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 Replies: 12 / Views: 5,149 |
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New Member
United States
12 Posts |
I've got 3 Rolls of coins. Stuck in Plastic Tubes.
I used a hair dryer for 15 minutes and silp-joint pliers just to get the lid off.
How can I get the coins out?
Thanks in advance, Chuck
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Pillar of the Community
United States
572 Posts |
Put the tube in a cup, pot, bowl (your choice) of very hot water (almost boiling) and let stand just until cool enough to work with (probably 15 - 20 minutes).
Place the tube on it's side on a flat surface while still warm and gently roll and tap lightly with a small hammer on the side of the tube. This generally leads to enough of a change in shape of the plastic to loosen the coins and can be repeated as many times as needed.
(If you are concerned about the hot water affecting the coins experiment with something of little to no value until you are sure the heat won't change the color.)
Worst case scenario, drill a small hole in the bottom of the tube and insert a wooden dowel. Hold the tube upright and tap the dowel on the counter as gently as needed to make the coins move.
Alternatively, you can put the tube into a vise and tap the dowel from the bottom. This can result in damage to the bottom coin in the tube, so only use if the heating and softening process doesn't work.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Yes those old plastic tubes with non-screw caps . I have had many headaches with those . There are a few different ways to remove the coins safely from these tight tubes . My favorite way though time consuming is hold open tube at 45 degree angle and tap on tube with your index finger . They will slowly come out . You can also try a little heat to expand the plastic and again tap at 45 degree angle . There are other means but I don't condone other practices like hitting tube with a hammer , throwing tube down on hard floor , etc .  |
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
 to the Community! Your post was moved to the appropriate forum for the proper attention.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
24885 Posts |
To the Forum. |
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New Member
 United States
12 Posts |
Since heat didn't work. I will freeze the roll and hit it with a hammer or put the roll in a vice to crack the plactic tube.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3207 Posts |
use a saw to cut lengthwise into but not through the plastic tube, then tap the tube with a hammer to try to break the plastic along the cut, if it doesn't break, saw a little more, lather rinse repeat, it's worked for me
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
If you are going to use the hammer of vise method,
deeply score the outside of the tubes,
and before vise or hammer is used, wrap tube in a towel.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1510 Posts |
Use hacksaw fine blade should get them unstuck, do not saw all the way through plastic cracking the plastic will be tricky without damaging coins but do-able merry Christmas too all
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Some good techniques here , just don't smash the tube with a sledgehammer , you might damage the tube .  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Did you solve the problem?
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New Member
United States
12 Posts |
Finally, Success after 5 hours of work on those M. Meghrig & Sons rolls.
I got those 1962 Nickels out of the plastic tubes.
Freezing the rolls in a zip lock bag didn't help one bit.
Dipping the rolls in Boiling water for 1 minute and slamming them onto the countertop did free a few.
So I repeated the boiling technique 10x over and over.
The last 4 coins didn't budge.
So, out came the hacksaw blade that model builders use on plastic.
I made 2 cuts 1/4" apart and used needle nose pliers to rip the hot soft plastic from the coins.
thanks for your ideas and stay away from these type of rolls in the future.
EZ-PEEZY it was not.
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Good to see you finally freed them after much effort!  |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 5,149 |
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Posted 12/24/2022 8:42 pm
