We are working on a project that is something new for us, and are interested in any ideas.

The basic footprint of the product we are developing is custom cast, decorative brass pieces. Our plan is to create digital 3D models, print them out, use those prints to create flexible molds, use those flexible molds to create wax masters, then investment cast from those.

These pieces are round with a convex shape, roughly 8" in diameter, and roughly 1" tall. You can think of them as something like 2.5-D, since the front side is all that matters.

Our primary requirement is very high surface quality, and very high detail retention. These are essentially bas-relief art pieces with a high level of detail, but there will also be large convex areas that are not part of the decoration that need to be smooth, as they will be polished to a mirror finish after casting.

We are in the proof of concept stage, but do have an eye toward eventual production. We are targeting 100 units per month, so we will need to consider throughput, cost of consumables, etc.

Budget for the proof of concept machine is $6k to $8k.

Any ideas/thoughts/recommendations?

Thanks in advance!