>>You could try a RepRap machine.
>>
>>http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page
>>
>>Obviously, you have to be a bit of a do it yourself guy, but to me, none of it looks hard.
>>


Incredibly LOW resolution. More of a toy for tinkerers than a useful tool at this point. Maybe someday. Prices keep dropping. I fully expect to see state of the art on your desktop for under $5k within 2 years.

C.

The RepRap can go to quite fine resolutions but is slow. The problem with printed parts is overhangs. Shapeways quote a minimum feature size of 2mm which is worse than the RepRap.

I think to get really high resolution with overhangs, unsupported melted plastic is not the way to go. Better is the layered powder with sprayed binder method.