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If you're interested in this sort of thing it wouldn't hurt to get an estimate from a water-jet cutting place. It's a really good process for cutting complex 2D shapes in flat materials for low-volume production runs.

(Of course you need to get the gear outline into an appropriate file format first.)

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Have you compared waterjet and laser prices? There's a shop down the street from me that will do custom laser cutting (in Masonite or wood) but they want me to bring in an EPS file to get a price quote. What should I expect to pay?

You're mostly paying for labor, and they generally charge for an hour -- so get as much done at once as you can.

You can also use either process with Aluminum sheet. both have their advantages.

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