In addition, self-designed products are likely to be poorer in functionality. It takes considerable training and experience to design well. That's why there are such professions as engineering and industrial design. If this knowledge-base is circumvented by software and other built-in constraints, it significantly obviates the need for true customization in the first place. It also shouldn't be forgotten that what people are really often buying when they purchase products is status and panache. Norman Newman is not Calvin Klein, and it's likely that the differences in their design calligraphy will be more than apparent. Of course, Calvin is not Norman, either, and at minimum novelty also lends pizzazz, at least initially. The resale value of such custom products may be reduced or zero, as well.

Who will pay when designs go badly - or worse - damage someone? Certainly in the litigious environment of the US, offended parties will seek redress from multiple upstream sources, including the machine, material and software manufacturers, and maybe their heirs and assigns. The possibility of class action suits will require the crafting of futuristic disclaimer agreements before transactions are established.

There is no doubt that certain consumer products will be designed using elements of the rapid manufacturing process. But much of this activity will be confined to hobbyists, younger people with time on their hands, and to specific items where the advantages are overwhelming. Customized sports equipment is probably a good example. Rather than consumers designing such items directly themselves, however, there will arise a class of intermediaries who will provide an expert interface between the technology and the public for such applications. In addition to design expertise, these individuals will also provide the hand finishing and secondary operations that processes are likely to require for many years to come, and insulate the upstream vendors from the vagaries of the legal system.

For these reasons it's very unlikely that the scenario of individual consumers making much of their own manufactured goods in the home from raw materials supplied through pipes in the basement will come to pass soon, or perhaps ever. Yet the market potential of RM is still enormous. This derives from the immense number of manufacturing firms, and the breadth of the technology and its conceivable applications.