SEATTLE — The desk space next to PCs first welcomed paper printers and later made room for three-dimensional printers that could conjure any shape from spools of plastic.
Now new devices, including laser cutters and computer-controlled milling machines, are coming out of industrial workshops and planting themselves on desktops. The wave of new machines is bringing a new level of precision to people who make physical objects — from leather wallets to lamps to circuit boards — as a career or hobby.