>>6204512They're really not. FDM printing is dirt cheap. 20 bucks gets you 1kg of ABS, which is the weight of two small MG gunplas. In terms of just mass you're getting a ton of value. Of course, not as much as pellets.
>>6203367SLA printers can basically pass for production-like quality. I think formlabs has free or cheap samples of prints you can order to see for yourself. We're talking .05mm with excellent uniformity since it's a laser passing through UV cured resin. Even moving linear motion mechanisms (ballscrews and rails) can achieve >0.05mm resolution easily, that sort of accuracy is trivial when the method you're using to produce tools isn't terrible.
They won't be interchangeable with injection molded thermoplastics but UV cured resins are already pretty good in many areas, just not as well rounded as thermoplastics. There are casting polyurethanes that are similar to top plastics like acetal, so maybe we'll see better UV cure resins in the future. The Carbon M1 printer already has some very strong resins that are, afaik, only possible through their patented curing method, though the resolution isn't as good as common SLA printing. And the machines are obscenely expensive, but I'm sure prices will go down in the future (and once the patents expire) like it did with FDM (patents were a large part in what held consumer-grade 3D printing back).
I'll point out 3D printing is an industrial production method like injection molding, so it's not something everyone can enjoy, but it's short sighted to say top notch stuff won't be available in the future. The ability to produce production-like surface finish is basically there, what's lagging behind is material (seemingly improving) and price (probably going to be inelastic for a while). FDM printing was once considered an industrial standard but now even $200 pieces of junk can do it reasonably once the patents protecting it expired.
