That all depends on the speed of the machine, the price of the 'input' material and the versatility with which you can apply it (and the cost of the energy required to run it).
If it is done 'right' (price point at or below casting, fast to the point where making a complex part would take a couple of minutes at the most and create any solid shape, even multiple parts in one go assembled and ready to go) then it would change the world as we know it in ways that I can only describe as science fiction.
Drive the price down even further (to say below what it costs to mass produce castings) and you're looking at something where even the imagination will fail.
Make it precise enough that you can create nano machinery and you get yet another level of technology that gets unlocked. It's hard to predict what any of that would be like, but I can see all kinds of good and bad stuff happening.
Suddenly the blueprint is the machine, if you can think of it you can make it.
Right now the barrier to entry to manufacturing is comparable to lets say big iron computing in the 70's.
Think of this thing as the PC of manufacturing, suddenly everybody can quickly and easily make just about anything.
Mold making is an art and terribly expensive, so for now prototyping is handwork or at best one-off CNC runs. To replace that by a process that would cost a very small fraction would upset quite a few applecarts.
If it stays slow and expensive then it will be a niche technology, but the speed at which the prices are coming down and process speed goes up is very impressive.
If it is done 'right' (price point at or below casting, fast to the point where making a complex part would take a couple of minutes at the most and create any solid shape, even multiple parts in one go assembled and ready to go) then it would change the world as we know it in ways that I can only describe as science fiction.
Drive the price down even further (to say below what it costs to mass produce castings) and you're looking at something where even the imagination will fail.
Make it precise enough that you can create nano machinery and you get yet another level of technology that gets unlocked. It's hard to predict what any of that would be like, but I can see all kinds of good and bad stuff happening.
Suddenly the blueprint is the machine, if you can think of it you can make it.
Right now the barrier to entry to manufacturing is comparable to lets say big iron computing in the 70's.
Think of this thing as the PC of manufacturing, suddenly everybody can quickly and easily make just about anything.
Mold making is an art and terribly expensive, so for now prototyping is handwork or at best one-off CNC runs. To replace that by a process that would cost a very small fraction would upset quite a few applecarts.
If it stays slow and expensive then it will be a niche technology, but the speed at which the prices are coming down and process speed goes up is very impressive.