The related question would be "what is your minimum order?' That's where a personal water cutter may work better for some. The occasional use is indeed a question - and how much additional things may be done or prototyped. How many jury-rigged parts are on the trike that could be done better with the proper custom part. And if it's worth doing a one off order for a gear or bracket that is 2"x4".
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Minimum is around $90 for material and cutting, unless we're having a sale, in which case it drops to around $10.
If you order 1 part, wouldn't you at least want to order 1 spare, 1 for your friend, and 1 experimental variation? This helps drop the per-part cost.
A typical order is around $200. I estimate that this would buy you cutting time equivalent to 20-30 hours on the Wazer.
That minimum order is significantly higher than the price of the part from Germany... even with shipping. And with the gear, one spare isn't that useful... and the parts for the trike ( http://www.terratrike.com/tandem.php ) tend to be a bit specialized - I don't know anyone else who has one (mine is similar though has different parts and such because its a folding http://www.terratrike.com/traveler.php ). In the past, my father has gone to the machine shop where he used to work for custom parts - but the people who he had favors with to get some time for non-academic projects have nearly all retired.
Yes, it is certainly cheaper to have an industrial cutter if you know what you're making and making them in lots that cost a few hundred dollars. If you are after making a part rather than a half dozen... that minimum order and turn around time (do it on Saturday, have it on Sunday?) make it less interesting for some applications.