You are right, Alan, cost of printing is too high; when I saw your thread about the radio antenna, I thouht that the cost would be around $100/$130. But even $75 is expensive; I think that SHAPEWAYS and others (SCULPTEO, etc,...) overestimate the global cost including inter alia labor and time to print. I don't know if it's the same in the USA, but here you often have more labor cost than the thing you give to do!
That's why I have re-done some parts of my SD 40 and other projects in styrene and that's also why I put money aside little by little to buy a 3D printer!
As said above, the layering effect is an issue when you use PLA, but a little finish work and a bit of elbow grease gives good results.
The idea of printing a prototype and to make mold after to cast is a good one. But you need to also have the tooling for molding and casting...in addition to the 3D printer or to use the sevices of a 3D maker.
Just my thought
jpv in France
