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Ask Slashdot: For What Are You Using 3-D Printing?
An anonymous reader writes: I've been thinking about getting a 3-D printer for a while: the quality is rising, the software is better, STL files really do seem a sufficiently good standard ("sufficiently standard," that is — I'm not worried that printers are going to stop supporting it anytime soon), and prices have dropped quite a bit. Importantly to me, it also seems like less of a jumping-off-a-cliff decision, since I can get a completely assembled one from places as wild and crazy as ... the Home Depot (not that I plan to). However, even the stretchiest practical things I can think of to print can't truly actually justify the price, and that's OK — I hope not to require enough replacement knobs and chess pieces to necessarily *need* one, and playing around with it is the main likely upshot, which I'm OK with. But still, I'd like to hear what uses you have been putting your 3-D printer to, including printers that aren't yours but belong to a hackerspace, public library, eccentric neighbor, etc. What actually practical / useful tasks have you been using 3-D printing for, and with what printer technology? What playful purposes? It's OK if you just keep printing out those chess pieces and teapots, but I'm curious about less obvious reasons to have one around. (And I might just use the local Tech Shop's anyhow, but the question still applies.) If you've purchased a 3D printer, are you happy with the experience? If so, or if not, what kind did you get?
I'm a trained CNC machinist with a 3D printer and I think your attitude is stereo-typically ignorant. Same type of argument usually made by people who drive pickups with a perfect paint job and refuse to buy tools from harbor freight.
Most of the idle crap people want from life can be accomplished with ABS plastic filament. This is true at least for anyone who doesn't work with their hands.
The home inventor personality is usually obsessed with achieving marginal improvements in efficiency which are typically too niche to already have products in existence solving the problem. Sword-chucks and triangle shovels are just a special type of arrogance from people who like to blame their deficiencies on the lack of their poorly thought through silver bullet solution.
If you have to sweat and bleed to get your pipe-dream produced in Aluminum or Steel, people will normally change their "only a carbon-fiber spork will do" attitude when differentiating themselves as having an "eye-for-quality"(aka ham fisted over-engineered for the situation's merits) becomes too costly.
They have had kits that do not require a 3d printer for that for a long time now. There are a few different companies offering it. Here are a couple that I know of.
http://www.willykit.com/
http://www.createamate.com/
And I there there is a clone a willy kit somewhere but cannot remember the URL for it. All of these options are much cheaper than a 3d printer and you can put vibrators in them as well as glow in the dark colors and even lights. Lots of fun- just don't make a bunch of them and hand them out in the secret Santa at work next year. Trust me, it's not as fun or funny as you might think.