I hope you are right, Vince. The next step in a run-away government would be to identify households/businesses having these devices and to monitor their output.
This 3-D printing will in a little while morph into something called an assembler.
They will come in small desktop models to large mobile models that build homes/bridges/whatever
Just about all you really need to build large structures like homes is lots of sand, an assembler and plenty of energy.
Assemblers will one day be able to create drugs, food, clothes, electronic devices, tools .... and new assemblers.
Progressives (communists) will NOT like this tech at all! How can you rule over a populace that does not need anything from government!?!?
The 3D printer empowers the individual. That’s why the gov will soon get around to controlling the things.
I like the whole 3D printing concept, it fits in well with the DIY concept Americans have come to know and love. Working in the machine tool industry, I can add this to my arsenal of machining techniques. Of course, the DIY CNC concept predates this technology by at least a decade. I can easily see combining both of the conceptsto produce anything people can come up with.
do they have any 3-d printers that can make metal components that can take stresses?
Onesey-twosey, proto types, modeling, and mockups. Maybe. But churning out thousands at a time?
Also, what about maintenance.
Maybe I am missing something.