From CQ Researcher: Used for years to make instant industrial prototypes, medical devices and other finished parts, 3D printers now are available in desktop models or inexpensive build-it-yourself kits — allowing anyone to create an object from a digital blueprint. Some experts see a decentralized manufacturing revolution in the making. Others caution that such cottage industry networks are a long way from replacing industrial-size factories.

• Can 3D printing revive U.S. manufacturing?
• Will intellectual-property disputes slow the evolution of 3D printing?
• Does printing weapons using 3D technology pose a major security threat?

By Peter Katel
December 7, 2012

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