alt Hacker NewsMost people still prefer products over building their own thing, even if the barrier is lower.
As an example consumer 3D printing hasn’t had much impact on manufacturing
Most people still prefer products over building their own thing, even if the barrier is lower.
As an example consumer 3D printing hasn’t had much impact on manufacturing
This is a bit of a year-of-linux-on-the-desktop question.
Desktop 3D printers are tools; I know many people using them to support their making. And they've utterly changed manufacturing on another level (simply because of their ability to surface a prototype).
It will get better and better and better and still never replace mass production, but mass production will be changed by it.
Not least because of the fundamental shift in availability of the tools to make tools. The productised desktop CNC market is wild and it owes almost its entire existence to the change in the market driven by 3D printing.