sonicfreak04
Sr Member
I was wondering can anyone talk about how gold, silver, and bronze coins can be mass produced? preferably galleons, sickles, and knuts
reproducing movie coins
- Thread starter sonicfreak04
- Start date
sonicfreak04
Sr Member
what I mean is have a big collection of harry potter currency
If you want the coins done in real gold and silver it's going to cost you a lot of money. You have to buy the gold or silver and then have to pay a per coin fee and a die set up fee. Let me put it this way, at the current price of silver ($34.13) a 1 troy oz coin would cost you about $42. And that with having 100 coins made and that's about the cheapest I've been able to find.
You would be better off creating the coin and casting them in resin and then painting them with a chrome spray paint.
*Disclaimer* You may be able to find a cheaper mint overseas or maybe even here in the US. But it's still not going to be cheap considering the price of precious metals this last year.
You would be better off creating the coin and casting them in resin and then painting them with a chrome spray paint.
*Disclaimer* You may be able to find a cheaper mint overseas or maybe even here in the US. But it's still not going to be cheap considering the price of precious metals this last year.
pennausamike
Sr Member
Produce the coins in aluminum for silver and have the "gold" coins done in gold anodized aluminum.
Check into paint weathering techniques for maximum realism.
Check this thread to see what can be done:
http://www.fireflyprops.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=561
Mike
Check into paint weathering techniques for maximum realism.
Check this thread to see what can be done:
http://www.fireflyprops.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=561
Mike
Contec
Master Member
Would it not be better to use Metal powder in the resin to make them Metal..
When I make metal coins (I'm a medievalist) I use pewter. It's advantages are obvious beyond cost...they can be smelted and poured using a bullet ladle (small pot on a stick), using a standard propane tank and one tank will pour a few hundred coins or more.
SOAPSTONE MOLD CASTING
For molds, i'm old school and carve a mold out of soapstone. A dremel works wonders but dental tools,small woodworking chisels and exacto blades will be needed for details. For a simple 2 sided mold without registering it (pegs linking the sides)
MATERIALS
You will need a 3"x3" inch piece of soapstone ($15), a 12"x12" marble tile (to put under the mold when you pour to protect the table) costing about ($3-5) a small bullet ladle or fishing lure/metal miniature ladle, a propane torch ($12) and some leather gloves and safety goggles ($15). To carve you can use almost anything.
a. I just put some paint on a thin foam wafer the size of the coin.
b. Using two flat 3"x3" square soapstones, match them up and put a marker line to mark where the sides will line up and then place the slightly wet wafer in the center.
c.Clamp for a second then remove wafer. You now have the front and back of the mold spaced and marked for carving. Carve outdoors as the powder has some trace asbestos.
d. Carve your coin, watching for undercuts that will trap a coin after its poured. Carve a funnel like channel for the metal to be poured.
e. Before you pour in stone you MUST use your torch to fully heat the mold and evaporate the water in it. You will see the moisture clear. A hot mold pours best, as long as it's not to hot to hold with your glove (below)
f. Use a heavy leather glove (welding works if soft enough) and hold your mold as you pour your pewter. Stop when it comes to the top and it will take a few seconds to cool before dropping from the mold, let them sit a few minutes to fully cool.
Your mold should get up to 3000 pours but a 1000 is average before degradation begins or an outright breakage depending on carving and quality of stone.
I prefer a medium hard stone, either the pink-tan Canadian or slightly harder green stones from south america. Keep in mind I'm not covering safety or minor details and if you try soapstone casting you need to look up on it but it is the simplest and cheapest method as long as you have carving skills. a good method to measure the depth of the coin for eveness is to use a penny or a dime. Incarve on one side with deeper carving, and with other side just carve the details on the flat.
Coloring the metal. If your interested I've chemically altered the color of pewter using some products that I can expand on if your interested in this method.
SOAPSTONE MOLD CASTING
For molds, i'm old school and carve a mold out of soapstone. A dremel works wonders but dental tools,small woodworking chisels and exacto blades will be needed for details. For a simple 2 sided mold without registering it (pegs linking the sides)
MATERIALS
You will need a 3"x3" inch piece of soapstone ($15), a 12"x12" marble tile (to put under the mold when you pour to protect the table) costing about ($3-5) a small bullet ladle or fishing lure/metal miniature ladle, a propane torch ($12) and some leather gloves and safety goggles ($15). To carve you can use almost anything.
a. I just put some paint on a thin foam wafer the size of the coin.
b. Using two flat 3"x3" square soapstones, match them up and put a marker line to mark where the sides will line up and then place the slightly wet wafer in the center.
c.Clamp for a second then remove wafer. You now have the front and back of the mold spaced and marked for carving. Carve outdoors as the powder has some trace asbestos.
d. Carve your coin, watching for undercuts that will trap a coin after its poured. Carve a funnel like channel for the metal to be poured.
e. Before you pour in stone you MUST use your torch to fully heat the mold and evaporate the water in it. You will see the moisture clear. A hot mold pours best, as long as it's not to hot to hold with your glove (below)
f. Use a heavy leather glove (welding works if soft enough) and hold your mold as you pour your pewter. Stop when it comes to the top and it will take a few seconds to cool before dropping from the mold, let them sit a few minutes to fully cool.
Your mold should get up to 3000 pours but a 1000 is average before degradation begins or an outright breakage depending on carving and quality of stone.
I prefer a medium hard stone, either the pink-tan Canadian or slightly harder green stones from south america. Keep in mind I'm not covering safety or minor details and if you try soapstone casting you need to look up on it but it is the simplest and cheapest method as long as you have carving skills. a good method to measure the depth of the coin for eveness is to use a penny or a dime. Incarve on one side with deeper carving, and with other side just carve the details on the flat.
Coloring the metal. If your interested I've chemically altered the color of pewter using some products that I can expand on if your interested in this method.
Depends on how you want it to look and feel. If you don't care about the feel of it then no. And you may or may not achieve the result you want look wise with the powder. It all depends on how shiney you want the coins to be. Of course, it would never hurt to try and experiment with each technique.
That's some great information. Thanks! Can soapstone be used to make a two-sided coin? From what I've online it's really only good for one sided designs.
I do two sided coins all the time,as well as tokens, pilgrims badges, etc. I once carved a mold in an hour and a half and then poured 100 coins in the next 40 minutes right before an event. I'm in the SCA, so it's just a hobby but if you use a three piece mold (2 parts on the top with a third on the bottom you can practically do any small 3d rendering, though its mostly to add integral pins for historic jewelery such as medieval pilgrims badges, some buckles and other items..
Keep in mind your carving in reverse, so a piece of clay is useful to keep testing your image (just impress to check progress) as it will really help. Ive done coins for Artemisia's King Daman (one side has Daman Rex with a crown the other Shire of Silverkeep with a cross) about the size of a dime.
Here is an example of the chemically colored pewter, SCA by vonmeer on deviantART it has a coppery gold color.
