Quick safety tip: If you're working with pewter, make sure it's newer pewter (say, since the 1980s or so), as older or antique pewter was made with tin and lead (as opposed to modern tin, copper, antimony, and bismuth alloys), and lead poisoning is double-plus un-cool. I'm all for reusing and recycling, but make sure you're doing it safely!
Instead of a black wash, you may want to try a Patina solution. It will give the natural darkening to the metal which will be permanent and not wear away as easily as paint. It also still allows you buff off the ridge to keep the shiny highlights. and you can dip item in the solution, so faster than painting with a brush.
While you're right, it's not entirely idiot proof. I originally wanted to become a goldsmith, and I remember two times during training lessons (I learned in a vocational college), where it just didn't work, and to this day I don't know why. We used a Sulfur solution to blacken things. One, I had a piece, that was made with copper and Brass, and I needed the copper to be black, and the brass it's normal colour, so I tested both metals, the copper turned black, the Brass turned a relatively light brown that could be easily removed. And then, when I used it on the actual piece, the copper turned black, but the black came right back off if you as much as looked at it from across the room, while the Brass turned a dark brown that was _very_ difficult to get off again, even with sanding. The other I can't remember what kind of Metal it was, but I needed it darkened, so I used the solution, it turned black, and came right back off when I rinsed it with water to remove the last bits of the liquid solution. I tried several more times, same result. I don't know what it was that I did wrong, but it seemed to rarely work for me. To this day, I feel like the solution had something against me specifically, cause for my classmates it appeared to work just fine.
Years ago, I saw a guy fling coins onto the beach. He showed me one. They were doubloons that he made to spoof tourists so he could watch their reaction to finding them.
I like the simplicity of the wood and sand mold, and I want to try it. But I suspect that repeatedly screwing and unscrewing the wood pieces would mean that it wouldn't last very long. Eventually the screws would wear through the wood, and they would get loose over time and not hold together. What I might try instead would be to drill holes through the wood, pass long bolts through them, and use wingnuts to tighten and loosen the pieces as needed. I think that would last longer and be simpler to open and close the mold.
Regarding the "use a pan you don't care too much about" part, I've seen cookware at thrift stores for dirt cheap. So if like me you're rather limited on your current cookware supplies and not interested in risking buggering any of them up, you could probably shop around and thrift a nice enough pot to get the job done for cheap
You said pewter and I got worried. But the pewter you sourced is lead-free. You might wanna let people know in the future - don't melt lead pewter (or lead anything) in your kitchen. And whatever you melt, be mindful of fumes and do it outside or in a vented workshop. If you're using pewter already, it's soft enough you can stamp it far more easily than other metals you've tried. And stamping can go a lot faster than pouring, so if you've got a lot to make that's the way to do it. Some metals soften as they warm up before they melt, so you can even do a combo approach pre-heating the blanks or the stamp to get a faster and better impression.
You should make some Gallium coins as pranks. Hand one to someone only to watch it melt in their hand... then you laugh. Perfect for a trickster type character.
You can attach the funnel and vent shapes to the coin or a copy of the coin made in wax or plastic. Then, the imprint in the sand will include them and you won't have to make them manually each time. Also, they can be smaller and thinner so that they can be more easily snipped off instead of looking like a tumor growing around the edge of your cast coin. I'm not sure if you'd need a release agent for graphite, since graphite is itself used as a lubricant. Also, I hear Zamak is a good DIY casting allow, but I think it requires higher temperatures. As for future methods to try... I wonder if you would want to try making fantasy coins out of cast resin with fancy glitter or powders to make them sparkle or glow in the dark in whole or in part. I can imagine you setting up a UV/Blacklight at a sacred site or near a magical object and the coins would begin glowing as they are powered up and activated. You could probably do that with lots of magical objects.
@@debvoz The cool think about resin, from watching makertube (I haven't used it myself) is that one can cast in layers, so the bas-relief can have one color of glow powder and the main disc could have another. They could also play with fluorescent pigments or embedded objects that will glow under UV/Blacklight, but not continue glowing afterwards like phosphorescent glow powders. They could make a series of molds from silicone for mass production. Another product I saw was a white thermoplastic that can be softened in hot water to make a mold for resin or silicone at room temp, then reused by heating in hot water again.
