Just to use as an example of the costs involved in a "One-off" item. Now, I'm not talking about machining billet aluminum here, but the process is SLA (Stereo Lithography). Probably the simplest means of producing a solid (plastic-like) object from a 3D computer data file or drawing. I just last week contracted to have 5 pieces made using this process. The parts were small enough to fit inside a 6 x 6 x 10 cardboard box. $2000. There was no tooling cost, the material cost was about $40, the finish labor cost about two hours worth, and I did the 3D computer work. Essentially all they did was download my 3Dfiles into their machine and press start. no setup, no fixtures, no perishible tooling... Now imagine if they did the design work and made the parts from billet. Easily double or triple the price.
Laser scanning often requires an extensive amount of editing to get rid of the "glitches" that pop up all over the scanned surfaces. They have come a long way in that respect, but you can't get a helmet like the one they have in the video without some serious "clean-up" time invested before the first chip hits the floor.
