Coin making?

[pull the trigger]

Have any of you made any coin molds or dies? I think it would be really neat to do this if you had a cnc mill and some artistic abilities. I've seen some graphite molds but I'm sure they aren't very tough.

[country gent]

How do you want to make it as a mould or punch and die?
Both will require some means of alignment between the upper and lower. The images will need to be engraved in each side. Depending on detail a flex shaft grinder or pencil grinder might be used. But to get sharp clean lines engraving is required. Making the basic form isnt hard. As a mould a sprue plate on the edge will work but will leave a flat on the edge.

Old coins were made in a hammer die the die was set on a solid surface then the blank the punch and it was struck with a heavy hammer to form the images. These coins were formed from silver or gold both soft malleable metals. They were also cut apart for smaller amounts.

I have made some dies for different things similar to coins these were burned in with a sinker edm.

[pull the trigger]

I think a punch and die would be easier to use, but I don't know. I was just kicking around the idea. A lead coin with the cast boolits logo would be awesome I think. I have a good sized arbor press, I should press a quarter or something into a piece of lead and see what it does.

[country gent]

To get the best image you will want very soft lead. Yo[U] will want to back the quarter with a heavy block of metal to keep it from bending.

We used pure lead wire or sheets to check clearance or radius's in dies when it hit and machine marks or tooling marks showed in the lead. You will get a reverse of the quarters image raised areas on the quarter will be recessed.

We also would do silicone molds for rubber polyurethane parts. here the part to be cast was used for the making the mould. It was cast in the silicone material then this was used to cast the parts. If you have or can get some one to 3D print the coins then use them to cast your silicone moulds You could get very nice coins / badges. The thing here is the silicone moulds have a limited life.

The other would be to look into etching the image. A resit from vinal or paint with the image removed, then a mild acid andd electric charge with remove metal where the resit has been removed. Just another option.

[pull the trigger]

Sounds sophisticated