I enjoyed synthweaving as a side game, eventually making a bunch of purple gear with augment slots (selling the non-slotted "failures" on GTN).
It was a huge money sink at first, though at level 40 / synth 400 I make decent money crafting a few things like empty orange gear (hood-free light armor, yay!) and the few purples that sell at a decent profit.
A good purple + slot with augment is several levels above orange + commendation mods, and the only orange boots, gloves, belts are rare loot drops. I don't think there are any orange bracers yet.
Supposedly with the March update, critical success with crafting empty orange gear will get you one with an augment slot, which will be very nice, but you will be able to buy those on GTN too at a price. End-game crafting is supposed to be improved too.
So: do it if you enjoy it, otherwise it's fine to just buy gear on GTN or if you're in a guild find a crafter who'll do what you need for credits or mats. Blue gear should be a cheap request, since the recipes and mats are easy to get.
Edit: slicing is still a great money-maker. Loot cases you can gather and don't need to sell (unlike mats), lockbox missions that turn a profit, and augment missions that get you fun stuff on critical success.
The alt I have that's dirt-poor and needed a loan for speeder training was my trooper with biochem, bioanalysis, and diplomacy. Bio-bio-diplo is a money pit that nets you reusable medpacks and stims, but your purples are worthless on GTN because only others with bio can use them -- they just craft their own.