14 DAY TRIAL // 3D printing is becoming increasingly popular, helped by ever cheaper printers and improving quality. The surge, according to a IDTechEx report, will also prove a boon for manufacturers of 3D printing materials, like plastic filaments and metal powder.
The report focuses on the long term, but it says that the market could grow to as much as $615 million (€447 million) by 2025.
But it could be a lot smaller; it all depends on how things evolve. The big issue in the market and in 3D printing in general, the report claims, is the problem of materials and vendor lock-in.
More and more manufacturers are building printers that only work with approved materials, materials that only they sell. This keeps prices artificially high.
It's too early to tell whether this will become industry practice, but it hopefully won't. The fact that 3D printing still has a large following among the DIY and open source people is encouraging.
Quite a few manufacturers build machines that work with everything you can put in them. Several manufacturers even provide source files for their printers. But this happens mostly at the low end.
Still, even without vendor lock-in, materials are quite expensive, the most expensive part of 3D printing perhaps.