Printer's IP and patent rights?

[Toonces]

I'm a bit of a maker, and for a good while now I've thought about getting into printing for the fun of it and to see where my ideas go. Recently, I've had an idea for what I think would be a marketable piece that would serve as an add-on accessory to current woodworking power tools. Although similar to what's already out there, my version would be a significant enough improvement on current forms that I'm sure it would qualify for protection.

So, being new to this field of small time manufacturing, I'm wondering about what kind of protections are offered to 3D-printed products that are already out there but may not necessarily have patent protection, as that's where I'll be entering the field. I'll be looking into IP and patent protection asap, but in the meantime, if I put something out there, what's to stop someone from just scanning my new products and putting it out for themselves without having done the hard work and analysis that goes into designing such a piece?