I wonder what the impact will be on bespoke craftspersons, such as those who make their living on Etsy? I would think that as the "essential" products in life and home living become trivially cheap to manufacture and get-on-demand, those who can produce high quality one-of-a-kind items -- and who can repair them -- will be in higher demand, in the same way that top developers still command high salaries despite the glut of offshore programmers.
3D printers cannot knit a sweater. 3D printers cannot carve wood. That may change some day, and we can cross that bridge when we come to it.
What I see 3D printers doing is replacing foreign labor for the production of cheap parts. "Made in China" will be as old-fashioned as sending a letter via postal mail. Toys will be printed at home, that obscure nut that your car maker insisted on using will be printed in your garage, etc. Your home decorations will be printed, and you'll be able to replace them at will.
Despite the availability of cheap goods made by low-paid child laborers in developing nations, people still pay top dollar for crafts. I doubt that will change because of 3D printers.
Depends on the printer. Not all use plastic.
Soem use a lasr to cut the modell from a solid block.
You can 3D print a complete chess set out of steel this way :).
This is far to expensive for home use, but I gues you could use it to create fake car parts, and sell them for half the price.
