The advantages of 3D printing are all about total user customization. “Complexity is free,” said Duann Scott of 3D printing market Shapeways. ”So customization is free.” A room full of identical chairs costs much less than a room full of custom-fit seats when you use traditional manufacturing methods—but with 3D printing they cost exactly the same as their bespoke counterparts, as long as the materials are the same. That’s because you can use a different design for each individual item without resetting machinery or making new molds.
2.Software needed for 3D printing will get easier by necessity
Standard CAD product engineering software takes hundreds of hours to learn, mostly because it’s not about creating a literal model of what you want to print.
“You’re planning for the things enacted in the manufacturing process that will make the shape you want,” said Matthew Griffin of Adafruit, a site for buying electronics parts and learning how to tinker with them. “It’s kind of a proxy. You have to learn the metaphors and just go native, but before that point it can be frustrating to even navigate the design space.”
3. 3D printing isn't good for everything
There are plenty of things (like firearms) that you could probably make with a 3D printer but shouldn't. The mechanisms of a gun aren’t easily produced by a 3D printer, and will perform sub-optimally. This concept, extends to other products as well: Just because we can print it doesn’t mean we ever will. Easier interfaces are key to making 3D printing mainstream, the panel agreed, but material limitations are also a concern. “Right now,” Scott said, “You can only use one material at a time. Most things around you are made from multiple materials. This microphone has a shit ton of stuff inside of it.” Not being able to print electronics and their casings in one go, the panelists said, was a major drawback.
