Too true!
I did some work with ProE making match plate pattern equipment used to produce gray iron castings.
There was a time when skilled wood workers produced furniture grade (hard maple usually) wooden patterns which were then used to produce the metal patterns used for series production of metal parts like engine blocks and such.
With a good CAD/CAM program you can produce a solid model of the part, apply details like draft angles, shrink allowances, fillets and radius details (in hours not days). The computer then translates your model into code to drive a computer controlled milling machine. A machinist loads the turret with the required cutters and loads the raw material. Hit the go button and watch the chips fly.
The process can produce a match plate pattern from solid stock in a matter of hours. Working with wood patterns used to take weeks.
Not exactly 3D printing but what I have described will produce metal parts with internal details at mass production rates. I expect that metal foundries will be still with us for a long time to come.
Regards,
GtG
I’m thinking 3dprinting will cut the cost of pipelines in half.
You just truck the ingredients to the right spot and drop them into a 3d printer on tracks that works by continuously extruding pipeline.
Then —if its a water pipeline on a slope somehow stick in an electrical generator every chance you get generate electricity.