Preaching to the converted I know,

Preaching to the converted I know, but I thought this was awesome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5AZzOw7FwA&feature=player_profilepage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5AZzOw7FwA

The biggest problem I see, is that so many people are losing their imagination to the 3D printer. I get so many people that are like “well, I want to mass produce these rings on a 3D printer” - …no. Just no. 3D printing is not for mass production.

Then others who come in and say “Well, how can I make money from the things I print?” - no. Just…go away.

3D printing is for prototyping. 3D printing is for experimentation. 3D printing is not for mass production, and (generally) the result off of a 3D printer is not the product.

@ThantiK Im curious about this issue… “They” often say that cnc milling is not for mass production yet every Mac these days sports a cnc made chassis. I agree with all the things you say but do wonder with machines as cheap as they can be these days why not a distributed model of manufacturing or small production houses with botfarms? Im working on a human-scale public art project that I intend to fabricate entirely by my printers. Its much cheaper even considering machine time than conventional injection molding and plastic is plastic.

Im not disagreeing, but for me 3D printing is about hooking up electronics to my computer and making it do things other than create an office document.
You are right about making money though, every new design usually has “and you can buy these parts or a kit from…”
@ThantiK Surely Adrian Bowers vision for 3D printing was to make other 3D printers and be able to “just make a part that will do that”? That is prototyping but it is also a completely new e,powering technology. Desk top publishing has altered our world - desk top manufacturing will do the same!

@Brian_Evans nobody says that about CNC mills. CNC mills are still used for lots of final products, especially car rims, flanges, car parts, turbo impellers, gears, jet plane blades, motors, all parts of guns (barrels especially), paintball markers etc – even the stepper motors on a 3D printer have the face machined on them.

The public has high quality but extreme low cost expectations for plastic parts. For CNC metal bits the public expects high quality but is fine with a premium price. It’s the public’s willingness to pay that makes lowish run metal CNC viable.

It’s a wealth generator, not a wealth manipulator. Patented Law.