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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,572 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1475 Posts |
I would think gentle taps with a hammer might free few coins on top. Then you can work on the rest.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1000 Posts |
I suggested freezing to make the plastic more brittle. Spruett is correct in that it will cause the plastic to contract, but it should cause the coins to contract more, since they conduct heat better. This is the same principle that allows running a stuck jar under hot water to work -- the metal lid expands more than the glass jar. Mark1959 pointed out that putting the roll in the freezer will cause condensation to form on the coins when you get them back to room temperature. If you are freezing, do it in a sealed ziplock bag. You can try to shake the coins out of the tube then, but leave the ziplock sealed until it has reached room temperature again so no condensation will form on the coins.
Mark1959 suggested using an over to get the plastic tube a little more pliable. Obviously, you want to use a temperature that will not melt the plastic onto your coins. I believe he said 200 degrees? This sounds reasonable to me, since that's below the boiling point of water. I would actually start with the lowest available setting and work my way up if necessary. (I think ovens start at 140-170?)
Hammer will mess up at least a few of your coins. Crazyb0 was in a similar situation recently and ended up damaging a few coins at the bottom. He sent me one of the convex coins -- an interesting piece, but not a pretty one!
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Valued Member
 United States
234 Posts |
ok.. thank you everyone for the ideas.. I will see what I can do and report back :) LOL
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
I would think putting a towel in the bottom of a sink and using very cold water to soak them in would be better. Then run the tube under hot water and the plastic will expand faster than the coins since they will take longer to expand due to the mass of the metal. The plastic will expand faster than the nickels. The coins may fall into the cold water below but they won't clang on an empty bare sink or clank onto eachother with much force since they won't drop as fast as in the air. You could even put the roll in the freezer for an hour but do the same with a few inches of water in the sink. Might want to rinse with distilled water after you get them free.
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CCF Advertiser
United States
1533 Posts |
Try a hair dryer on the tube and see if the coins will shake loose.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
.Freezing works but you need to go really cold to make it easy. Dip the tube in liquid nitrogen and the tube will shatter. The plastic gets brittle and tries to contract significantly, but the mass of the coins takes longer to cool so the plastic over stresses and shatters.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2023 Posts |
How about freezing first, then lowering the tube into warm water? I seem to remember this trick to loosen cups or glasses that are stuck together.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Yeah ,that is an old type tube ,the cap just fits over the tube ,no threads . I have a few of them myself and yes the coins are tight fitted in those tubes . take the cap off and gently tap the top of the tube on a hard surface at a 45 degree angle while rolling the tube around with your fingers . It's time consuming but you won't have to worry about damaging the coins with heat or ice . 
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Valued Member
 United States
234 Posts |
Well.. I was able to get into this mystery roll by cracking the bottom end of the tube with a hammer... thank you everyone for the help getting into it.. I have not searched the entire roll yet but it is an entire roll of B/U 1959 D nickels .. I did find one decent DDR with a light spread & several RPMs.. unfortunately the obverse on all the error coins were struck with an extremely worn die.. not too bad for a free bonus roll :)
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
Quote: I was able to get into this mystery roll by cracking the bottom end of the tube with a hammer Well done!  I only just thought of that angle when you said that. Not only is it the tight fit but, releasing the potential vacuum from the bottom of the tube when trying to get the coins out. That may actually be the biggest force holding the coins in place. Good to know.
In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020 In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020 In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1335 Posts |
use hot water ,don't boil them ,but real hot water and put your hand in with them , working the plastic back and forth,
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Very slow compression in a vise, until you hear a cracking sound in the plastic tube. Freezing will help to make the plastic more brittle.
What is of more value to you, the coins or the plastic tube?
Edited by sel_69l 05/17/2017 8:33 pm
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Valued Member
United States
452 Posts |
Freezing could help. It's true, freezing contracts solids which means the coin contracts in on itself and the plastic contracts in on itself effectively increasing the ID of the tube while the OD of the coins decreased. Might have to leave it in there for a bit but probably your freezer isn't cold enough for the kind of shrinkage you're needing. See if there is a resource for liquid nitrogen and get them to fill a cooler for you. Drop your roll in there for 10 minutes and your coins will come out for sure. This technique is used on aircraft parts ALL THE TIME. Be very careful with liquid nitrogen, it will freezer burn your skin almost instantly. Wear insulated gloves when handling it.
Edited by durkastani 05/17/2017 1:13 pm
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Valued Member
United States
452 Posts |
To visualize why heat will not work draw a square with a circle inside of it. Heat causes a material to expand toward ALL of its surfaces. Draw arrows toward all of the surfaces of both shapes. When you're done the circle has arrows going outward in all directions. The square also has arrows outward in all directions but it also has arrows pointing outward from itself into the area outside of its inner circular surface ;)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1386 Posts |
Personally I would leave it in the freezer overnight. Then put it in front of a hairdryer on high,then right back to the freezer.Then the hair dryer. Do this a few times over the period of a few days and the plastic should become brittle enough to break with your fingers.
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