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I think you can get a "real" desktop 3D printer for about $5K these days. But the consumer build-it-yourself designs are doing reasonably well, and actually give very, very good results - the catch is you have to be willing to put a lot of time in.

I guess I would also note that these guys are all kind of headed in the direction of competing with the "real" desktop 3D printers, but yeah, they won't be there for a while. I wrote some further thoughts here: http://justindunham.net/2011/08/where-is-open-source-3d-prin...

RepRap is a free desktop 3D printer capable of printing plastic objects: http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

The RepRap Project is an initiative aimed at creating a largely self-replicating machine which can be used for rapid prototyping and manufacturing: http://www.reddit.com/r/reprap

Both are different projects, but relate to 3D printing.

If you're willing to spend 10x the amount, you can score a professional printer. How much is "many times the amount"? (p.s. checkout Up! printer)