/diy/ - Do It Yourself

So why exactly is metal 3d printing so expensive? How about i just replace the hotend with a powerful laser, add an arm that'll wipe on a new layer or whatever and so on. Surely all of this shouldn't cost more than like $400 at most, and surely the powder doesn't have to be that expensive either, i mean it's just metal powder you melt down with the laser, what makes it so expensive?