[skeleton]

My needs are the following -
Small parts
Average Length - 1" x 3"
Thickness of Metal - 14gauge to 10gauge
Material - Stainless Steel, Nickel Silver, Copper, Brass
Engraving on both sides. Both light and heavy/deep artistic engraving
Work would include cutting part out, engraving part, and possibly rounding edges.
My initial needs are 100 to 200 pieces at time
I want the work to be done in the US
For a visual think of a heavily and deeply engraved dog tag

I have some 3-D artists and CAD folks I have worked with in the past on other projects (casting, milling, water cutting, etc.), however, I have not done the above work.

My questions are the following
- What is the file type I need for the machines? STP, DWG, etc.
- Are the file types universal, if not what is the most common type?
- With the cutting and engraving, am I asking for two separate work elements that need separate machines, or can one type of machine do this?
- Is my term "CNC cutting and engraving" correct?
- Looking through Google, I see a lot of artistic CNC wood engravings, but very few CNC metal artistic engravings. Am I asking for something that is not done?
- Finally is this something that should be done by laser vs machining?

- Lastly if you know of small machine shop that does this type of work and would be interested by all means drop me a note.

Thanks in advance. All clarifications are welcome.

Thanks
JT

[Dylwad]

Are they one off designs, or 100 of the same thing over and over again?

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[skeleton]

Dylwad - Same design - production runs of 100+

[Dylwad]

I might look into stamping the designs, much cheaper to machine a single die than to machine 100 of them.

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[Dylwad]

Just a thought.. http://www.coinsforanything.com/pricing.aspx#o

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[skeleton]

Funny you mention the coins. I have done a coin before, and it would certainly work. I had been wanting to do this with the CNC process though. The pricing for a custom US mold stamp and minimum order quantity that I have found has been very high. I could go to China and save a considerable sum, but I don't want to for this fabrications.