[chunkstuntman]

When they opened a brick and morter store in Boston, I remember walking in with a real sense of excitement but walking out without any interest in becoming more involved in the 3D printing scene.

If anything, seeing the printers in action made me realize just how inessential their product seemed from a layperson's point of view.

For all of the potential 3D printing has, at the moment it is a solution looking for a consumer problem, and most consumers aren't looking to make custom figurines or embossed text.

A few months ago, I walked by the storefront and it was totally empty. Apparently I wasn't the only one disillusioned by seeing their product up close.

[blt]

3d printing got oversold. "Print replacement parts for your washing machine" was total bullshit. 3D printer CEOs wanted to be like Steve Jobs and sell millions of devices to consumers. They could have earned a respected spot in the toolboxes of engineers, artists, scientists, even manufacturers. Instead they pushed trinket machines that didn't even work as designed. They could have been like Tektronix or Mori Seiki but they got greedy.

[JoeAltmaier]

I read them as, enthusiastic promoters on the bleeding edge. They jumped into 3D printing despite the risks. Harsh to call that 'greedy'.

That said, 3D printing is still pretty lame. Cheap plastic parts are rarely the critical element in a device. And even knobs etc often have retaining clips or friction-fit holes with sub-millimeter tolerances, that 3D printers cannot achieve.

[blt]

I speak from personal experience. It was all greed with certain major players.

[sleepybrett]

I agree, My washing machine knobs are fine. I did however print a replacement for a knob on my clothes dryer. ;)

However 95% of the time I'm printing something for a prototype or some little thing I'm tinkering with.

[bshimmin]

I think this is exactly it. I worked at a digital agency in London a few years back who bought a 3D printer (maybe a Makerbot one, I have no idea) because it seemed essential that a company working in that sector should have one - they were the new exciting tech phenomenon, and surely wondrous things would come of them. They were never able to work out what to do with it or how it could at all relate to their clients' businesses. In the end, the most exciting and interesting thing they managed to do with it was to print a miniature model of the tech director's head for use as a pair of earrings. On that basis, what hope does a regular consumer have of finding a purpose for them?

There are always going to be people who buy homebrewing apparatus - but their numbers will always pale in comparison to how many people just go to a pub or bar and buy a beer.

[sirtaj]

This is my sentiment too. I'm excited by the possibilities of 3D printing, but at the moment all of my friends who've purchased printers are using them to create shoddy little trinkets. The kind of printers that could produce practical items are outside the budget of the average early adopter.

Of course, it's a matter of time before tech advancement fixes this problem, but today there's little reason to buy one of these machines if all you are planning to do is actually print useful stuff, rather than experiment with 3D printers as a hobby.

[jononor]

That most people just print ready-made trinkets from Thingiverse that they don't really need is hardly an issue with the machines. Most useful things around us made of plastic can be done on a 500 USD FDM 3d-printer (which is a lot of stuff).

I've fixed our commercial (China quality) lasercutter using parts made on a cheap FDM 3d-printer. Fixed powertools like drills and drill-presses. Replaced parts on my bicycle. Made functional scissors, and a haircomb that I needed when no shop was open.

The issues are that for commodity items, in the first world, it is quicker to just buy them (if we don't have them already). They will also be prettier. Or if it is a custom item, one has to actually design&test, which is something that requires CAD skills and some hours of work. Teaching this will take some time.

Most people just watch kitten-videos and play Farmville using their Internet-enabled devices. Does not mean the devices are low-quality and cannot be used for useful things.

[cptskippy]

3D printers are impractical for household repairs but I really think 3d pens like the 3Doodler are missing an opportunity here. I bought one with the original Kickstarter and we played with it for a while before putting it back in it's box and forgetting about it. A couple months ago I came across it and decided to try and fix the broken castor on a dehumidifier. The part was way to complex to be worth modeling in CAD for the amount of inconvenience it presented but it was ridiculously easy to weld the old part back together and reinforce it with the 3Doodler. Since then I've been using it in conjunction with an old soldering iron to fix things that I just don't trust glue to hold.

[jononor]

Also, if one needs quality not acheivable on current cheap machines there are still valid reasons to get one: - Use your cheap printer to prototype/iterate/validate your model - Then send it off to a printing service, to have it made in high-quality plastic/metal/clay

This way you can combine rapid iteration with high-quality production. When designing new parts, I often do up to 5 iterations a day. Sometimes engaging up 3x 500 USD printers at the same time, to keep iteration time down.