Are 3d printers a meme...

Are 3d printers a meme? I remember reading an article in 2012 or 2013 where the author claimed in five years every home would own one and they'd become more common than regular printers. I thought it was bullshit at the time and we it looks like that prediction didn't come true.


Am I missing something here?

Nah, just new tech. Shit takes time to mature to be economically viable and proliferate the market.

no. They have been very useful in industry. We are beginning to see 3d printers come out that could be operated at one's local kinkos or walmart to produce stuff on the spot like we've actually been promised.

However, the companies behind said technology could fuck it up and because of patents no one else might be able to do it for like 20 years

it's used on the fucking ISS so they can make things they need without having to send it up

>Are 3d printers a meme?
In the sense that the media hypes it yeah. It will mostly be everywhere that manufacturing and workshops are already, there's little reason to have one at home.

Stratasys bought everything up and fucked up the home market. Never EVER buy a MakerBot.

The commercial stuff is slightly better. Then again, I've got a uPrint that needs fixing almost twice per single use. Biggest waste of money in the lab.

3d printers are awesome. Even the below average dekstop ones you can buy for cheap. And they're only starting to rev up. They're good for prototyping, they're fast, accurate and pretty much awesome things.

China already started to build superfast ones with an advanced sliding belts. A few more years and they're gonna be miracle machines.

3d printers are really good for manufacturing complex geometries that other methods like CNC machining or casting wouldn't be able to. Other than that they are pretty much just a meme.

they have a very niche market - people who need to do one-off prototyping or manufacturing who don't have the money to pay for a machinist or professional prototyping machines

but for that very niche market, they're amazing

Why would you want one in your home? What would you use it for?

I don't care if they're a meme I wish I had one.

I'm waiting for them to get cheaper and more robust though, I don't want to blow a shit ton of money on one now and have a way better one come out in a year or two.

that prediction was idiotic in the first place. why would someone print a standard part in plastic for several dollars when he can buy the same geometry in metal for less than half the price?

The way I've been reading it in the media is, besides all the usual usage, in the future you could use it as a some sort of delivery machine.

You need new shoes? You buy the design from, I don't know, Adidas, or something, which has been perfecting the design for many years. You then simply print it out based on that blueprint.

This of course poses the problems with piracy, but a lot of companies still stay a float, such as film or music industry, since people like the support the company if they like the product.

This of course make open source design possible, where people publish their design, and can other people can contribute and improve the design.

I see a vending machine type deal unless we end up in some weird post scarcity economy/material based economy (homie, I need two kilos of pvc, want some potatoes?)

The fact of the matter is that they're useful but not that useful.

>The fact of the matter is that they're useful but not that useful.
I bet that's what people said about those huge room sized computer with punching cards. Patience, my young grasshopper. It takes time for technology to mature.

Sort of, they were never going to be like replicators on Star Trek though. In order to make a pizza, tools, airplane parts, toys, guns, and artwork you may need several different printers with different materials.

>you may need several different printers with different materials
Or just one that makes use of many different materials.

3d printers are awesome prototyping tools, but seriously terrible production machines.

Nah, the functionality is just too limited. I mean, think of how few items you actually purchase that can be made relatively easily with one...it's really not that many, even if you assume magical levels of resolution. Other machining/forming methods are needed to make quite a large number of household goods. And, unless you're going to posit metal 3D printers becoming a common thing (which I seriously doubt from energy considerations alone), you can't even make a bunch of items that have different strength needs. Add into that a fairly limited size/having to design something to be functional in like half cubic meter sizes isn't exactly easy either...then there's also no way of doing electronics unless you start talking real wizardry.

It'd be great to have one at like Wal-Mart, but without massive, insane leaps, it won't be a household thing.

Do you know of any that exist yet?

Honestly, that seems impractical from an engineering and marketing perspective, you'd have to swap out so much shit, all these part would need to be interchangeable and maintained.....

>manufacturing complex geometries
>casting wouldn't be able to
you have no idea what you're actually talking about m8

>you have no idea what you're actually talking about m8
This should really be a Veeky Forums logo, or an anthem, or something.

He's correct though.

Yes, and a dangerous one

Yep, meme. The Motley Fool investment guys did a big spiel on it for paid subscribers back 3-4 years ago. I watched the presentation. It was compelling but NONE of their predictions have panned out. I did briefly make good money on trading 3D Systems tho $DDD. But that was years ago now.

There was a really cool concept about 3d printing your own clothes. Instead of having a closet of stuff, you would download clothing patterns, or make your own, and then the printer would print the clothing for you to wear. When you were done with the garment, you could feed it back into the machine and recycle it.

3D printers themselves aren't a meme. "3D printing for [thing]", where [thing] is anything that doesn't benefit from 3D printing (e.g. "3D-printed" drugs) is a meme, however.

That shit exists man, look it up. There's instructions on how to build it yourself too. I wanted to do it but getting all the parts was hard as fuck in my country

I'm sure people with shit that they actually want to print are all over them.
If I was a warhammer player or artist or something I'd cream myself over 3d printers

that looks so sexy

>Even the below average dekstop ones you can buy for cheap.
I'm guessing you've never used one?
They're finicky as fuck with a million hotfixes that don't always work.

i aint open that shit

Not really. I printed it in my friends place, he does this service and sell printers. The printer have an auto-balance on groundcheck so if its even a little tilted by an angle, it autocorrects itself and prints properly. Aside from that we never ran into any problems.

shit i try´d to scan it with malwarebytes
and well it killed it