I have some experience in casting jewellery, you want to keep the heat on the metal as long as possible before you pour it, so having a small torch to keep heat on it as you pour it will help it from cooling too fast. Also for safety, having a flat bord on the sides of the mold to cover the sand will make sure that the sand stays in place just in case it's not packed in enough for larger molds.
This is super awesome and a great solution to what I want to do. One suggestion with the laser engraved graphite, make the pattern negative to it stands up rather than being sunken in
I use the wooden plugs as furniture lifts. My chaise lounge was too low so I grabbed a 2x4 and drilled out 4 plugs stained them to match the wood accents and screwed them to the legs and covered the bottom with felt so it didn't scratch my floors.
Now that you've nailed casting coins, could you show how to cast a branch of coins or make a coin tree mold like how the ancient of cultures would cast a dozen or so in one pour?
@@joehall1945 to my knowledge (studied history) cast coins are a rarity in history. Generally they were forged with embossing faces (minting) Similarly rings etc were also not cast but forged
Ah, this was the coin video I was hoping you'd get to! Been eyeing graphite blocks for a year, but couldn't find decent information about making them a 2-part mold. But now... muh ha ha ha haaaa Would LOVE to see Smooth-On's high temp silicone tried out. It's the one I have actual plans to use. (Also: Real Genius was a crazy fun movie. Saw it again, 1st time in forever, last month.)
I love how this has evolved since the first coin making video. It reall is a mad rush when you find something challenging to try and figure out. Love all these ideas and have been cataloging them to try when ready. ♡
Casting with pewter should be low enough in temperature to apply flux if you are uncertain about the detail quality. A little flux will help the metal to get past the pour hole and into those finer details
Absolutely love this! I'll probably use the first method to make belt buckles! Because I can buy 3D print files for belt buckles and other accessories, but I don't want a plastic belt buckle. So I could probably use that method to make a mold out of the plastic version and then cast a metal version!
Great work on finally getting the sand casting to come out. I also liked the carving of the graphite with your laser, will have to give that a try sometime. I just got a 30W fiber from Ohmtech and am loving it ( you showed the coin I just did in the video, Thank You for that ) so now I have a new material to try out for some casting. I'd like to see you try the silicone mold technique for coins as I think that would be great for making a gang mold to do more than one coin at a time.
I think it would be really cool to see you make some coins using the reuleaux polygons, especially the triangle and Pentagon, which are shapes that have curves of constant width. They're very cool shapes for coins, as they roll like a circle, but are much more interesting. Certainly would make your coins stand out from everyone else's. I also think putting gold foil on lead coins would be fun, to make fake gold coins.
A metal with a low melting temperature will also cool very quickly. With pewter or lead, you need to heat the mold. It is very simple to take a plumbers torch and heat the halves before you screw them back together.
With the sand mold, try using hot glue to attach a wood dowel to the edge of the coin before you make the sand mold, also add one or two to the sides for the vent holes (I use lollipop sticks, for coins popsicle sticks are perfect thickness). that way when you take to coin out of the sand mold the channels are already in place. Instead of "black wash" there is a product called "Liver of Sulphur" that can give a patina on the surface of the metal. Finally another metal that works well casting is Zinc. melts around 750 degrees (just a bit more than the metal you used) and is VERY easy to get. All you have to do is melt down pennies and skim the copper off the surface. (there is very little copper on a penny, easy to clean up.)
Since you mentioned melting pennies, I figured I'd say before anyone else-"defacing" currency means fraudulently altering it to appear more valuable than it actually is, e.g. replicating a misprint or a rarer version that is worth more than the standard issue. Melting, and thus destroying, a coin is NOT "defacing" and is not a crime. I've had to have this conversation so many times.
Hello! This is the second video I have ever watched from this channel. Has silverclay been tried to make coins? You get actual silver( like 99%) from it. And it's easy to use. You don't have to have a kiln to use it.
have you considered using lost PLA method for casting? 3d print a coin with the design you want, use it to make the mold, but then you don't have to worry about taking the print out. you put the mold upside down in an old oven and just melt it out then do your casting.
liver of sulfur is useful for adding a patina to metals. Just us a few drops in water and dip your metal in until it darkens and then just give a quick sanding and it will make designs pop. Its also pretty cheap.
