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People don't see much demand in 3D printing is because we are accustomed to mass manufacturing as the way of life for consuming goods. Just like the Web created

People don't see much demand in 3D printing is because we are accustomed to mass manufacturing as the way of life for consuming goods. Just like the Web created the "long tail" demand for goods and services, customized manufacturing will open the doors for highly personalized goods. Imagine printing a helmet exactly for your head or printing very comfortable Car seat for your body shape. There will not be the shortage of demand but because the technology is so new there is definitely a shortage in imagination for its potential uses.

deelowe 13y ago
Can you provide an example of anything like that being 3d printed and actually used? The only use case I currently see for 3d printing is prototyping and very, very simple fixes(e.g. clips for chip bags). Sure there's various types out there used in one off manufacturing scenarios, but what home user needs anything like that? Traditional manufacturing processes produce higher quality parts and are more cost effective for most things you'd use a general purpose 3d printer for.
- angersock 13y ago
  Okay, I'll bite. One in obvious production would be dental fixtures and fillings--there are already CNC devices available. Another would be sex toys, or for auto shops.
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    Of course, the follow-up question; in what way is 3D printing superior to CNC dental fixture machines that already exist? Said CNC machines are already fast and small enough to fit into any dental practice.
    - deelowe 13y ago
      Actually the biomedical field is one of those areas where I think 3d printing makes a lot of sense. It's one field where basically every part is ideally a customized one-off. Though, I doubt anyone would buy a home 3d printer for this use-case.
      - sliverstorm 13y ago
        Yes, but do the currently available CNC machines fail to fill that need? How will 3D printing fill that need better?
        deelowe 13y ago
        There are a lot of shapes that milling alone can't do. For example, anything with a complex internal structure has to be cast, which comes with a few of it's own trade-offs. 3d printing can make complex objects without limitations(other than materials and time).
- 31reasons 13y ago
  Recently a 3D printed Jaw bone was surgically planted in one patient. http://www.gizmag.com/first-3d-printed-lower-jaw-implant/21383/ http://www.gizmag.com/first-3d-printed-lower-jaw-implant/213... Medical field will have large number of applications.
  - deelowe 13y ago
    Why would you need a home 3d printer for that?
    - 31reasons 13y ago
      I agree with you that 3D printer is not a consumer item like a microwave oven or a dish washer. At least not for few hundred years until we have molecular level replicators like in the Star Trek. But it's going to be a great thing for creators and educators. But Definitely not a "consumer item".
- wmil 13y ago
  There are shapes that can't easily be generated with traditional manufacturing processes. For instance, with 3d printing you can make a fully assembled crescent wrench. Traditional methods require you to make 3 parts and put them together. I can't say what it will be useful for, but it opens up a lot of new design shapes. It'd be pretty shocking if that didn't result in anything useful.
  - deelowe 13y ago
    Ohh, I agree that there's plenty of uses. You have to look no further than the Lexus LFA's chassis to see what 3d "printing"(woven in this case) technology can do. It's just that 3d printers aren't going to revolutionize manufacturing or whatever it is that armchair pundits say about them. They have a place, but it's not sitting next to your microwave in your kitchen where you can download wrenches off the internet and print them into existence(and have them be at all useful). They are useful for hobbyist projects, for rapid prototyping, and for highly specialized work where traditional manufacturing isn't feasible(e.g. biomechanics).
- bigiain 13y ago
  Personally, I've got Raspberry Pi cases and Arduino cases made on 3D printers. I've got friends with projects like pan/tilt camera mounts for quadcopters, searchlight mounts for their car roof, telescopic sight mounts for guns, indicators for motorcycles. There's some (not terribly regularly updated) objects printed at my local hackerspace here: http://hackerspace.pbworks.com/w/page/45077090/Up!%203D%20Printer%20Examples http://hackerspace.pbworks.com/w/page/45077090/Up!%203D%20Pr...
  - deelowe 13y ago
    The case for my pi is 3d printed as well, but this is what I would consider the typical use-case for these devices: one-off prototype/hobby projects.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
- iamwil 13y ago
