LOL....when you said 3D printer, I'm thinking like a home use unit. Those are pretty nice! I keep trying to think of an excuse to have that level of capability for our operation, but it just doesn't make sense.
Since every person is different we print hundreds of dental models every day to build our orthodontic appliances, so we have five Carbon printers in use right now. Our stuff isn't quite as cool as some amazing stuff like printing the midsole for these Adidas running shoes: Next on the list for us is a machine that 3d prints metal for our appliances..... I may have to make a few custom parts.... all in the name of learning how to use the printer of course
That's really cool and a great application for additive manufacturing that I didn't really think about, the dental field. I use 3d printing for small parts and prototypes in an industrial environment but my industry is like the worst ever at adopting new ideas and new thinking - enough that I find it hard to work here sometimes. There has been real progress in the small scale additive manufacturing of metal parts - I would be super interested to see what you think if you guys take the plunge.