OK, Kevin, that tells me a lot already.
If you are hand carving a master and digitizing it, you've just circumvented the need to get proficient enough with a CAD program to make a file that doesn't look like crap.
I believe that to have been a smart decision.
I say this because it's not easy to make real artwork on the idiot box...there are some who can do a credible job of it, but most of what I see looks like shyte.
This is especially true of subjects from nature, like animals or flowers.
Once you get from the artwork to a CAD file the rest is just technology, and what to buy depends on how much hassle you're willing to endure (or willing to subject your employees to) to get through the technological steps.
So the choices for a machine are threefold:
1) You can buy older technology...like pre-CNC.
The pros...it's cheap...five grand gets you a respectable machine.
The cons...it's a crap shoot whether you can make it work.
Once upon a time the premier brands for manual sinkers were Agie, Charmilles and Eltee.
A second tier brand was Hansvedt, and there were a few others that found their way into lots of mold shops back in the 1980's
These were hydraulic ram machines, and their point of vulnerability is the hydraulic servo valve that operates the ram in response to the gap sensing voltage that tells the ram how close to bring the electrode to the workpiece before discharging a spark.
Not replaceable and not fixable so if your candidate machine has or develops a bad valve the machine is scrap.
2) In the early 1990's CNC sinkers took off, in part because they're MUCH easier to use.
The top brands were Agie, Charmilles, Sodick, Mitsubishi, and I've seen prices hovering around 15 to 20 thousand bucks for one of these in operating condition.
Their vulnerability is electronics...flakey computers, flakey floppy drives, flakey circuit boards.
Many of these are fixable only by old codgers who were service techs in the day and remember how to service them and have access to remanufactured or salvaged parts.
3) You can go balls-out and buy a brand new toy for somewhere in the hundred grand plus range.
You will get a phenomenally accurate, easy to use, capable of super finishes, new toy but the cost is pretty breathtaking for occasional use.
Makino, Sodick, Agie/Charmilles, Mitsubishi...all will be more than adequate for you so pick one that has decent local support and training, and you will be more than happy with any one of them.
There are lots of "off-brands" out there...Chmer makes some decent machines, ONA seems to be popular in the Mediterranean, and there are others I can't think of right now.
If there is a service guy right in your neighbourhood, they are fully capable machines, but there's not much of a presence for these machines on the internet, so they can be a challenge to get good at, especially the ones with Chinglish operating manuals.
I have a Chmer wire EDM bought new in 2011, and I still haven't figured out some of the functions.
Typically some dumbass engineer made a totally obscure function, like you have to press two buttons together and then a third one at the full moon while dancing naked under the oak trees to even turn the bloody thing on.
Weird shit like that can drive you nuts, and if you're the only one in North America who has one, not even Google or Youtube can help.
And the manuals are hopeless.
So that's it in a nutshell.
Cheers
Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining
Oh, while I'm at it, graphite electrodes on the Minimill will beat it to ratshit in short order...that stuff is abrasive as hell and gets EVERYWHERE.
Consider making your electrodes out of tellurium copper instead...they'l work almost as well and your shop won't look like a shithole in a week.
Telco is also easy to engrave if you want to sharpen details you can't easily mill.
MC