Great job on these, they turned out gorgeous. The only change I'd make is to add an extra sprue hole on the other side. It may not be necessary but it never hurts to have more routes for air to escape, particularly if you want to use the mold for something more detailed like, for example a ring.
I didn't notice until the very end of the video what was happening, but your shield filling up as the video progresses is very cool. Also the video content was very cool and I hope to try it soon.
One recommendation, because the two blocks are mirror images, for cleaner alignment, engrave both blocks at the same time, with them side by side. Focusing the center point of the laser at the seam between the two. That way it insures the image is equal distance from the edge that its 'folding' over.
First time discovering this channel and you've got my immediate subscription. You're mixing the cool and approachable energy of a PBS Kids host with, oh - a Bostonian. No, that makes all the sense in the world now.
Can recommend using a small propane torch, the can with a screw on burner type, as a heater. And a stainless steel measuring cup, i use a 1dl sized one, with its handle clamped in vice grips. Cheap, simple and quick pewter casting setup. Ive got a stainless steel sink/kitchen work surface so it wont take any damage from spills and the height of the wash tub is just right for setting the burner at the bottom of one and resting the vice grips on the work surface with the "crucible" hanging out into the flame to melt the pewter.
I'm definitely interested in seeing a version using silicone as the mold. I think that combines the best of both worlds and eliminates the need for a fiber laser. As far as sources for things to cast, a 3D printer is great for creating your original coin, dice, etc. that you want to cast over and over. For a coin, you could also create a wood original on a less expensive diode laser and use that to do the sand casting.
Wow. I've been wanting to make my own coins for a while, thought it have to use a company for just a small handful. This is the solution I've always been wanting. Pewter! I never even thought of that!!
Speaking of silicon mold, I've seen once a kind of tin factory and they had round mold used in a kind of centrifuge so pour once in the center of the mold and as it spins you make many pieces at one time. Have you any idea on how you could DIY ?
I've seen casting using foam board buried in the clay/sand. Just carve the design into the foam bury it, make your 2 holes down to the foam, pour the molten metal in and the foam vaporizes. Leaving you with the shape of the foam, but metal. Maybe try the technique .
Just an idle question... if you're using the laser to make the graphite blanks, why didn't you include the vent and injection/pour site in the laser's instruction? I mean, I get you don't want to overburn your blank and damage your deck, but couldn't you leave a tiny border and then only need to pop that barrier off to make a fully automated blank?
I feel like having vents on both sides of coin would help with making coins with less of a failure rate. You can make tin pellets if you melt whole bar and pour it in metal bucket/big pot full of water, drops of metal will solidify as soon as they are submerged in water making convenient tin pellets. Also please exercise utmost caution with melting metal. Even minute zinc or lead impurities can release harmful fumes. Good ventilation is a key.
I would love to see the silicon testing, particilarly with a larger piece (like 11" x 14" and at least 2-4mm thick) and if possible soecifically using zinc. Yes, I know that's VERY specific but the reason for that is I am hoping to get into the art of handcrafting championship belts and I'm hoping to find a relatively cheap method of making a more permanent mold rather than sand casting, that way I can keep it on hand in case a promoter wants to reorder the belt if it gets damaged, or if they want to sell a limited run of replicas, or just "update" the belt with a new color scheme on the plates. While I could just simply keep the prototype plates and make sand molds over and over once a silicon mold is made reusing it would be much faster. It would also be a more practical solution for casting things like name plates. So I'd like to see how the material holds up to fairly high temperature casting and zinc is a common base material for these belts which generally are later electroplated with brass or nickel to simulate gold and silver.
Lost wax casting, only you use a mold to make the wax object and a different mold to hold to wax which will then be cast???? (IIRC, the wax object is usually carved or sculpted by hand)
what about a multi coin mold? several coins all int eh same block and with a shared pour funnel - then with one pour of the metal itl cast multiple coins at once. - Might help if you want a bunch of them for your larp :D
There is a coin smith at our Renaissance Faire that has a coin “press”. He has like a guillotine frame that he cranks this weight (50lbs I think). He puts a coin blank in between 2 hard steel “design stamps” the drops the weight. Coin!
