@Joergen - I had not priced it out at Shapeways. Thanks for suggesting them, I'll have to see what type of material offerings/printing technologies they offer. That's interesting to hear the $40/hr estimate you mention. We have a laser CNC machine (Epilog) for engraving which I charge about that rate for design services plus about $1/min for machine-run-time.
@destroyer2012 - I completely agree! I've got a handful of projects waiting to be rapid prototyped (hobby inventor here). While this base is incredible simple, it's been my benchmark to compare protoyping costs using FDM, SLA, Polyjet, SLS technologies from Stratasys, ZCorp, and Objet. While I have my eyes and budget set on a recertified ZCorp ZPrinter or Stratasys Dimension in the $10K to $18K range, their cost-per-unit is still too high for 'playing' with my ideas getting them ready for production (upwards of $4 to $8 per cubic inch). For that reason I'm in the market for a hobby system like Ultimaker to prep designs prior to higher-end prototpying, molding and casting.
Knowing there are a number of hobby-UM'ers out there... I'm still willing to pay for a UM print of this base, if for nothing else to have a sample in hand to see exactly how it stacks up against my samples from the big-dog printers. If anyone's game, feel free to 'PM' me to talk price if you'd like.
Thanks for the quick responses!