> Im more surprised that the high street hasnt been filled with 3d print shops, taking the place of where colour photo copier facilities were in the 90's....
It kinda has actually, it's just not in the high street.
There are plenty of people out there with 3D printing farms making money from orders for small run parts.
It's the kind of thing that I wouldn't mind getting into myself.
Most recent, off-the-shelf 3D printers these days are extraordinarily good and the problem de jour is that they are all getting a bit samey and many are just Creality Ender 3 clones. If people can just get their head around the basics (keep your bed clean and level and take the time to get the first layer spacing right, understand the printer's limitations), they are actually very reliable and you can do some really cool things.