Have you considered trying to find a way to properly mint your own coins? You can legally buy blanks and then you'd need the stamps and a simple way to exert a lot of pressure.
Is it just me or is this like the 5th video about coins in the last few months lol 😂 still gonna watch the vid, but I don’t have the setup to do molten metal casting/ craft yet
I was like "I have some extra money and I've been meaning to upgrade my XTool laser..." and then I looked at their site. Holy shit, Clever. That's an $8200 laser. That's a toy that would cost as much as a pretty decent used car. Where are those cheap pre-owned ones you mentioned?
Quick safety tip: If you're working with pewter, make sure it's newer pewter (say, since the 1980s or so), as older or antique pewter was made with tin and lead (as opposed to modern tin, copper, antimony, and bismuth alloys), and lead poisoning is double-plus un-cool. I'm all for reusing and recycling, but make sure you're doing it safely!
Came here to say this. It would be nice if he'd mentioned about getting lead-free pewter.
Instead of a black wash, you may want to try a Patina solution. It will give the natural darkening to the metal which will be permanent and not wear away as easily as paint. It also still allows you buff off the ridge to keep the shiny highlights. and you can dip item in the solution, so faster than painting with a brush.
Basically, giving the metal a protective layer of "rust."
Gun Bluing 👍
While you're right, it's not entirely idiot proof.
I originally wanted to become a goldsmith, and I remember two times during training lessons (I learned in a vocational college), where it just didn't work, and to this day I don't know why.
We used a Sulfur solution to blacken things.
One, I had a piece, that was made with copper and Brass, and I needed the copper to be black, and the brass it's normal colour, so I tested both metals, the copper turned black, the Brass turned a relatively light brown that could be easily removed. And then, when I used it on the actual piece, the copper turned black, but the black came right back off if you as much as looked at it from across the room, while the Brass turned a dark brown that was _very_ difficult to get off again, even with sanding.
The other I can't remember what kind of Metal it was, but I needed it darkened, so I used the solution, it turned black, and came right back off when I rinsed it with water to remove the last bits of the liquid solution. I tried several more times, same result.
I don't know what it was that I did wrong, but it seemed to rarely work for me. To this day, I feel like the solution had something against me specifically, cause for my classmates it appeared to work just fine.
Mustard, if** there is enough carbon content
Years ago, I saw a guy fling coins onto the beach. He showed me one. They were doubloons that he made to spoof tourists so he could watch their reaction to finding them.
That's hilarious! I have to try that someday
I wish you had shown the dremal carving of the blocks, but I can't argue with that Lazer method. Thanks for this.
I really appreciate you always supporting us, my friend! Thank you so much!!
@@SkillTree what’s the music that you used for your intro. from 0.04 to 0.08
I like the simplicity of the wood and sand mold, and I want to try it. But I suspect that repeatedly screwing and unscrewing the wood pieces would mean that it wouldn't last very long. Eventually the screws would wear through the wood, and they would get loose over time and not hold together. What I might try instead would be to drill holes through the wood, pass long bolts through them, and use wingnuts to tighten and loosen the pieces as needed. I think that would last longer and be simpler to open and close the mold.
I am curious if you could cast resin with metal powders to give it the feel of weight?
@@alaskankare Evan & Katelyn did that with tungsten to make a honkin' big die recently.
Use metal inserts for machine screws.
Add a registration peg anyway, in case the screws become loose.
@@pneumarian yeah that's why I suggested it. 🥰
Regarding the "use a pan you don't care too much about" part, I've seen cookware at thrift stores for dirt cheap. So if like me you're rather limited on your current cookware supplies and not interested in risking buggering any of them up, you could probably shop around and thrift a nice enough pot to get the job done for cheap
You said pewter and I got worried. But the pewter you sourced is lead-free. You might wanna let people know in the future - don't melt lead pewter (or lead anything) in your kitchen. And whatever you melt, be mindful of fumes and do it outside or in a vented workshop.
