jrbedard, You are absolutely correct about the state of the art. I use a fairly nice Invision 3D printer and its quality is nice, but pieces straight out of th

jrbedard, You are absolutely correct about the state of the art. I use a fairly nice Invision 3D printer and its quality is nice, but pieces straight out of the chamber have a distinct "wood grain" look. The machines are also somewhat unreliable. However with some sandpaper and elbow grease you can finishe the parts quite nicely. I've sanded pieces from the Invision to the point where they are optically clear and nearly indistinguishable from injection molded parts. The most successful applications of 3D printing beyong engineering models are niches. Figureprints.com can print out World of Warcraft characters for ~$150 because of the emotional bond people have to their characters. Paragon Lake brilliantly figured out a way to make 3D printing a mainstream part of the jewelry manufacturing process.