+108 3D printing was over hyped and has turned out to be a massive disappointment, amirite?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

There are massive communities of 3Dprinter users. With marketplaces to purchase fully designed files, and others to groupshare/collaborate in making designs. You can also hire someone to custom design for you. The average person doesn't have the skillset to design their own. Though many middle and high schools offer 3d design and 3d printing classes so that more and more people can do so. The hype was in how fast it would reach widespread adoption. Though a basic machine currently costs less than a gaming console so it is affordable for a wide audience. The main problem is that it's still niche. Most functional prints are for fairly one time use items, or the items are cheaper bought outright. It's very popular for art and costuming. It's also incredibly helpful for prototyping. Especially for entrepreneurs and amateurs.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I think the printers good enough to make anything useful are still more expensive than most people want to pay. Better. Cheaper. Just not cheap enough yet to be prolific. The guys I know who did spend the money are very happy though.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You an get a pretty ok printer for about $180, which I wouldn't consider to be prohibitively expensive. The thing that is prohibitive is learning the software to really make use of the 3D printer. It's currently very much something for tinkerers who want to learn a skill-set than for the average person who just wants a thing to work out of the box with little to no effort.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Personally I feel that this is what happened. 3d printing sounds great, until you think of the actual cost of the printer and the materials. I think the other problem is that 3d printers, to my understanding, require more than a simple picture. You have to have basically a blueprint to print something and not everyone can turn a flat image into a 3d printable image, so for the 'Joe Q. Public' they simply can't use it, without also finding a blueprint that they want to use, which isn't always easy, especially if you want something specific.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Maybe commercial 3d printing isn't what you'd like, but industrial printing is still doing very well

by Anonymous 1 year ago

3d printers also helped develop the space for 3d printed metal objects. They can use precise and highly advanced techniques to make intricate parts. Disney animatronics use these, as one solid example

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You're way too early, The internet, electric cars, all sorts of stuff seemed overhyped during a lull in it's abilities and application. We'll see in a few decades.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I'm.not an engineer in that field but it seemed that most engineers focused on how to use 3d printing when it was even worse than it is today, instead of improving the technology until it's useful. The only useful thing I've found with it it's to build replacements of some plastic pieces

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I've met several people who were excited by the idea but absolutely turned away by the prospect of having to learn CAD and then export it to a slicer for creating G-Code. And that's before even tinkering with print settings. I'm not surprised they just download a couple trinkets and then lose interest. I've used it to create actual things I need, but have run into the limits of PLA as a material. About to switch to ABS. Will see how it goes.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It definitively flopped IMO in the way of 3d printing being used by common folks to produce stuff. But on the industrial scale it's still going strong. Like in the medical field and various engineering disciplines are big examples where a lot of development is being put in 3d printing.

by Anonymous 1 year ago