Yeah, thats what I was thinking about the dies too. If the artwork is PDF then most likely its 2.5D stuff.
Where VCarve wouldn't be a good (sole) choice is pieces where the surfaces aren't flat. Say you wanted a raindrop with a rounded surface to press into a sign. VCarve has no convenient way to create that rounded surface (it has 3D capabilities but no way to create the model). If, instead, you wanted a raindrop that is flat to use as a print block, no problemo!
As to details, the hard part isn't just being detailed, its how small the details are and how much "slop" you can handle. Make a loonie that is 1 foot across and .005" backlash is almost inconsequential. At its original scale 0.005" backlash would make a mess of the coin.
You usually have a choice between ACME threaded rods or ballscrews for your machine. Considering the workload and the fact that you're more than likely going to want to go FAST, I would be looking at ballscrews. What you have to decide is what pitch. Pitch and motor step angle will determine the smallest movement increment you can make.
I make PCBs so I need really small steps. I have a 10 pitch leadscrew and 1.8 degree stepper. That gives me 10 full turns per inch and each turn has 200 steps. So my smallest movement with 1 full step is .0005". You might not need that small. A 5 pitch leadscrew would have 0.001" steps and would move twice as far per step (twice as fast).
Doing 2-4 dies per day every day is going to require a nice solid machine so probably no Taigs or Sherlines. Beyond that I can't help ya. I'm into routers and really haven't looked at the mills. The tormach mentioned above seems to have a large loyal following.
You might also want to ask opinions down in the metalworking machines forum and the benchtop machines. Lots of folks there are probably doing similar work.  |