LMC Cracks?

As explained to me by an old tool-and-die guy, sharp vertices tend to create focus points for tool failure. the corners of the Memorial are sharper than in other areas/devices of the coin. It's possible that these are focus points that may fail sooner than other parts of the die. And they ran the heck out of dies during the 80s. Failure may have been inevitable. Let's hear what the experts have to say on the matter though.

I think Ken said in another post that is the area for weak strikes. I wonder if that has something to do with so many cracks.

No. Just someone I worked with long ago. I used to be around stamping presses quite a bit in my early QC days. Now and again, I get to audit a plant that might have a stamping operation so I get to dust off some old memories.

One of the things we used to watch for where coined corners where a radius was expected. A radius maintains material strength where coining a corner weakens it. It could be why cracks tend to appear at the corners more regularly. Weakened tool states from over us, multiple hardening, etc. increase the likelihood to develop cracks that we eventually see as witness marks on the coin.

As Ken might say: I know enough to be dangerous here. So I'm curious to hear what an expert thinks.

Rackster,
You and me both! And I agree.


One of my favorite dies.

Rackster,
Talk about looking outside the box. I never looked at it that way but I see it now. I'll have to strike some of these and see how the medallions look.