Here is my attempt at creating a die cut for my bases. I purchased 15 LF of standard double bevel steel die rule from www.ameriken.com. It comes in 2.5' lengths. The price was only $36 with shipping.
I used my CNC to route out a square design with a 1/8" bit on 5/8" plywood. I am sure the same is achievable with a hand router just more time consuming.
The steel rule is very easy to cut with a pair of metal snips.
Once I got all the pieces cut and placed in the base I used pieces of 2mm Ptex to wedge in the cracks to secure the steel rule in the base. I then poured epoxy over the whole setup to set up overnight.
My plan is to use my press to push this die through some base. It seems like it should work. I will test it out tomorrow after the epoxy has cured.
It should be possible to do curved die cuts as well but I wanted to start with an easy square shape for testing.
Love the ingenuity (so don't take this the wrong way)!
I tried this long ago (well a DIY press anyways) and it was really hard to get to work right. It takes a lot more pressure than you would think to get through UHMW. I welded a steel frame and used a bottle jack, and it barely worked. I forget the rule of thumb but I think it is something like a few hundred pounds per linear inch of steel rule.
Since then, we have moved on to clicker presses and it is a world of difference. The thing about these machines is that they have a lot of force (20 tons on ours), but they also strike quickly which is key. The slower the strike, the more it stretches the material, which makes it a pain to interlock pieces. It also slightly rocks when it hits (maybe a degree or so), so the pressure moves across the cutting surface.
Also, it looks like your rule doesn't exactly meet at corners, and a professional die house will make it all seamless for you. Apple Die makes all of our dies and they are great to deal with, highly recommended. I imagine your design is in the couple hundred dollar ball park? They also provide the ejection foam.
Just some thoughts.. because I have been in your shoes! But go for it and see what happens!
Thanks for the input Team08. I did some testing today with "ok" results. I would love to get a clicker but the thousand dollar starting price tag is a bit of an issue! I have a couple of other ideas that I think might work. I will post results
Haha, nice work! Yeah, I didn't mean to tell you to go out and buy a clicker, but rather buy a 6-pack and look for your local stamping/die/leather/whatever company and trade for a few seconds with the clicker.
