[lostsock]

This looks amazing though I'm not really sure it is the speed that has been the thing holding back 3D printers, although that is certainly an aspect of it.

I still think the biggest thing stopping adoption is most people not having any idea what to print on a 3D printer, even if buying, operating, calibrating and maintaining one was cheap and easy.

[adventured]

Speed is a very big market impediment for 3D printing.

You can't mass deploy printing kiosks at consumer stores if it takes four hours to make a mug or a trinket (you can, but it's absurd). If it takes five minutes you can and people will buy all sorts of custom products that way.

Someone on Reddit mentioned it taking 20 hours to print half a skull. That's ridiculous. This will do it in probably 20 or 30 minutes, and it'll likely get faster with improvements in the next couple of years.

[lotsofmangos]

20 hours to print a plastic skull you have just designed on a kit printer is still quick and cheap enough to feel amazing. Most small objects I do take about an hour or so and it is still cool to have drawn something and then go off and watch something on tv and come back to a working part.

I agree that having a massive increase in speed is cool, but the materials range for UV cured stuff isn't that high. If we are talking wishlists, I'd rather have plastics and metals in one print and be taking a few hours, than a UV cured object in minutes, but that is because of the applications I am interested in. I do think this tech is very very cool though, especially given the detail level you can get at that speed.

[lsaferite]

I know this is probably the wrong comment to hang this on, but I was just thinking about it reading your mixed mode comment.

I can see shipping container type units fitted internally with multiple 3D printer types that are basically little mobile factories. Any part you need (withing certain volume and material limitations) can be produced on demand. These could easily be transported to remote locations to fully support all kinds of activities.

I swear, I was born 100 years too early.

[lotsofmangos]

The game is, how small can you make a general engineering factory?

You could do the shipping container version now, using existing prototyping tech and some well thought out robots to move parts between processes.

I suspect you can get most of them in one box though, and this will be becoming mainstream within ten years to fifteen.

[bsdpython]

The speed difference will make a lot of business ideas viable. Think custom fitting wearables 3D printed in minutes.