Seriously, you could not get a better photograph of a 3D printed item to lead this story. All the FDM printers featured in the story are capable of printing at a level of quality and accuracy that a few years ago would have required a printer many times more expensive. Open source no longer means having to accept low quality and shoddy prints or endless tinkering to get acceptable output. It now comes with high level of reliability and consistency that is leveraging makers and designers to be able to use 3D printer as production machines.
Seriously, you could not get a better photograph of a 3D printed item to lead this story. All the FDM printers featured in the story are capable of printing at a level of quality and accuracy that a few years ago would have required a printer many times more expensive. Open source no longer means having to accept low quality and shoddy prints or endless tinkering to get acceptable output. It now comes with high level of reliability and consistency that is leveraging makers and designers to be able to use 3D printer as production machines.