Perhaps not surprisingly I've got one, and a CNC controlled mini-mill, and some casting supplies. The need that motivated that purchase was doing robotics. Small robots suffer a bit from credible build materials. On the one hand you can make them out of "traditional" DIY materials like wood but working the material and making reasonably light weight robots is hard. Heavy robots need stronger motors and bigger batteries etc etc. Converting toys into robots works but you are constrained by what ever the manufacturer did, and since they are being as cheap as possible you often find that the thing they could have done but didn't would have really helped (like having three attachment points all about the same level). Custom mechanics are pretty much out, except what ever you can do with Meccano or Lego Technic or Erector stuff.
Thus mechanical fabrication is a problem, and automated fabrication is better than manual fabrication, both from a fit and finish perspective and a design perspective.
That said, I've met people with 3D printers who printed like half a dozen things on them and then stopped. They couldn't think of new things to print. They were excited about the concept but it hasn't worked out or the finish wasn't actually as good as they had imagined it would be.
If you are a robotics enthusiast I think its a great tier 2 tool, like an Oscilloscope.
Thus mechanical fabrication is a problem, and automated fabrication is better than manual fabrication, both from a fit and finish perspective and a design perspective.
That said, I've met people with 3D printers who printed like half a dozen things on them and then stopped. They couldn't think of new things to print. They were excited about the concept but it hasn't worked out or the finish wasn't actually as good as they had imagined it would be.
If you are a robotics enthusiast I think its a great tier 2 tool, like an Oscilloscope.