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 Replies: 11 / Views: 3,197 |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Back in the days when you have Dansco, Whitman making neat albums for foreign coins, there's something that they gambled. That is world coins would be popular and that they would make a profit. This was back in the 1960 - 70s. Bad timing - world coins were not too popular until the late 80 - 90s. Of course with any business that you run, you always need to ensure that you have enough demand to run your business otherwise you'll go kaput. Fair enough, very understandable. You see, I'm still awed over how impressive the old Dansco albums were made for foreign coins. I only have the Japan type set album and Fiji year set and these are very collectable even up to now. These albums I believe were made more than 40 years ago and they still look better than some of the modern albums out in the market. I believe Dansco will need to produce at least 1000 albums before they may consider reprinting an album. At let's say 40-50 dollars each, it's a fair amount of money. Not feasible unless you have researched your market throughly. What crossed my mind is when I read the article about printing 3D gun - appearently functional. Put the danger side away, why can't 3D printer be used to create customized coin albums? Have a few random ideas like the digital album I have created: Soviet type set http://gxseries.com/numis/rus_new_t...g1_small.jpgEarly 5 kopek year set http://gxseries.com/numis/rus_new_t...g1_small.jpgSouth Korea type set http://gxseries.com/numis/koreatype...g1_small.jpgManchukuo year set http://gxseries.com/numis/china/alb...g3_small.jpgAnd the list goes on. Beauty of this is that you can change the language to any foreign language other than English and annotate whatever you like. Suppose the material used for printing is inert. Why not have an open source coin album design if this can be doable? |
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
With so many variables I can't see a company keeping stocks of each but rather produce them to order from a computer stored template?
Perhaps unfeasable for a company at the moment but in the future when 3D printers come down in price (as they inevitably will) and affordable to the man in the street then it's an excellent idea to keep in mind.
I'd also speculate that at some point in the future a community member (with the patience and time required) might offer just such a service - for a small fee of course!
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9377 Posts |
Quote:
why can't 3D printer be used to create customized coin albums? And we could print off the coins to go in the albums too. Save a lot of money that way.  Steve |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
Right now, 3D printers are only capable of producing product made of plastic. Even if you found a plastic that they could use that is coin-safe, it would still be quite expensive. Until the technology is more developed, it would still be cheaper to make albums the conventional way.
But, I do like the way you are thinking. Some day, it would be nice to be able to have your own 3D printer and make your own custom albums at home!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
True that 3D printers are on their way. And possibly for now only good for plastics or similar substances. However, as with most new items they continue to improve as the necessity or wanting increases. Slowly someone will figure out how to make a substance similar to metal and POOF, we now have something called a new way to counterfeit. Why bother making coin Albums when you can make the coins? And since good for plastic, why not more PCGS and/or NGC slabs for their faked coins? I just wonder what China will be making with those next. If big enough, how about a car?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
Well done Wade. Nice reply.
Off course the technology is already available (I imagine) to laser scan a coin in 3D and then reproduce it. Then you would use the 3D print out to produce the mould to make a cast.
Heaven help us when that day arrives!
I always figured that any advancement in technology can be used for the benefit of mankind BUT there will always be the downside where greed will use it to our disadvantage.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
Shapeways offers a 3D-printing service: you send them a 3-D design file and some money and they print it. The cost isn't in the size but the amount of material used - so you could possibly make some album pages that are mostly open space (since all you really need are the holes, and maybe some fancy dates) for cheaper than you'd think. I'm familiar with the website because I used to collect twisty puzzles (Rubik's cubes but harder) - tons of independent designers used Shapeways for their first trials, and some of those designs did get mass-produced eventually. So we're probably closer than we think (although all you really need for album pages are a set of round cookie cutters and some cardboard). http://www.shapeways.com/As far as I know, the ABS plastic used isn't very reactive (LEGO is made of ABS, so try putting some red zincolns in a little LEGO tomb and tell me if they tone funny) either. |
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Moderator
 United States
187836 Posts |
Feasibility aside, I really like the type set examples you have created.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
807 Posts |
There already is such a thing as 3D printing in metal, & I'm investigating the use of it for coinage dies. I did see someone offering a 3D printed "coin", actually cast in sterling silver by a lost-wax process using a printed pattern ; quality was low, cost high, as you would expect. But for making albums, laser-cutting into the material for the albums is a much better prospect. I've used exactly this method myself already.    The material here is artist's matte-board. I printed onto Avery self-adhesive labels for the text, also printing alignment marks on the sheets, to ensure that the laser cut the holes where they needed to be to match the text. |
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Valued Member
United States
62 Posts |
I actually have a 3D printer and a decent bit of experience with budget models. I like the idea, and I'll have to mess around with it!
The most common printers use PLA or ABS plastics, and it can take some skill and tuning to produce a broad flat surface (like a coin album page) without warping. Cost of these materials is about $30/kg, which is very small unless you're mass producing objects.
One thing though -- I'm not sure if there's a significant time/effort/materials savings over just drilling holes in whatever material you are intending. Come to think of it, a CNC machine could be ideal for coin album pages. Load up a blank, lay out the desired pattern and sizes, and push go. More options for materials and often better resolution.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2077 Posts |
Publius
I'd think the laser cutter would be able to cut openings in Dansco type pages, wouldn't it? Without holes, I think there are only 3 or 4 page variations. At really low power, would the laser be able to letter the pages, maybe with white overlay on a black cardboard core, or vice versa?
BTW, how portable is the machine and what does it take as input?
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Replies: 11 / Views: 3,197 |
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Posted 08/05/2013 03:25 am
