Peer Production has published the results of their most recent annual 3D printing survey. The survey probed the use of 3D printers by the public in an effort to understand current state and trends in the personal 3D printing industry.
What did they find? You can read the entire report at the link below, but here are the most interesting bits, at least from our point of view:
While demographics are usually most dull and uninteresting parts of any survey, we noticed that the responding group was slightly older than the previous year. We suspect this means personal 3D printing is slowly moving out from a concentration of twenty-somethings to an older group. Or at least everyone’s a year older.
Makers still make up the biggest respondent, but the proportion diminished. This again corresponds to “consumers” entering 3D printing to join early adopter “makers”.
While many more types of 3D printers appeared on the survey, the relative proportions didn’t change much. We take that to mean people tend to keep their devices for more than a year. Duh, they’re too expensive to flip annually!
There is no “killer usage” for personal 3D printing. It seems that people like to make functional, artistic and spare parts in relatively the same proportions.
More people seem to be using 3D print services. Perhaps they’re looking for more capabilities than can be found on typical desktop 3D printers.
The “Most Wanted Features” seems to be pretty much the same as previous results. This could mean that the manufacturers are not delivering what buyers want. At least for now.
Respondents are still concerned with the ability to produce or acquire suitable 3D models for 3D printing. This situation will likely persist for some time until someone invents a workable solution.
Via Peer Production
