When personal 3D printers hit the market a few years ago, it seemed like it wouldn't be long before every household had its own, sitting right next to the laptop.

That dream has faded, thanks to a bad global economy, printers that can cost as much as a month's rent, and the lack of people who know how to use them. It seems like the fantasy of $100 printer should be put aside for now, since Stratasys Inc. already downgraded MakerBot and most 3D printing companies seem to be zeroing in on health care as their biggest and fastest-growing target.

3D Systems Inc., for example, recently joined up with a volunteer network that prints hands for kids who need them. The idea is that the collaboration will provide info it can use to build a prosthetic hand approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Chief Marketing Officer Cathy Lewis said.

3D Systems has worked on more futuristic projects—developing an exoskeleton with Ekso Bionics, making custom prosthetics for a dog—and also everyday partnerships: selling to hearing-aid labs, research labs, hospitals and medical-device companies.

3D printing was supposed to be the next big thing and, for a while, it was. Sales grew about 34 percent annually for the past three years, as everyone was transfixed by the idea of bringing printers to mass market.

Now, the stock value of the two juggernauts—3D Systems and Stratasys Inc—has plunged from $14 billion to less than $3 billion. Sure, the technology itself keeps moving ahead, but both companies are dealing with quality issues and, more worryingly, a market that consists of people frustrated at high prices and those who think it's cool but don't bother trying it for themselves.