# I made a 2-Sided Quarter



## twooldvolvos (Jun 26, 2021)

I've had my lathe a little less than a year.  It seems that I have been spending more time getting set up than learning to use it.  So this weekend I decided to make a two headed quarter.  I give credit to mitxela who I found on uTube for giving me the idea.

This exercise was good practice in using a 4 jaw chuck and a dial indicator for centering work in it.  I would like to say that I measured everything but the truth is that there was a lot of eye balling.

Materials were cheap.  About $.25 each for the main parts.

The first thing I had to do was to make a collet to hold the coin while I hollowed the insides out.  I made mine from an old brass plumbing cap.





Then I used the collet in a 4 jaw chuck to hollow out the tails side of 2 quarters.  One of the quarters was left with the outside of the coin in tact.





The other one was super glued to a rod so the outside could be machined off.





Before I machined the outside off, I needed to center the work.  On my first try, I centered the rod, not the quarter.  Ha.  Ha.




I ended up with this.




I removed the no-edge quarter from the rod with some acetone.  Then I had the pieces ready to glue together with a little epoxy.




And Bob's your uncle.




There is no better way for me to learn than to do.  This project came out pretty good.  Next time I will machine closer to the edge.   Now I hope I don't accidentally spend it.


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## jwmay (Jun 27, 2021)

Some of us don't have two nickels to rub together and you're out here slicing up quarters like a Ginsu chef.  I better see if I can get some OT from work to try this. It'll probably cost me at least a few dollars to get right though.

Thanks for sharing! A guy at work did this, (or so I'm told) by gluing the pieces to wooden dowels before machining.


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## chip maker (Jun 27, 2021)

You know that there is a federal law against defacing government money right??? I always wondered how they got away with those penny machines that flatten those pennys into something else.  Guess alot of people must be guilty of this.

Just looked this up and found it is a up to $100.00 fine and or 6 months in Jail


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## Boswell (Jun 27, 2021)

twooldvolvos said:


> I removed the no-edge quarter from the rod with some acetone.


BTW, Heat also releases Super Glue.

Nice project.


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## Eddyde (Jun 27, 2021)

Ha, that was one of my first lathe projects too... Though, I only faced-off the two halves to half thickness and glued them together. Clamping tightly during gluing and burnishing the edge a bit, gives a glue line that is almost invisible. 

Of course actually implementing the subterfuge would be a rather complex discipline. Even so, I'd never enter coin toss with a machinist!


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## rabler (Jun 27, 2021)

chip maker said:


> You know that there is a federal law against defacing government money right??? I always wondered how they got away with those penny machines that flatten those pennys into something else.


I always figured the manufacturers of those machines would claim they tested them on copper blanks, so they never defaced any money


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## Eddyde (Jun 27, 2021)

Apparently it is legal here in the US but illegal in Canada








						Elongated coin - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## MrWhoopee (Jun 27, 2021)

Nice little project.
That piece of brass you sacrificed was worth about $5.


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## NC Rick (Jun 27, 2021)

*I made some with the grand kids.  My edge lines aren’t as good as yours.  Each one cost me 50 Cents…  I never thought of insetting it like you did.  Pretty awesome.  Mine is good for people with my eyesight.

*


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## NC Rick (Jun 27, 2021)

chip maker said:


> You know that there is a federal law against defacing government money right??? I always wondered how they got away with those penny machines that flatten those pennys into something else.  Guess alot of people must be guilty of this.
> 
> Just looked this up and found it is a up to $100.00 fine and or 6 months in Jail


The face on the coin is perfect and intact.  It has been “detailed“.


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## aliva (Jun 27, 2021)

Should be ok in Canada as we don't have pennies anymore.


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## larry4406 (Jun 27, 2021)

What’s the rule for clocking the faces relative to each other?


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## Eddyde (Jun 27, 2021)

larry4406 said:


> What’s the rule for clocking the faces relative to each other?


The opposite face is upside-down,


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## rwm (Jun 27, 2021)

chip maker said:


> You know that there is a federal law against defacing government money right??? I always wondered how they got away with those penny machines that flatten those pennys into something else.  Guess alot of people must be guilty of this.
> 
> Just looked this up and found it is a up to $100.00 fine and or 6 months in Jail


Don't post this anywhere, but I use pennies when I need to add zinc to an alloy.
Robert M


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