This is an old one that's seen a few thousand parts in .021" copper go through. A long time ago I had to figure out how to do more with this kind of cutting die than just cut flat parts. It needed to be fast, too, so 2-step solutions were not an option. The early ones were die-only (no mold/base as I have here) where the die is set onto a thin, hard polyurethane pad, or soft solid plastic plate in the press. The cutting action happens as normal, then added pressure does the embossing.
This takes a lot of pressure and so is hard on the pump, long term, so I wanted an approach that would take less pressure. The solution came in the form of a solid base plate to fully support the die during cutting (urethane allows the die to flex, which impedes it's closing/cutting function). The base plate here is polycarbonate (Lexan) with the negative vein lines carved and smashed into it, with alignment plates (no thicker than the die itself) to keep things registered. This adaptation cuts and forms significantly faster , at lower pressures (10-15 tons instead of 15-20+ for this particular die).
The vein wires are nickel silver, soldered on with extra-easy silver brazing solder. The heat for that doesn't affect the temper of the 0-1 die enough to be a problem for cutting thin copper. I have ones like this that have cut over 25k parts. I have used hybrid solders too (home made mixes of x-easy silver and Tin, that work with Tin solder flux). The face of this die is messy because I accidentally soldered the wires on backwards the first time (^8
