Build Your Own SLA/SLS

Not completely germane to the forum, but it's a milestone worth mentioning. It's the first implementation of SLS, that I know of, outside of the mega corporations like EOS And 3D Systems. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/18 ... =discovery Their price is outrageous, compared to the actual hardware cost and what that hardware is doing, but they and the others that will come along will get away with it for now, being that you cannot touch a machine like this for under $250,000 US.

I'll predict that by next summer we will have seen several SLS machines come forth and of these the lowest price will be under $1000.

I have to agree on pricing with you. Too high for a setup like this.
I think the main innovation in SLS compared to milling machines / 3D laser printer is the powder feeding mechanism. Rest is well known and mass produced. For started stepper driven XY stage would be sufficient in my opinion.
Another thing will be powder availability.
I like the idea of SLS due to powder supporting the printed part

you can't do SLS with stepper XY solutions due to the hatching you need to do inside the part, it's simply not fast enough. a layer with loads of detail takes a commercial SLS machine maybe 30 seconds, and you run the risk of part curling and warping with large surfaces.
That same layer would take minutes on an XY based machine. And without "proper" temperature control, you don't get good parts.

In my opinion it's simply way too early for good results with a machine like this, but it's a start and a step in the right direction.

Cheers