I don't think the fact that you can make fairly serious mechatronic devices with pocket money can conceivably be a bad thing for engineering as a discipline. However this does mean there are a lot of people that own a 3d printer that will never be good engineers.

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geerlingguy 4 days ago | parent [-]

I think 98% of 3D printers go towards printing trinkets for organization and figurines.

But I'm glad to be able to get into a 3D printer for an affordable price to do the other things. Probably wouldn't have happened without the mass(ish) market adoption.

	▲	conorbergin 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Oh absolutely, I flatter myself to think I use them for "serious engineering", and I am well aware of my debt to Warhammer players who don't want to pay Games Workshop prices.