- agonizingly slow operation
- niche applications only
- extremely low throughput per station
- hard to scale
- mostly small items only
- unsuited to volume production
- still in its earliest stages of development
- mostly plastic-only products
- limited range of fabrication materials
- mostly low precision output
- mostly fragile, low durability products
- mostly single fabrication material products
- mostly only for products with no moving parts
- mostly low quality surface finish
- highest spec 3D printers (fastest, most flexible, finest detail) still dramatically lower throughput than conventional production line equivalents
- cheapest 3D printers can make small, decorative knick-knacks, but not much else
- just fun to watch
- best for educational and hobby use
- just cheap toys for making cheaper toys
- just a designer’s fantasy about cutting out the middleman
- a great solution still looking for truly applicable problems
- serious cost issues on almost all large-scale applications
- unresolved technical problems on most fronts
- only really suitable for DIY or small startup usage
- only serious design role is prototyping
- only serious production role is for making molds
- suited to the desktop or garage, not factory operation
- CNC and robotics were also predicted to take over everything in manufacturing decades ago, but are still only niche
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