Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Last spring she'd already marked our toaster with the sign of the Deathly Hallows, so why not mark our dog too? As an animal lover, I wouldn't actually MARK our dog - but a dog tag on his collar works great.
I 'hacked' a Chilean 500 peso coin, added some solder and copper wire, stamped the back, cleaned and polished the tag (with my Dremel stylus :-) and now the family dog is wearing the latest in Harry Potter (pet) jewelry.
Here's what I used:
500 Peso coin from Chile (a battered coin leftover from a trip to Chile years ago - you could use any two-tone (bi-metal) coin with a silver outer ring - Canadian two dollar coin, 2 Euro coin etc.)
Lead-free solder
flux
heavy gauge copper wire (or brass - should contrast with center of coin)
heavy-duty soldering iron or regular propane torch
Fire brick or similar for a soldering surface
hammer
bench vise
steel letter stamps (the kind used to mark tools - I got mine at Harbor Freight Tools)
wire cutter
file or coarse sand paper
fine sand paper (from medium to very fine or higher)
optional:
buffing compound and something to use it on (Dremel tool or similar)
As usual, BE SAFE when you use a soldering iron or torch.
Wear a dust mask and safety goggles when sanding, buffing or polishing with motorized tools.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Pound coin into a triangular shape
1. Insert your coin into the bench vise, leave one side sticking out above the jaws. This will be the first side of the triangle. Clamp the vise as TIGHTLY as you can - really lean on the handle.
2. Take your hammer (regular 16 oz. hammer is fine) and pound on the raised part of the coin. Hit down on the coin and slightly pull the hammer towards one end of what will become the side of the triangle. In theory, the glancing blow will help push the metal sideways to form a corner, instead of just mashing the metal down into a mushroom shaped edge. No matter how hard you tighten the vise, the coin will end up getting pushed down between the jaws.
3. Reposition the coin as needed and keep pounding the sides flat. Try to get the metal to 'stay flat', to stay in the plane of the coin so that it remains flat like a sheet of metal. If the side mushroom out, use the flat part of the vise as an anvil and pound the coin flat. The goal is to make a triangle-shaped piece of flat metal.
4. Don't worry when the 'corners' pull away from the center of the coin - you will fill the gap with solder in a later step. (As a side note, take a look at the groove on the edge of the central disc - that's how they keep the bi-metal coins from popping apart during normal use).
5. Stop when you have a pretty good triangle. The corners will still be rounded some, but that is taken care of when we FILE in a later step.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
Anyway, thanks for the instructables, take care :)