Why did 3D Printers not take off? /u/LondonLout No such thing as stupid questions

I remember being back in high school around 2010 and there being alot of hype around 3D printers and how they’d shift the balance of global economics.

All homes would have advanced 3D printers and you would not have as many goods made in China and shipped to homes in the West – you’d simply buy online and have it “downloaded” to your printer to be printed there and then.

People were calling it the 4th industrial revolution.

In the 15 years since then I’ve only seen it used as a hobbyist/small scale craft tool. They seem to do pretty much the exact same things as 15 years ago too.

Does anyone know what happened to 3D printing?

I remember being back in high school around 2010 and there being alot of hype around 3D printers and how they’d shift the balance of global economics.

All homes would have advanced 3D printers and you would not have as many goods made in China and shipped to homes in the West – you’d simply buy online and have it “downloaded” to your printer to be printed there and then.

People were calling it the 4th industrial revolution.

In the 15 years since then I’ve only seen it used as a hobbyist/small scale craft tool. They seem to do pretty much the exact same things as 15 years ago too.

Does anyone know what happened to 3D printing?