You start off saying 3D printing isn't "just an industrial thing," but then 3 of the 4 items in your list presume an industrial setting.
And I would claim item number 2 doesn't happen often enough to justify the costs of 3D printing for most people. A new handle is less than $2 at Home Depot and takes 20 minutes to go buy. A 3D printer is a several hundred dollar investment, the printing material is another big cost, and the printing time itself is longer than it'd take to drive to the store.
Nobody can deny 3D printing will be great for prototyping and some kinds of custom manufacturing, but I've yet to see a convincing argument for consumer 3D printing.
How do 3/4 of my points presume an industrial setting? (1) Specifically says otherwise, and why would quickly getting something in hand have anything to do with your setting?
I suppose (2) varies from person to person, but I've definitely done a heck of a lot of hardware browsing where I ended up with some crappy part from china that was the only thing they had that fit what I wanted. And then it broke, and then I went back and returned it, etc., etc., etc. There is something to be said about designing your hardware to fit your job, not the other way around.
(3) Also doesn't presume anything. Yes, most people do not have CNC machines (although I know several who do), but you might surprised how many people have wood/metal shops in their garages or basements. One of the other comments on this very story has someone talking about how having a buddy with a metal shop and a dump is just as good a FDM machine.
Again, (4) has absolutely nothing to do with setting. How does being able to cheaply whip off multiple variations of a model having anything to do with industry? Aside from the fact that such methods are often used in industry, because it's a smarter way to do things. Most home-hacking happens one part at a time for exactly the reason I mention.
Well, I agree that 3D printing is going to be a big step forward for the type of people who own CNC machines and own wood or metal shops.
But I think that's a pretty small group, and I don't it's big enough to justify all the overblown talk of 3D printing revolutionizing the world in general.
Depends if you talk about the present or about one or two decades ahead. Some day, probably less than 20 years from now, most people will have a practical desktop factory that will make lots of useful things for them.
Current 3D printers are not revolutionizing the world yet, but the next desktop factories will.
And I would claim item number 2 doesn't happen often enough to justify the costs of 3D printing for most people. A new handle is less than $2 at Home Depot and takes 20 minutes to go buy. A 3D printer is a several hundred dollar investment, the printing material is another big cost, and the printing time itself is longer than it'd take to drive to the store.
Nobody can deny 3D printing will be great for prototyping and some kinds of custom manufacturing, but I've yet to see a convincing argument for consumer 3D printing.