If you're using pewter already, it's soft enough you can stamp it far more easily than other metals you've tried. And stamping can go a lot faster than pouring, so if you've got a lot to make that's the way to do it. Some metals soften as they warm up before they melt, so you can even do a combo approach pre-heating the blanks or the stamp to get a faster and better impression.
Foundry sand is sand and clay...and oil or water. The clay component is bentonite, aka clumping kitty litter! Good on you for sticking with it!
Bentonite is used in shaving soaps
You should make some Gallium coins as pranks. Hand one to someone only to watch it melt in their hand... then you laugh. Perfect for a trickster type character.
That's an expensive prank.
I wish this could be pulled at Conquest!
Just stop them before they pocket it
That sounds like the making of a neat magic trick. Make the coins truly disappear
Why don't YOU make that. Out here telling people what they should do...what an annoying trait. And honestly, sounds like a pretty lame prank
You can attach the funnel and vent shapes to the coin or a copy of the coin made in wax or plastic. Then, the imprint in the sand will include them and you won't have to make them manually each time. Also, they can be smaller and thinner so that they can be more easily snipped off instead of looking like a tumor growing around the edge of your cast coin.
I'm not sure if you'd need a release agent for graphite, since graphite is itself used as a lubricant. Also, I hear Zamak is a good DIY casting allow, but I think it requires higher temperatures.
As for future methods to try... I wonder if you would want to try making fantasy coins out of cast resin with fancy glitter or powders to make them sparkle or glow in the dark in whole or in part. I can imagine you setting up a UV/Blacklight at a sacred site or near a magical object and the coins would begin glowing as they are powered up and activated. You could probably do that with lots of magical objects.
I love the resin and glow powder idea!! That would be so cool
@@debvoz The cool think about resin, from watching makertube (I haven't used it myself) is that one can cast in layers, so the bas-relief can have one color of glow powder and the main disc could have another. They could also play with fluorescent pigments or embedded objects that will glow under UV/Blacklight, but not continue glowing afterwards like phosphorescent glow powders.
They could make a series of molds from silicone for mass production. Another product I saw was a white thermoplastic that can be softened in hot water to make a mold for resin or silicone at room temp, then reused by heating in hot water again.
Terrific intro to sand casting. The Sprue is actually the hole you pour the metal into, the other hole is a vent. Otherwise, fantastic! Nice job
I'd happily watch more coin videos. So explore more ways to make coins. More options is always a good thing.
Looks great. Probably reverse the image of the fox and crow. Have them pop out instead of be reset. Yes show all the techniques.
I have some experience in casting jewellery, you want to keep the heat on the metal as long as possible before you pour it, so having a small torch to keep heat on it as you pour it will help it from cooling too fast. Also for safety, having a flat bord on the sides of the mold to cover the sand will make sure that the sand stays in place just in case it's not packed in enough for larger molds.
This is super awesome and a great solution to what I want to do.
One suggestion with the laser engraved graphite, make the pattern negative to it stands up rather than being sunken in
I use the wooden plugs as furniture lifts. My chaise lounge was too low so I grabbed a 2x4 and drilled out 4 plugs stained them to match the wood accents and screwed them to the legs and covered the bottom with felt so it didn't scratch my floors.
I want to see your take on wax/lost resin replacement casting, but that graphite was slick!
Now that you've nailed casting coins, could you show how to cast a branch of coins or make a coin tree mold like how the ancient of cultures would cast a dozen or so in one pour?
Generally they didn't cast, they minted. Meaning they cut roundstock and then embossed the cut disc's with a top and bottom stamp
@cathulhu-q7y the tree method is used for other small items like rings and pendants. Coins wouldn't be any different
@@joehall1945 to my knowledge (studied history) cast coins are a rarity in history. Generally they were forged with embossing faces (minting)
Similarly rings etc were also not cast but forged
The channel townsends Did a video casting Musketballs using a soapstone mold
Ah, this was the coin video I was hoping you'd get to! Been eyeing graphite blocks for a year, but couldn't find decent information about making them a 2-part mold. But now... muh ha ha ha haaaa
Would LOVE to see Smooth-On's high temp silicone tried out. It's the one I have actual plans to use.
