but instead, he got a makerbot. he manufactures them on his desk at home and puts them in bags and staples them and people order them on his website and he ships them out. >> i got a tool instead of a dye, and that tool makes all sorts of things. i've never had a machine, never touched 3d printing. i now have these tools and four new patents for totally unrelated industries just because i have this machine. >> on the other side of the spectrum is the professional 3d printers which have the ability to print in more than 30 materials, including metals, ceramic, sandstone and nylon. these high-end machines are being made accessible to entrepreneurs at new places like shapeways. >> this is an actual production batch of probably about 70 of our customers' products that are being built in this particular production run. >> shapeways is a 3d marketplace which allows users to upload their designs and order a print of the item they select. when we visited, they had several of their large 3d printers working around the clock