What is /biz/ opinion on 3D printers? Meme or green?

>>1238608
I'm not really a /biz/ guy, was just lurking here. But I'm an engineer so I might be able to help.

Your question is really vague so all I can say is this: 3D printers are mostly used for prototyping in the industry. If you want to sell some low quality personizable figurines or something like that, you could technically use them, but for most high quality mass production applications other methods are superior in most ways.

>>1238608
in terms of technical development, it's still womb-tier

wait until better developments on the tech is made to the point where it's very mainstream or bordering becoming mainstream.

>>1238608
Now they fulfil a niche role, but as the technology gets better it's role will also increase.

3D printers will become very important in the future. Being able to use raw materials to quickly produce stuff. Also the very idea of being able to use one production chain for multiple products sounds profitable to me.

>>1238971
>Also the very idea of being able to use one production chain for multiple products sounds profitable to me.

Using a 3D printer in a big production chain would be extremely unprofitable and yield low quality products.

Like I said in >>1238967 3D printers are useful for design and prototyping, not manufacturing. The only place where they MIGHT boom as an actual high quality manufacturing tool would be in the medical sector, for organic tissues and organs. But even that is wishful thinking at this point.

>>1238608
http://www.weaponeer.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19584&PN=1

>>1238967
Engineer here too. This is right. Proclaimed as this big revolution? Totally a meme. They've had their use for a long time; some form of rapid prototyping has been in use since the 80s. It just got huge in the last few years as FDM and Objet got cheap and accessible. For any real manufacturing, they're useless. You can only make plastic, and you can do that better anyway with injection molding.

I work with 3D printers, some guys have really good ones but don't like working with more people due to how much they work anyway.

For a industrial one they can be good but for home use NEVER EVER

>>1238978
>and you can do that better anyway with injection molding
exactly

>>1238981
Also, I forgot to mention, they break all the time.

Its a meme. The level of technical sensitivity is way to high for the starbucks crowd that pushes it.

>>1238967
yes they are good for prototyping and businesses that repair items (maybe not even supported by the manufacturer) might use them for more professional repairs.

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>>1239120

>yfw 3d printing market grew 40% last year