(Also: Real Genius was a crazy fun movie. Saw it again, 1st time in forever, last month.)
I love how this has evolved since the first coin making video. It reall is a mad rush when you find something challenging to try and figure out. Love all these ideas and have been cataloging them to try when ready. ♡
Was thinking about firing up the forge this weekend for some casting. Great vid , and timely
The feeling when you finally nail something that has been a pain in the butt for years... It's euphoric!
Casting with pewter should be low enough in temperature to apply flux if you are uncertain about the detail quality. A little flux will help the metal to get past the pour hole and into those finer details
Absolutely love this! I'll probably use the first method to make belt buckles! Because I can buy 3D print files for belt buckles and other accessories, but I don't want a plastic belt buckle. So I could probably use that method to make a mold out of the plastic version and then cast a metal version!
Great work on finally getting the sand casting to come out. I also liked the carving of the graphite with your laser, will have to give that a try sometime. I just got a 30W fiber from Ohmtech and am loving it ( you showed the coin I just did in the video, Thank You for that ) so now I have a new material to try out for some casting. I'd like to see you try the silicone mold technique for coins as I think that would be great for making a gang mold to do more than one coin at a time.
I think it would be really cool to see you make some coins using the reuleaux polygons, especially the triangle and Pentagon, which are shapes that have curves of constant width.
They're very cool shapes for coins, as they roll like a circle, but are much more interesting.
Certainly would make your coins stand out from everyone else's.
I also think putting gold foil on lead coins would be fun, to make fake gold coins.
More coins!
A metal with a low melting temperature will also cool very quickly. With pewter or lead, you need to heat the mold. It is very simple to take a plumbers torch and heat the halves before you screw them back together.
With the sand mold, try using hot glue to attach a wood dowel to the edge of the coin before you make the sand mold, also add one or two to the sides for the vent holes (I use lollipop sticks, for coins popsicle sticks are perfect thickness). that way when you take to coin out of the sand mold the channels are already in place.
Instead of "black wash" there is a product called "Liver of Sulphur" that can give a patina on the surface of the metal.
Finally another metal that works well casting is Zinc. melts around 750 degrees (just a bit more than the metal you used) and is VERY easy to get. All you have to do is melt down pennies and skim the copper off the surface. (there is very little copper on a penny, easy to clean up.)
Since you mentioned melting pennies, I figured I'd say before anyone else-"defacing" currency means fraudulently altering it to appear more valuable than it actually is, e.g. replicating a misprint or a rarer version that is worth more than the standard issue. Melting, and thus destroying, a coin is NOT "defacing" and is not a crime. I've had to have this conversation so many times.
Hello! This is the second video I have ever watched from this channel. Has silverclay been tried to make coins?
You get actual silver( like 99%) from it. And it's easy to use. You don't have to have a kiln to use it.
have you considered using lost PLA method for casting? 3d print a coin with the design you want, use it to make the mold, but then you don't have to worry about taking the print out. you put the mold upside down in an old oven and just melt it out then do your casting.
I always enjoy your enthusiasm on your videos. Thanks for sharing another great project.
liver of sulfur is useful for adding a patina to metals. Just us a few drops in water and dip your metal in until it darkens and then just give a quick sanding and it will make designs pop. Its also pretty cheap.
I use liver of sulfur to add a patina to Viking bracelets I make and it is great! But, please use outside. It smells like really rotten eggs.
@@Toys0714 I know, smells awful but it works wonders.
Great job on these, they turned out gorgeous. The only change I'd make is to add an extra sprue hole on the other side. It may not be necessary but it never hurts to have more routes for air to escape, particularly if you want to use the mold for something more detailed like, for example a ring.
Thank you for featuring my Camper cart at the end!! Really caught me by surpirse when it popped up!
this guy is very wizard-coded
I have a good friend who carves her molds out of soapstone and her stuff always comes out exquisite
How about electroplating the pewter coins? Maybe as part of the LARP experience, players can use the electroplated coins as currency to trade
This is a cool idea. Might allow for “gold” coins without needing to cast bronze or the like.
I like printing in resin, then painting with a conductive paint, then electroplating.
