thermoplastic turds
" whizz-whir desktop 3D printers that produce a range of useless, multi-coloured, thermo-plastic turds."
spot on. really sums up the whole thing.
apart from some level of initial prototyping , possibly.
I did see a thing on tv where the military claimed to be making huge saving by using 3d printing - somthing to do with aircraft parts, but i think they were talking out of their arses. They;re not known for thrifty savings.