XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics, sci.electronics.design   
   From: jfindley@cinci.nospam.rr.com   
      
   In article <24vf3e-srm.ln1@mail.specsol.com>, jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com   
   says...   
   >   
   >   
   > I can see a few, very few, people printing junk jewelry, mostly teenage   
   > girls.   
      
   Perhaps, but have you been to a craft store in the last 5 years?   
   They've been selling commercial 2d robotic cutters for many years that   
   are about the size of an ink-jet printer.  The stupid thing shows   
   absolutely no sign of stopping even though the "cartridges" which   
   contain the cutting patterns are DRM protected and *very* expensive.   
   They are mostly used by people who like to do scrap books, but others   
   use them for making their own greeting cards and etc.   
      
   In those same craft stores is a large jewelery making section.  Those   
   "memory bracelets" people make are a hot thing because "every item on it   
   represents a memory".  In other words, these things are already highly   
   customized.   
      
   So, I wouldn't discount the notion that the crafts stores might start   
   selling very small 3d metal printers for making little dangling things   
   for jewelery (memory bracelets, necklace charms, and etc.) since this   
   would drop right into the market-space.  They would only need to print   
   at most 3" x 3" x 3" to cover 99% of the jewelery market.   
      
   That same metal printer would sell "big league" at game stores where   
   custom cast characters for board games are already a huge market.  In   
   other words Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer 40k, and etc.  Even if an   
   individual player wouldn't want one, every damn game store on the planet   
   would want at least a couple.   
      
   Jeff   
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