I didn't notice until the very end of the video what was happening, but your shield filling up as the video progresses is very cool. Also the video content was very cool and I hope to try it soon.
One recommendation, because the two blocks are mirror images, for cleaner alignment, engrave both blocks at the same time, with them side by side. Focusing the center point of the laser at the seam between the two. That way it insures the image is equal distance from the edge that its 'folding' over.
First time discovering this channel and you've got my immediate subscription. You're mixing the cool and approachable energy of a PBS Kids host with, oh - a Bostonian. No, that makes all the sense in the world now.
Can recommend using a small propane torch, the can with a screw on burner type, as a heater.
And a stainless steel measuring cup, i use a 1dl sized one, with its handle clamped in vice grips.
Cheap, simple and quick pewter casting setup.
Ive got a stainless steel sink/kitchen work surface so it wont take any damage from spills and the height of the wash tub is just right for setting the burner at the bottom of one and resting the vice grips on the work surface with the "crucible" hanging out into the flame to melt the pewter.
i had just been looking at pewter casting not long ago. Excellent vid!
Real Genius. I love that movie. It's chock full of technical errors but I love it. Still this best part was the speaker in the tooth.
I'm definitely interested in seeing a version using silicone as the mold. I think that combines the best of both worlds and eliminates the need for a fiber laser.
As far as sources for things to cast, a 3D printer is great for creating your original coin, dice, etc. that you want to cast over and over. For a coin, you could also create a wood original on a less expensive diode laser and use that to do the sand casting.
You can also do it with 3d printed models and the sand molding
Not seeing the graphite block link in the description
Wow. I've been wanting to make my own coins for a while, thought it have to use a company for just a small handful. This is the solution I've always been wanting. Pewter! I never even thought of that!!
Great tutorial 😎 have you thought about using Bismuth? Lower melting point and could be a cool coin.
This looks like it'd be a good way to cast metal dice as well. Are there any additives you can put in to change the color of the metal?
If you need to make a lot of coins you should check out how bullets are casted. Especially the molds.
Just found your channel and I'm super excited to binge and also looking forward to your future posts! :)
REAL GENIUS !!!! Val Kilmer at his absolute best. I LOVE that movie. and yeah I am dating myself as well. But seriously that largest jiffy pop EVER.
I would be interested in seeing the graphite coin done with the image inverted. It would allow for the "rim" you mentioned.
I enjoy watching your videos and learning new things. You are one cool guy.
Speaking of silicon mold, I've seen once a kind of tin factory and they had round mold used in a kind of centrifuge so pour once in the center of the mold and as it spins you make many pieces at one time.
Have you any idea on how you could DIY ?
Benefit of the Graphite mold vs Sand mold (Mold? Mould?), the graphite looks reusable.
Casting sand is reusable. And easy to make if hard to find.
I've seen casting using foam board buried in the clay/sand. Just carve the design into the foam bury it, make your 2 holes down to the foam, pour the molten metal in and the foam vaporizes. Leaving you with the shape of the foam, but metal. Maybe try the technique .
I had not thought of engraving Graphite. I really did not need another reason to find the money for a fiber laser.
Just an idle question... if you're using the laser to make the graphite blanks, why didn't you include the vent and injection/pour site in the laser's instruction? I mean, I get you don't want to overburn your blank and damage your deck, but couldn't you leave a tiny border and then only need to pop that barrier off to make a fully automated blank?
I'd like to see you do other casting methods, moulds, etc, as well as different carving methods.
Be careful with the plaster molds if you go that route. Very likely to contain moisture and explode when you add the metal.
I feel like having vents on both sides of coin would help with making coins with less of a failure rate. You can make tin pellets if you melt whole bar and pour it in metal bucket/big pot full of water, drops of metal will solidify as soon as they are submerged in water making convenient tin pellets.
Also please exercise utmost caution with melting metal. Even minute zinc or lead impurities can release harmful fumes. Good ventilation is a key.
I would love to see the silicon testing, particilarly with a larger piece (like 11" x 14" and at least 2-4mm thick) and if possible soecifically using zinc.
