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I would like to put in an entirely self-promoting word for Big Blue Saw. 12 pitch (and possibly finer) gears come out just fine when waterjet cutting, and can be a lot cheaper than having custom gears made at a gear specialist. See my photos of an aluminum gear made for a fighting robot.

Big Blue Saw is running a this week. Design an aluminum part, and they'll cut it for you.

I didn't want to mention it, but since you brought it up, waterjet cutting makes use of a high pressure stream of water and abrasive particles to machine a part. It's effective on almost any material, including plastic, metal, wood, and stone. It's a very versatile technique that offers low setup cost.

After reading this article in MAKE I found out about Big Blue Saw, which is similar to eMachineShop. They'll take a DXF file and will produce machined parts in a handful of materials (plastic, steel, etc) and thicknesses. They even provide & promote links to a bunch of Open Source CAD software. Good stuff.