  That's the nature about the long tail of things: not everything you see will be personally appealing to you. In fact, only a tiny sliver of all possible things will be appealing to you. The mistake that many people make (not necessarily you), is when they ask for examples of appealing or useful 3D printing, and if your example doesn't appeal to them, then they write off the entire long tail of things to 3D print. It's much like you asking your friends what movies they like on Netflix, and the friends answer "Home Alone" and "Elf". Since you don't like those movies, you can't imagine there being any other movie on Netflix you'd like, and write off all movies. 3D printing for the masses is so new that no one's seen much of the long tail, and there are things to be printed that are not yet explored.
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    It's much like you asking your friends what movies they like on Netflix, and the friends answer "Home Alone" and "Elf". Since you don't like those movies, you can't imagine there being any other movie on Netflix you'd like, and write off all movies. That doesn't really make sense. It's more like the early days of Netflix streaming where people were reluctant to sign up because the selection of movies on there was actually terrible. I didn't touch it for a couple of years despite having access through a Netflix membership, because I couldn't find anything on there I wanted to watch. The fact is that right now most examples of 3d printing are not that great. People at Maker Faire print out giant dodecahedral hats - admittedly to showcare the alrge print area rather than their taste in headware - or the occasional hard-to-find part. But most of the lower-end printers still produce output that looks highly pixelated, and the properties of the plastic used mean that many items have to be printed with additional structural support. What people see at the moment is like an inkjet printer (good) that can only produce output in Comic Sans (bad) and at low resolution (worse). The exciting thing about patent expiration is getting around some of the resolution problems. People expect plastic to be smooth, not to look like miniature lego. Ideally you want to be able to print stuff of similar quality to a model aircraft kit. Right now it's OK for large, somewhat clunky items.
    - iamwil 13y ago
      What I'm pointing out is the mistake people make extrapolating from very few data points about the space of possibilities now and in the near future in a long tail of possibilities for 3D printing. Per your example, It may very well be that nothing in the long tail of things to make with a 3D printer will appeal to you right now, and not for a long time. You may very well be a late adopter. But that doesn't mean that the entire space is useless, and of all the possibilities of things to 3D print, none of them will be useful or appealing to you personally. However, it will SEEM that way to you, since, by nature of a long tail, only a sliver of it appeals to you. Until that sliver gets discovered, by yourself or someone with more imagination, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that nothing will be appealing, given the samples you've seen so far.
- e12e 13y ago
  I think prototyping will remain a big thing for 3d printers for a while. See eg the hexbright project [1]. Similar to how you could print a (poor) proof on a 9-pin matrix printer from your dtp program before you sent it somewhere for laserprinting/printing (the laser printer would be a commercial cnc or 3d print service). Other than that, I could see myself using it for "throwaway plastic stuff" - coasters, maybe (novelty) cups/glasses (for parties) -- and for replacement parts, as others have mentioned (for those plastic things that always breaks and can't be replaced except by replacing the entire thing it came with). I could also see the community coming up with some standards -- like lenovo/thinkpad has standards for peripherals and covers -- so could boxes for 2.5/3.5 slide in closures for harddrives etc. So you could print (or build) a mini-itx case with as many 2.5" front-loading slots as you needed for your own dyi nas etc. [1] http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/527051507/hexbright-an-open-source-light/posts/147885 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/527051507/hexbright-an-o... (around 1 minute into the video)
  - e12e 13y ago
    Another thing: I remember disassembling and re-assembling my G.I. Joe action figures as a kid (mixing and matching arms, torsos, heads and hips/legs). I haven't seen any models for such simple action figures yet -- but they really shouldn't be to hard to make -- all you'd need to assemble one was a single screw and a rubber band to hold them together. Couple it with the strides made in 3d character (facial) modelling -- and you could print out parts, paint with hobby/miniature paint and have your very own action series...
  - hatu 13y ago
    I'm a bit worried about this thought of the success of 3D printing depending on people getting tons more "throwaway plastic stuff".
    - e12e 13y ago
      Agreed. It would be nice if it was possible to easily recycle the plastic for use on-site.
Kiro 13y ago
The problem is that even visionary people like you come up with such lousy examples as personalized helmets and car seats. If that's the "potential" then the market is dead already.

