Thanks for sharing scorch. 3-d printing is definitely cool but like you say you have to have an application. And I'm in the same position about figuring the cost to time spent quotient.

I felt the same way about getting a PC. I knew so many people that had them but it was more about the fiddling than actually doing something practical IMHO. And even then when I got my first PC in '93 it was more fiddling than anything else because Windows was so buggy.

At this point I don't have an application for a 3-D printer yet but watching what folks make with them like you and metaldesigner really helps to see what can be done. I only see the tech growing exponentially in the coming years along with prices coming down. This could be a revolution in how things are manufactured and marketed. The precursor to sci fi predictions.......?