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General Category => Brag Forum => Topic started by: hotshot on October 06, 2013, 10:51:46 pm
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Here are a few recent coin cutting attempts. The first is a quarter, the second two are pennies. On the pennies, I'm experimenting on adding some color which would be beneficial for sports emblems and such.
-----Randy
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They look very interesting. Well done.
Marg
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Very different. I like them. Thanks for sharing them with us.
DW
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I like them, are they hard to cut?
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Amazing job, looks great, thanks for sharing.
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Great work! A follow up question from Keefie I would like to ask is do you free hand it or put it in a jig to cut?
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That's slick.
- What blade do you use?
- How do you hold the coin while cutting?
- Do you put on a pattern? How is it attached?
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nice job! looks great
and I'm curious about the answers...
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I am thinking about putting up a coin cutting tutorial because there are a few tidbits that can help out tremendously when jumping in to this type of cutting. I'll go ahead a list a few now in case the tutorial never happens.
1. If you are going to cut detail, you will need help seeing clearly at that scale. I have the normal scroller magnifier that is essential, on top of that I often wear reading glasses, the more powerful, the better.
2. Mount the coins on a thin piece of wood so that you can control it. Put a small puddle of supper glue down, and press the coin into it. At the completion of the project, you can soak the coin in acetone (you can get at home depot) and after hour or so, it will release.
3. If you are doing detail work, you will need some very small drill bits to drill your holes. Like jeweler blades, small bits break easy. Take the magnifier to the drill press so that you can accurate place the bit. Put the bit down gently on the coin, and turn on the drill. Very very gently, apply pressure and slowly the bit will break the surface and you will see the welcome spiral of metal come up. If you press hard, you will break bits (you will break bits from time to time regardless, but this is the only way to get through a quarter with a very fine bit). Pennies are softer.
4. Jewelers Blades are super brittle. The tension you use for other non-jeweler blades will snap these in a hurry. Quick tension levers on both the Hegner or EX will break the blades so only use the knob in the back. Bending them slightly with your finger will snap them. If they catch on something while you are cutting, they will snap/shatter. Buy them by the Gross (they are cheap). Mount them in the saw, and very gently apply tension with the back knob. You might go ahead and over tension a blade on purpose so that you get a feeling for where that breaking point is. When you tension them appropriately, they will usually stay intact until the blade catches. Keep the blade in motion to reduce those catches.
As for size, I suggest starting with a 0/2. Don't bother with 0/8 as those seems to turn with the work piece and are almost impossible to control. The 0/4 might be workable, I've not tried them. Sloanswoodshop sell these blades. Mike sells 0/3 blades as well.
5. Give this medium a chance. It's not wood, so you need to get that "feel" for it. Once you figure it out, you can cut detail as easy or easier than wood. You will break a lot of blades initially, but will break less as you progress.
I'm not an expert by any means, but these things work for me and hopefully they can give you some idea of what to expect. I about gave up before I figured out how to deal with the brittle blades but I'm glad I didn't.
-------Randy
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Coin cutting is really pretty easy after a few hours of practice. You will have to adjust your way of thinking a bit, but you will find it takes much longer to think up a pattern than to cut it out. For those of you that do fretwork, these projects are so refreshing because you can go from pattern to finished project in one sitting.
How is this for a selling point, in the winter when the shop gets cold, almost no saw dust, so this could be done inside. Still have to convince the wife of that one :-)
If your wondering about the surface for most of my stuff, I just use 60 grit on the belt sander to take it down to a consistent surface. On quarters, that surface will be copper, on pennies, it will be zinc. Many folks cut out the patterns already on coins and leave surfaces as they are. To each their own. Since the patterns are small, I actually spray the glue on the coin, spread it with my finger, then place the pattern down and scoot it to perfect position.
Most of these cuttings are 30 minutes or less. Here I attached a few coins I cut by request.
-------Randy
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Hi hotshot:
Thanks for the tips
Well done on the coins
If I'm not mistaken Steve has a coin holder that he made on his blog
I'm pressed for time right now but if someone can have a look at his patterns
I'm sure you'll find the coin holder. There's a video of it being used also. (I think!!!)
Fab4
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Interesting indeed, thanks for sharing.
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This is something I'd love to be able to do. I did have a brief attempt at cutting coins after seeing a guy cutting them by hand at a craft market in York (UK). I got nowhere, so I have admiration for anyone who can do it.
Martin.
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Steve has a coin holder that he made on his blog
Thoughts about Coin Cutting with a JIG: For some folks the jig might be the best option, but here are the advantages of super gluing the coin to a thin piece of wood.
1. For intricate cutting, the jig leave the middle unsupported.
2. Scrolling with a jig seems unnatural to me. Dealing with a small piece of wood is much more familiar and comfortable.
3. With the glue to wood method, at the end of the project, you are left with another "wood" copy of your coin, very neat.
4. You don't have to have a different jig for every coin size.
Advantages of the Jig method
1. When you are done cutting, you don't have to soak your piece in acetate to release the coin
2. You can cut indoors with absolutely no sawdust (metal waste is minimal and does't settle outside your work area)
To each their own, but for me, I prefer the more minimal superglue approach suggested to me by a fellow scroller that goes by "oily".
--------Randy
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the second series are also very nice pictures.
thanks for all the information.
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I had posted another topic titled "Autism Awareness and Other Cuttings", but that got accidently deleted so I'll repost the pics here:
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WHat type of super glue do you use Randy?
Steve has a coin holder that he made on his blog
Thoughts about Coin Cutting with a JIG: For some folks the jig might be the best option, but here are the advantages of super gluing the coin to a thin piece of wood.
1. For intricate cutting, the jig leave the middle unsupported.
2. Scrolling with a jig seems unnatural to me. Dealing with a small piece of wood is much more familiar and comfortable.
3. With the glue to wood method, at the end of the project, you are left with another "wood" copy of your coin, very neat.
4. You don't have to have a different jig for every coin size.
Advantages of the Jig method
1. When you are done cutting, you don't have to soak your piece in acetate to release the coin
2. You can cut indoors with absolutely no sawdust (metal waste is minimal and does't settle outside your work area)
To each their own, but for me, I prefer the more minimal superglue approach suggested to me by a fellow scroller that goes by "oily".
--------Randy
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great work there thanks for sharing