USAF 3D metal prints F-22A part.
Additive machining is going to be more and more mainstream as the technology gets better and cheaper.
The precision and resolution will get better, the costs will come down.
There are huge, fallow markets for all manner of no-longer-in-stock parts.
Especially cars.
A 3D laser scan to export dimensions and a printer with the right material and that dash piece on your Corvette is replaceable! Get GM to do it and you won't even lose NCRS points!
Like metal injection molding, there will be parts that this means of production will not be appropriate. But there's gobs and gobs of places where it's just fine.
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My senior design project involved working with outside companies; we met up with a custom ferarri restoration place that had a ton of capacity for fixing one-and-two off cars with no spare parts in existence ever that they branched off into a custom engineering shop for when it wasn't in use. They had a multi-million dollar 3D metal printer capable of doing custom alloy blends on-demand, and some impressive projects done with it. Including putting a boron carbide edge on an industrial knife via metallurgy shenanigans. I wish I could find the name of the place or somewhere else with that capability, I want to see if that qualifies as Superfine.
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