10 Reasons to Get a 3D Printer

3D printers are going to be as common as Inkjet printers became. I remember having to program peoples printers with DIP switches to be able to change paper width, landscape, portrait, etc. That was 20 years ago.

In 20 years, what will 3D printers be able to do and why will you buy one?

1. Scallop Wrapped Bacon Come on, someone needs to make food thread so I can make crazy combinations of foods that would never be possible. We need Star Trek Replicators, and we need them now! Imagine downloading/purchasing a recipe from a famous chef for the food threads you have available and then getting to eat something amazing that would never have been possible before.
2. Home printed sneakers molded to your foot based on a 3D model of your foot. Perfect comfort, printed at home when you need a pair. Maybe Nike and others can compete with 3D model files of various sneaker styles.
3. No more hunting for obscure parts This is more a CNC machine but imagine an odd sized screw, bolt, washer breaks in whatever thingamajig and instead of throwing it out you just download the part model and print/cut a new on. Maybe we could move back to a world where items have classic designs are last longer since we can print out the broken parts to repair them ourselves.
4. Home printed 3D signage Your a business that wants a new sign? Print the sign components yourself from a 3D model of your logo and then assemble the sign yourself. Why pay someone else to build you a 3D sign with your logo when you can do it at home?
5. Community Game Systems This is already happening. Why pay large amounts of money to a couple game companies to buy overpriced plastic figurines for their games? Print as many pieces as you want for pennies compared to the branded game systems and then have truly massive war gaming sessions.
6. Death Masks When someone died in the past they sometimes would cast a mask of their face with plaster of paris. Then they could make busts of the person. Now we can just scan ourselves in and print a mask instead. Think of the fun you could then have with these molds like casting custom masks from them. In a future where surveillance will become so common that people want to gain back some privacy when they walk the streets, expect people to start wearing stylish masks and not so stylish to hide their identity while on the streets.
7. Custom skins for your whatever gadget Why does your phone need to look like what the company that designed it to be? Print out custom shells/skins for your phone to turn it into something completely different. Or better yet? Order the electronics and display for your device and custom print your own body to put it into.
8. 3D Business Cards Paper will be so passé when you can print a 3D business card. With a QR Code of course so people can…ya whatever, who am I kidding with QR Codes ;-)
9. Custom model kits Why do to a model shop to purchase a model? Purchase the model file online, print at home and then assemble. I have built models as a boy but recently I wanted to build one of a helicopter which is not available since the market for a Canadian helicopter is too limited so there is no model for it. What if I could purchase the model file and print it myself? Then the long tail of modeling could be tapped so that companies can make money off the fans of obscure models that the general model building fan base are not interested in.
10. House Purchasing Why look at planes for a house? How about if you could assemble a house in a 3D program, print it out and then look at the model to see what it would really look like. Custom homes could make a big comeback as you tweak your house to the exact design you want. This would be offered by Architecture firms so that they could make sure the program will design something build able with sound architectural design included.