different than what you'd do with online 3D printing services.

My thoughts exactly. I'm the engineering manager (mechanical engineering) at a design / manufacturing firm and I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth it to buy our own machine. I'd prefer to have access to all the different print types (fdm / sls / sla / objet) and not deal with the upkeep and machine obsolescence issues. There are a ton of shops that can make parts now, which is driving the part cost down.

As a fellow mechanical engineer, that's exactly why my co-founder and I launched SupplyBetter.com. Our goal is to match you with the right supplier to make what you need. Especially when it comes to engineering-grade requirements, service bureaus specializing in additive manufacturing provide immense value. When desktop 3D printers can reach the consistency, accuracy, and detail of commercial printers we'll be more than happy to embrace them as well.

At least one library/community centre here in South Australia has a 3D printer, I believe. Available for the public to mess around with.

It (Grote St library) has multiple printers. There's also FabLab Adelaide which will let you use their printers too.

Over here in Austin at the Austin Hackerspace there are two 3D printers available for use, I've also seen another 3D printer that was printed from a 3D printer that one of the members had constructed, pretty neat eh?

> I don't want to buy ink or parts or worry about it or have it obsoleted in 2 years time.

I've heard that with a 3d printer you can print another 3d printer, so maybe it can upgrade itself?

It's not able to print all the necessary parts for a 3D printer, but one of the main goals of the RepRap project was to design a printer that could print most of its parts.

http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

Yes, and I think recently wasn't a hard to make part finally constructed some gear spring thing? I can't recall what it was but I can picture it in my brain.

Wow, never thought about that. It will overturn traditional manufacture, though it cannot print all its parts now.

Friends of mine are solving this exact problem by supplying a platform where 3D printer owners can earn some money by letting others use their printer. Check them out at 3D Hubs [1].

[1]: http://www.3dhubs.com/

I agree quite much. I'm going to print 3D every day. Plus, the tech will advance fast and theres no point for me to buy a new printer every year or so.

So for the few things I may want to print each year, I'd rather go to a print shop/library/work/etc.

You're never gonna print that car at a Kinkos.

You wouldn't download a car.

Please don't leave 0 content/0 effort redditeqsue replies here. If you want to post memes and not contribute you can do that at Reddit.

For some reason, your comment reminds me of those anti-piracy adverts they show on DVDs (in the UK) that you've legitimately bought: "You wouldn't steal a car." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2023878

If I could make a perfect copy of a car out of thin air, without depriving anyone of anything, I would "steal it". So would absolutely everyone, and the motor industry would have to change their business model.

What would that business model look like?

Give away the car for free and make money on servicing.

"Low Interest" loans

Hmm.

Designing better cars; making parts for the 3d printers that built the cars.

What do you mean by designing better cars? How would that help?

Also wouldn't there already be an industry that makes 3D printers? Why would the car companies try to go into that business?

Open-source car development, perhaps? Could be neat.

I agree, it would definitely be neat. What would the business model be like though? How would they generate revenue?