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I agree with you that the midsize print shops turning out parts for local businesses and manufacturers will have a hard time finding a place but I think in the (not so) long run, when the Moore's Law of printing kicks in, even the "Amazon of 3D printing" - whoever that turns out to be - will have a hard time competing with local printers. With cheap, reliable and accurate 3D printouts available in your shop and eventually everyone's home, who will be willing to pay the middleman's markup or wait 2 days for delivery? Yeah, the quality is not quite there yet, but it's coming. Have you seen the realtime measurement feedback loops they're coming out with on hobbyist machines? Two years ago you had to pay the big bucks for that. Two more years and it will be pretty much standard on every printer.

Either way, it doesn't really matter to me. I have options I never dreamed about 10 years ago and I see only endless opportunities ahead for individual designers and builders and, sooner than later, everyone. We are entering another techno-revolution and we, as a society, are going to lose jobs because of it but there will probably also be a lot of jobs created by it that we can't even imagine from our viewpoint in time. But one thing is for sure, it is going to be very good for us as empowered individuals. It's going to be mighty hard for some govt goober to tell me what I can or cannot have when I just printed it out for myself.

Closed-loop control would help the quality issue somewhat. Alot of the problem I see with the hobbyist/consumer units is related to using cheap frames and motion components. Unfortunately, that’s also what puts them in the hobbyist price bracket. In general, I don’t think the extrusion process will ever turn out finished quality mechanincal parts without considerable post-machining.

I think it’s a fun technology, and can see the attraction from the point of view of a hobbyist or someone who wants to live a more DIY lifestyle than most. For me, it’s nice to be able to prototype quickly. Getting usable machine parts requires more time and effort than standard machining, though.

If I had access to a SLS or good quality SLA machine, I could make good parts without having to put so much time into them, and save weight on almost any part. Problem is good SLA printers are in the same price range as decent CNC mills and they have the advantage of producing full-strength metal parts. In the case of good sintering machines, those currently cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Anybody who’s handy enough to get real use out of a 3D printer and has time/space for the project, can make a DIY CNC vertical mill or lathe that will produce high-quality parts for about what they’d pay for a good prosumer-level extruder.

Definitely think 3D printing is going to disrupt certain niches of the manufacturing/prototyping/machining industries. Could put some concrete form-setters out of work, too. Just don’t see a typical consumer getting enough actual utility out of one to justify the price tag unless the price for plastic manufactured goods suddenly shoots up 10-fold.