Used for years to make instant industrial prototypes, medical devices and other finished parts, 3D printers now are available in desktop models or inexpensive build-it-yourself kits -- allowing anyone to create an object from a digital blueprint. Some Web-based companies provide 3D printing of customer-designed products, and Staples is even planning to install 3D printers in some stores in Europe. The surging activity surrounding 3D printing reminds many observers of the exciting early days of personal computing. Indeed, some experts see a decentralized manufacturing revolution in the making. Others caution that such cottage industry networks are a long way from replacing industrial-size factories. And with small-scale producers capable of making exact duplicates of objects, experts predict legal collisions with corporate patent-holders. Some experts also fear proliferation of 3D-printed weapons. But the steady expansion of 3D printing appears unstoppable.

Peter Katel is a CQ Researcher contributing writer who previously reported on Haiti and Latin America for Time and Newsweek and covered the Southwest for newspapers in New Mexico. He has received several journalism awards, including the Bartolomé Mitre Award for drug coverage from the Inter-American Press Association and awards for investigative and interpretive reporting from the New Mexico Press Association. He holds an A.B. in university studies from the University of New Mexico.