deelowe 13y ago

Can you provide an example of anything like that being 3d printed and actually used? The only use case I currently see for 3d printing is prototyping and very, very simple fixes(e.g. clips for chip bags). Sure there's various types out there used in one off manufacturing scenarios, but what home user needs anything like that? Traditional manufacturing processes produce higher quality parts and are more cost effective for most things you'd use a general purpose 3d printer for.

angersock 13y ago
Okay, I'll bite. One in obvious production would be dental fixtures and fillings--there are already CNC devices available. Another would be sex toys, or for auto shops.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Of course, the follow-up question; in what way is 3D printing superior to CNC dental fixture machines that already exist? Said CNC machines are already fast and small enough to fit into any dental practice.
  - deelowe 13y ago
    Actually the biomedical field is one of those areas where I think 3d printing makes a lot of sense. It's one field where basically every part is ideally a customized one-off. Though, I doubt anyone would buy a home 3d printer for this use-case.
    - sliverstorm 13y ago
      Yes, but do the currently available CNC machines fail to fill that need? How will 3D printing fill that need better?
      - deelowe 13y ago
        There are a lot of shapes that milling alone can't do. For example, anything with a complex internal structure has to be cast, which comes with a few of it's own trade-offs. 3d printing can make complex objects without limitations(other than materials and time).
31reasons 13y ago
Recently a 3D printed Jaw bone was surgically planted in one patient. http://www.gizmag.com/first-3d-printed-lower-jaw-implant/21383/ http://www.gizmag.com/first-3d-printed-lower-jaw-implant/213... Medical field will have large number of applications.
- deelowe 13y ago
  Why would you need a home 3d printer for that?
  - 31reasons 13y ago
    I agree with you that 3D printer is not a consumer item like a microwave oven or a dish washer. At least not for few hundred years until we have molecular level replicators like in the Star Trek. But it's going to be a great thing for creators and educators. But Definitely not a "consumer item".
wmil 13y ago
There are shapes that can't easily be generated with traditional manufacturing processes. For instance, with 3d printing you can make a fully assembled crescent wrench. Traditional methods require you to make 3 parts and put them together. I can't say what it will be useful for, but it opens up a lot of new design shapes. It'd be pretty shocking if that didn't result in anything useful.
- deelowe 13y ago
  Ohh, I agree that there's plenty of uses. You have to look no further than the Lexus LFA's chassis to see what 3d "printing"(woven in this case) technology can do. It's just that 3d printers aren't going to revolutionize manufacturing or whatever it is that armchair pundits say about them. They have a place, but it's not sitting next to your microwave in your kitchen where you can download wrenches off the internet and print them into existence(and have them be at all useful). They are useful for hobbyist projects, for rapid prototyping, and for highly specialized work where traditional manufacturing isn't feasible(e.g. biomechanics).
bigiain 13y ago
Personally, I've got Raspberry Pi cases and Arduino cases made on 3D printers. I've got friends with projects like pan/tilt camera mounts for quadcopters, searchlight mounts for their car roof, telescopic sight mounts for guns, indicators for motorcycles. There's some (not terribly regularly updated) objects printed at my local hackerspace here: http://hackerspace.pbworks.com/w/page/45077090/Up!%203D%20Printer%20Examples http://hackerspace.pbworks.com/w/page/45077090/Up!%203D%20Pr...
- deelowe 13y ago
  The case for my pi is 3d printed as well, but this is what I would consider the typical use-case for these devices: one-off prototype/hobby projects.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
iamwil 13y ago
