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It is truly amazing what people can do with 3D printers and some ingenuity. Yesterday I designed and printed a part to fix a broken pepper mill so my only contribution to society using 3D printing so far is that I didn't toss an otherwise good item in the trash.

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I've always thought 3D printers were cool, but never found a reason to want one of my own. You just gave me a reason. A big enough reason? We'll see. I hate throwing out things that are 99% fine, but have one little, broken part you know you can't buy anywhere.

What about joining a local hackerspace, if that's an option? You can get access to much better machines than you would buy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace

So far I fixed that pepper mill. Fixed a broken part of my wife's car that held the controls for her drivers side seat that probably would have cost as much as the printer since it is a Mercedes. I printed a small fold-able stand for my Mac Book Pro that allows me to place a fan behind it and blow air over and under it to keep it cool while closed. My next project is designing and printing a new tone armrest for my old Pioneer turntable.

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