Smooth off one side of a coin?

Sam · Nov 10, 2015

Anyone know of someone who can smooth off one side of silver dimes? This was common back in the late 1800s when engravers engraved love tokens, but I have no idea how they were faced off. I guess it would take a special lathe fixture to keep the coin from spinning as it was being cut.

What I don't want to do is hand file them.

If anyone's interested in doing some let me know.

JJ Roberts · Nov 10, 2015

Sam,A good machinist with a lathe with right size chuck to hold the coin would work. J.J.

Riflesmith · Nov 10, 2015

Where there's a will there's a way! Have you got a small engine or lawnmower shop around? See if they don't have an old exhaust valve out of an engine, chuck it in your drill press or lathe, face it flat, put some resin on it and stick your dime onto the resin. If you have a 2-way drill press vise you could lock it down to the table, lock a cutting tool up between the jaws and you're good to go. JMO I have a drill press head that I mounted on a stub and made a small lathe, it isn't precision but it works.

Brian Hochstrat · Nov 10, 2015

I would think a surface grinder could do it quickly and precisely. Most knifemakers seem to have one, might be an avenue to try.

Riflesmith · Nov 10, 2015

If you don't care to do them send them up, I'd be more than happy to help you out.

Dave London · Nov 10, 2015

Chuck the dime in a lathe collet

JJ Roberts · Nov 10, 2015

Dave's got it right,keep it simple. J.J.

Ron Spokovich · Nov 10, 2015

My old jewelers lathe has 4 or 5 collets made for holding such objects, flat and firmly. I've faced off some pennies once in a while. Those collets resemble cups, with several sequential steps in each, like a circular stairwell. The collets are split, and grip the circumference of the particular coin or other object you wish to machine. Using a conventional collet in a normal lathe may, or may not, grip sufficiently, and a three jaw chuck is out of the equation if you want to eliminate any degree of crushing to the rim. Also, as the normal lathe collet doesn't have a flat back in which to support the coin, you'll have a hell of a time in getting it to run true. I haven't done any in a while, but it only takes minutes with this set up.

Ron Spokovich · Nov 10, 2015

My lathe would be capable of such a task, provided I know the exact diameter of the coin. Brute strength isn't required when properly drawing down the collet's drawbar. Also, a surface grinder won't do the task, if you're using a magnetic table, as U.S. coins are nonferrous, and Canadian coins, except pennies, can be held with a magnet. The reason is that the banks use magnetic tubs to separate coins dumped into them, at the banks near the Canadian border which occasionally did furnish Canadian dimes in rolls as the employees wouldn't clean the tubs often enough. I resided in that area for a few years. A jeweler's lathe would do the trick, when the exact diametr is known to avoid excessive draw down.

DakotaDocMartin · Nov 10, 2015

I may have been doing it wrong but, I used to just use a fine belt on a benchtop belt sander held with just my fingertips. It's a lot like lapidary that way. It seemed to work just fine. I had to rotate it once in awhile to keep it even.

Tim Wells · Nov 10, 2015

Sam,
A dime will fit in one of my step WW collets in my watchmakers lathe or in a Sherline with an adapter. One could also do it on a shellac chuck on any lathe. Are you wanting them smoothed off but keep the rim?

oiseau metal arts · Nov 10, 2015

this is what I made for working on dime sized coins. I took 2 scraps of steel, and bent them with the ring bender. trimmed up with band saw so one fit just inside the other. sanded flush.... and then sanded the inside one just a bit more to make room for the coin to recess down. (did another set for quarter sizes, and another for larger)

as for sanding the face of the coin. I use this...
http://www.riogrande.com/Product/3M-PSA-Sanding-Discs-and-Mandrel-Kit/337259?Pos=15

I go from 80 to 40 to 15 to 9 micron then finer by hand.

I do and keep lots of dimes sanded down like this for love tokens. I can do 2 in the time it might take to set up the lathe to hold something as thin and fiddly as a dime.

dlilazteca · Nov 10, 2015

Surface grinder that knife makers use, will take a couple of seconds to do

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oiseau metal arts · Nov 10, 2015

surface grinder would work great once you can find some magnetic silver coins.

oiseau metal arts · Nov 10, 2015

how many are you needing sam?

Billzach · Nov 11, 2015

A belt sander is how I have done it for years..Holding with finger tips and rotating coin..If you want the rim left on, this would not be the way to go..I have done a few using a flat graver and belt sanding sticks when I wanted to leave the rim on, but it,s a 2 hour job if you want a super smooth and level surface.

Brian Marshall · Nov 11, 2015

I dop up a dozen at a time and use old 8" faceting machine laps - with the water drip running.

Probably do a dozen in 10 or 15 minutes... knock 'em off the dop sticks, drop them in alcohol for a few minutes and they are good to go.

Brian

If you want 'em with the rim left on, the lathes or a mill with (probably ?) a custom made cutter and a holding fixture would be fastest.

dogcatcher · Nov 11, 2015

Make a holder like the coin holders you use in to engrave the hobo nickels. Mount that in a chuck on the lathe and face it off. No lathe? Make a disc sander for your drill press, then mount the coin holder on the drill press table, and sand the back off.

Another method if you are an accomplished machinist or know one, make a "pot chuck". It works like a collet in c collet chuck, but the correct term as I know it is "pot chuck". I used to have a set of them for each coin size, but through many years of use and "oops" they have met the scrap metal bin. Mine were made to work in a 5C collet chuck. I think a better description would be they work like the hobo coin holders, which work like the collets. You can use this method on a mill or the lathe. I prefer my Sherline mill of this method, just wish I still had it.

The epoxy won't hold it, it will melt with the heat. When the epoxy lets go the belt sander will literally shoot the coin through sheet rock. I used to have a nice hole in my shop wall and the quarter is still between the outside wall and the inside wall.

Last and cheapest option, there is a set of Forstner bits on the market to drill holes for coins, these are exact size holes. Get a perfectly squared block of hardwood and drill in to the end grain the depth of the coin, and split it down part way from corner to corner. The 4 sides with then compress into the coin when clamped from all 4 sides. Then sand the top edge down the desired thickness. I have used a drill press, but everything has to be squared to everything else. The sanding disc has to be perfectly squared to the top of the coin in the block. Not close, but perfectly squared.

Last bit of info, get plenty of extra coins. It is nota question of if you will screw some up, it is a question of if you get some made correctly without a lot of mistakes. But once you have the system down, it works like a charm. Have fun

DakotaDocMartin · Nov 11, 2015

Billzach said:
A belt sander is how I have done it for years..Holding with finger tips and rotating coin...

I guess it's true... great minds do think alike!

JOEYS CARVED ART · Nov 11, 2015

Hot glue the coin to a piece of round wood dowel and put it to your power hone and go to finer grit laps as needed. Do you want to keep the rim? How much run out is tolerable across the flattened face of the finished coin? How smooth do you want it? Matte or polished? I'm not telling you something you don't already know but all these are factors that need to be figured in when choosing a way to do it.
Joey

Smooth off one side of a coin?

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