I was wondering about the best way to make puzzles in bulk other than mass production. Has anyone thought about 3d printing a molds for parts in something like stainless steel or maybe alumide? Would it just be better to make molds out of silicon rubber like oomoo 30? if its better to make the molds out of oomoo 30 what is the best way to get master parts? does any material from shapeways work? Also what would be a good cutter for making your own stickers? would a cricket cutter work?

I know this is a lot of questions but I have always wanted to try casting a puzzle. Thanks!

Alumide probably wouldn't work as a molding material, as it is weaker that WSF, but has the same grainy texture. I don't know how well stainless steel would work for making molds, but silicon rubber would work fine. It would probably be best to print masters in frosted detail or frosted ultra detail. However, casting takes a lot of work, and generally it is hard to produce as good results as just printing the entire puzzle, which is why casting is not widely used for making puzzles anymore. As for sticker cutters, I recently bought a USCutter MH365 (the 14" cutter on the list), and it seems to be the best deal I could find. I've already cut stickers for several puzzles with it, and I haven't run into any issues with the cutter yet.

Ok thanks very much!

Making molds does not take very much time. The thing that takes much work is casting pieces from the mold. From this point of view it's better to use silicone rubber for molds, because it's soft and allows overlaps.
For masters you need some high detail waterproof material. I once used "Transparent Detail" at Shapeways for masters, but since then, some better materials have been released.

I'm not sure but I think the Shapeways Volume Discount definitely beats the costs of casting and molding now

Hopefully in 5 years or less it's cost much less inamgine 50$ for a Royal Petultimate or 20$ for a Pentultimate...bye bye KO companies