Booskaboo

Ever try molding a single object? It's a lot of work, it's a lot less work to 3D print. It's usually less work to print something if it's less than about 100 parts, especially if they're dissimilar, all unique, or if you just want it done in a parallelized fashion that only needs to be watched by one or two employees.

I do dental 3D printing and help labs set themselves up. For a progression of clear braces, you'd need a different model to do a vacuuformer pull over for each step. With a 3D printer, you can just print the progression of clear braces directly. Also works for things like dentures, and surgical guards which are usually so labor intensive most dentists just go freehand.

One of the main times 3D printing is a good choice is when the geometry isn't conducive to being milled. This is most common with internal cavities, but also undercuts on 3 axis mills.

Here's another fun one: Assemblies printed as one piece (including moving assemblies)

3D System's ProX 950 printer saves a ton of labor at a place like a car design firm because they can print smooth parts up to 1.5m long (not a typo). One example here is an entire dashboard being printed in one piece in lieu of molding. Downside is the printer is well over a half million dollars and it takes about 935 liters of resin to fill the material delivery module. That could be hundreds of thousands in materials just sitting there.

https://objexunlimited.com/objexunlimited/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/prox-950-xl-dashboard2.jpg

Wasn’t my part, but an example.

It’s meant for situations where you’re literally spending millions per prototype. In that situation, it could be a cost savings over paying teams to coordinate even though it’s far more expensive per part.

I was agreeing with you that it’s more expensive per part, but everyone thinks that expensive doesn’t mean that it’s useful to someone as a cost savings.

I absolutely cannot recommend the Ender 3. I've gotten friends who are very technically competent to give it a shot and they all ended up quitting. People who keep promoting it are people that are competent at tuning pretty much any 3D printer (like myself) and have been doing it for decades.

Stick with a Prusa or better. You want something premade with someone to complain to if it doesn't 'just work' because there's an amazing amount of skills one needs to learn that doesn't just involve the most basic step of calibrating the printer.

What are your thoughts on alignment-based yoga therapy for the long-term treatment of low back issues (eg bulging discs)?