Yes, I know that's VERY specific but the reason for that is I am hoping to get into the art of handcrafting championship belts and I'm hoping to find a relatively cheap method of making a more permanent mold rather than sand casting, that way I can keep it on hand in case a promoter wants to reorder the belt if it gets damaged, or if they want to sell a limited run of replicas, or just "update" the belt with a new color scheme on the plates. While I could just simply keep the prototype plates and make sand molds over and over once a silicon mold is made reusing it would be much faster. It would also be a more practical solution for casting things like name plates. So I'd like to see how the material holds up to fairly high temperature casting and zinc is a common base material for these belts which generally are later electroplated with brass or nickel to simulate gold and silver.
Hmm I want to make some dice with this method
Cool video. I made some wooden rondel daggers for HEMA training and used a hole saw to cut out the guards.
Crazy thought. Maybe you could electroplate the pewter coins so that you can melt it on the stove, but have it appear copper or other metal colors.
"What's that!?"
"It's a laser beam, you bozo!"
Love me some Real Genius.
M'laser **tips hat**
But Clever you gotta try the lost-wax method for casting. Test your sculpting skills lol
I'm gonna use this method to make coins for my micronation, awesome job as always!
Given the fact I work in silicone and resin regularly, I want to see you use a silicone mold.
Lost wax casting, only you use a mold to make the wax object and a different mold to hold to wax which will then be cast???? (IIRC, the wax object is usually carved or sculpted by hand)
My dude, you are an inspiration.
Have you tried loss casting? Lost wax or 3d prints?
I have made coins using a soapstone mold that I carved a badger footprint into. I made a whole bunch and gave most of them away to friends.
To release from the mold you can use a beeswax candle smoke to coat the mold or you can buy a bullet release
2x4, pewter, sand…I have so many ideas!!! I want to make a cast face just so I can reenact the T-1000 melting scene in my shop 😂
Would wooden pegs work good enough instead of screws? I think it would wear down Wood a bit less but idk
A show on silicone plaster casting would be nice. Especially for those of us who aren't about to run out and buy a laser milling station.
I think if you reverse the design so it is raised when cast. It will show up better on the coin.
what about a multi coin mold? several coins all int eh same block and with a shared pour funnel - then with one pour of the metal itl cast multiple coins at once. - Might help if you want a bunch of them for your larp :D
Yes please more coin videos 😊
"...use a pot you don't really care about." Proceeds to use cast iron. Oh my heart. 😭
such a STUD!! Gracias Hermano
There is a coin smith at our Renaissance Faire that has a coin “press”. He has like a guillotine frame that he cranks this weight (50lbs I think). He puts a coin blank in between 2 hard steel “design stamps” the drops the weight. Coin!
Have you considered trying to find a way to properly mint your own coins?
You can legally buy blanks and then you'd need the stamps and a simple way to exert a lot of pressure.
You can make a plug out of wood to make your fill funnel and your vent the same every time.
Loved the Scrooge McDuck reference 👌 😂 💰 🤑 You're the best! Big fan!
Do coin striking next. It's really fun and way faster
I got a challenge for you. I'm working on a Modern day combat wizard, and I think he needs a belt of many pouches.
You've more than earned my subscription.
awesome wheres the link to sand?
amzn.to/4g39Ufy
I will add it to the description!!
@@SkillTree thank you
@@SkillTree Where's the pewter from? Also Amazon or is there a local supplier?
The great thing about minting your own coins out of precious medals is that it's backed by itself! Not everyone can afford gold and silver, though.
Ok, but how do you know that the two halves are aligned? I didn't quite get that part, could you repeat one more time, please?
I like custom coins, I just know I'll probably never make my own for anything. Still a good video though!
Plug o wood is perfect for the whorl of a spindle 😊
Is it just me or is this like the 5th video about coins in the last few months lol 😂 still gonna watch the vid, but I don’t have the setup to do molten metal casting/ craft yet
Hell yeah I want to see more coin making
I was like "I have some extra money and I've been meaning to upgrade my XTool laser..." and then I looked at their site.
Holy shit, Clever. That's an $8200 laser. That's a toy that would cost as much as a pretty decent used car.
Where are those cheap pre-owned ones you mentioned?