Are 3D Printers Ready for Prime Time - (Alexa, print me a motorcycle.)
That's kind of like asking if stone wheels are ready for prime time.
It all depends on the printer and the application. Of course there are different kinds of 3D printers. From goop slopped out of a nozzle to laser sintered metals. I only have first hand experience with one kind of 3D printer. Its a resin printer. Kind of in between. It uses a UV kicked resin. You fill a basin with resin. Lower a platform into the resin until there is just a very thin film between the platform and the window in the bottom of the basin. You shoot it with a laser from underneath to partially cure a pattern of resin. Then you raise the platform to allow resin to flow in underneath and lower the platform until there is just a thin film between the last layer and the bottom of the basin so you can shoot it with a laser again to form the next layer. Some of these laser resin printers can have very good resolution.
There is a variation of this same printer that uses an LED array below the basin or tank full of resin. The LED array typically has slightly less resolution than the laser version, but of course that depends on the quality of the laser you are comparing it to. My son has an LED resin printer. He uses it to print miniatures for painting. Its easier than casting them in chemically kicked resin with amazing details. Its much slower.
Now as to whether or not its "ready for prime time" that depends. Recently I had my son print some master molds for me. I used those master molds to make silicone molds. From those silicone molds I was able to cast resin items that would be marketable. I could possibly have directly printed a workable item, but its slow. In the silicone molds I can crank out a resin item every 15 minutes, and I can use the master molds to produce as many silicone molds as I want.
IMO 3D printers are good for:
- Some one off items.
- Prototyping.
- Part of a larger process.
- Producing a temporary emergency part or tool when other stock and machinery would be size or weight prohibitive. (think space station).
Is it the magic replicator you see on Star Trek? Not in my lifetime most likely. Probably not in yours.
Its like any other tool. You have to evaluate it for the current application.