Straw poll: 3D printing awareness

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posted in Community by champ_de

Quick, casual poll.

Of the people you talk to:
- what % have heard of 3D printing?
- what % really understand the current possibilities / limitations?

I realize there will be some bias here, in that you all are more likely than others to be hanging with people who also like 3D printing. But.. still curious.

9 years, 9 months ago

ivanpope - Most people have heard of it (even my mum sends me cuttings) but about 1% understand anything about the possibilities/limitations. There's huge potential for whoever finds the funnel to bring people who could do with printing to the door. At the moment I guess most just don't even think of it.

9 years, 9 months ago

elpulpo - Yup! Agree totally with Ivan. Mind you, how many members of the public were aware of Thermoplastic Injection Moulding when it was a new technology?? Not many people actually care HOW something works, let alone how it's MADE.

Another interesting question might be "What can 3D printing do that couldn't be done another way?" May sound like a strange question but I think it's important that we truly understand what 3DP buys people. In most cases, IMHO it simply makes things cheaper or more readily available.

9 years, 9 months ago

show 1 more comments

tjones - Agree with @ivanpope and @elpulpo: 60-70% have heard of it. 1-2% get it in a real way.

And as inspired by @elpulpo...: http://www.makexyz.com/f/what-can-3d-printing-do-that-couldnt-be-done-anoth-3cdb3332f8cf3eec92283f893e49858e

9 years, 9 months ago

vinnie90 - 70% heard of it. Rest thinks it is printing of shirts and stickers

10% understand 3D Printing. Rest thinks that it is a magical machine that makes things in a matter of minutes.

9 years, 9 months ago

printedsolid - Other responses are 100% dead on to my personal experience as well.

A fascinating point from my perspective is that I'm an engineer and work with many engineers. Even many of my engineer friends don't get it. 'A desktop 3D printer? What would we possibly do with that?' 2 days later it's already paid for itself. 2 weeks later it's filtered out a dozen junk product design ideas.

I'd also like to add in another small percentage of people that think it prints 3D pictures.

9 years, 9 months ago