That's the nature about the long tail of things: not everything you see will be personally appealing to you. In fact, only a tiny sliver of all possible things will be appealing to you. The mistake that many people make (not necessarily you), is when they ask for examples of appealing or useful 3D printing, and if your example doesn't appeal to them, then they write off the entire long tail of things to 3D print. It's much like you asking your friends what movies they like on Netflix, and the friends answer "Home Alone" and "Elf". Since you don't like those movies, you can't imagine there being any other movie on Netflix you'd like, and write off all movies. 3D printing for the masses is so new that no one's seen much of the long tail, and there are things to be printed that are not yet explored.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  It's much like you asking your friends what movies they like on Netflix, and the friends answer "Home Alone" and "Elf". Since you don't like those movies, you can't imagine there being any other movie on Netflix you'd like, and write off all movies. That doesn't really make sense. It's more like the early days of Netflix streaming where people were reluctant to sign up because the selection of movies on there was actually terrible. I didn't touch it for a couple of years despite having access through a Netflix membership, because I couldn't find anything on there I wanted to watch. The fact is that right now most examples of 3d printing are not that great. People at Maker Faire print out giant dodecahedral hats - admittedly to showcare the alrge print area rather than their taste in headware - or the occasional hard-to-find part. But most of the lower-end printers still produce output that looks highly pixelated, and the properties of the plastic used mean that many items have to be printed with additional structural support. What people see at the moment is like an inkjet printer (good) that can only produce output in Comic Sans (bad) and at low resolution (worse). The exciting thing about patent expiration is getting around some of the resolution problems. People expect plastic to be smooth, not to look like miniature lego. Ideally you want to be able to print stuff of similar quality to a model aircraft kit. Right now it's OK for large, somewhat clunky items.
  - iamwil 13y ago
    What I'm pointing out is the mistake people make extrapolating from very few data points about the space of possibilities now and in the near future in a long tail of possibilities for 3D printing. Per your example, It may very well be that nothing in the long tail of things to make with a 3D printer will appeal to you right now, and not for a long time. You may very well be a late adopter. But that doesn't mean that the entire space is useless, and of all the possibilities of things to 3D print, none of them will be useful or appealing to you personally. However, it will SEEM that way to you, since, by nature of a long tail, only a sliver of it appeals to you. Until that sliver gets discovered, by yourself or someone with more imagination, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that nothing will be appealing, given the samples you've seen so far.
e12e 13y ago
I think prototyping will remain a big thing for 3d printers for a while. See eg the hexbright project [1]. Similar to how you could print a (poor) proof on a 9-pin matrix printer from your dtp program before you sent it somewhere for laserprinting/printing (the laser printer would be a commercial cnc or 3d print service). Other than that, I could see myself using it for "throwaway plastic stuff" - coasters, maybe (novelty) cups/glasses (for parties) -- and for replacement parts, as others have mentioned (for those plastic things that always breaks and can't be replaced except by replacing the entire thing it came with). I could also see the community coming up with some standards -- like lenovo/thinkpad has standards for peripherals and covers -- so could boxes for 2.5/3.5 slide in closures for harddrives etc. So you could print (or build) a mini-itx case with as many 2.5" front-loading slots as you needed for your own dyi nas etc. [1] http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/527051507/hexbright-an-open-source-light/posts/147885 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/527051507/hexbright-an-o... (around 1 minute into the video)
- e12e 13y ago
  Another thing: I remember disassembling and re-assembling my G.I. Joe action figures as a kid (mixing and matching arms, torsos, heads and hips/legs). I haven't seen any models for such simple action figures yet -- but they really shouldn't be to hard to make -- all you'd need to assemble one was a single screw and a rubber band to hold them together. Couple it with the strides made in 3d character (facial) modelling -- and you could print out parts, paint with hobby/miniature paint and have your very own action series...
- hatu 13y ago
  I'm a bit worried about this thought of the success of 3D printing depending on people getting tons more "throwaway plastic stuff".
  - e12e 13y ago
    Agreed. It would be nice if it was possible to easily recycle the plastic for use on-site.

Kiro 13y ago

The problem is that even visionary people like you come up with such lousy examples as personalized helmets and car seats. If that's the "potential" then the market is dead already.