The appeals are obvious: Manufacture anything you want out of plastic, right on your desktop. There's no cause to go to the store to buy something that was made in China, put on a boat, loaded onto a truck, and placed on a shelf.

3D printers can make nearly any object you can dream up by laying down small layers of plastic on top of each other. People around the world use them to make everything from artwork to practical everyday items.

3D print a fork. 3D print a whistle. You're limited only by your imagination, and you can get started by printing innumerable things people have already designed and uploaded for you to experiment with.

But before you can do any of that, you need to figure out which printer is right for you.