Geckocoins Out And About Again

[+elgecko]

Hello fellow cachers,

In the beginning of the year, when I got into caching, I decided I wanted to make a personal sig item. I really liked the coins people had but could not afford them. So I needed to get creative.

I used discs that were punched out of metal from work, painted them and made a decal to place on the coin. I then clear coated the coin. I thought not to bad. Released 23 of them into caches I found.

One major problem was I did not test the coin to see what happens when it gets damp or wet. Well the clear coat disintegrates and the graphics then run and fade. oops. I guess some people might have found white discs in some caches.

So I started to look into what I could use to correct the problem. I found some epoxy resin that I wanted to try, but of course no craft stores around here had it, dragged my feet for a while. Finally bought some over the Internet. Made up 30 coins, coated the front side. Hey this looks like it's going to work.... coated the back side. My mix was not correct so the epoxy never hardened.

Ran a test of 1 of the 30 junk coins by placing the coin in a dripping wet paper towel, wrapped up and placed in a plastic drinking cup for a few days. The side that hardened correctly was perfect.

After dragging my feet some more after the first failed attempt, I finally have some GeckoCoins to be released out in caches again.

Here's a pic

 

 

In case anyone once to know what epoxy resin I used, here is the website:

http://www.eti-usa.com/consum/castresn/castresn.htm#easy

[+carleenp]

Very Nice!!!!!

[+TeamK-9]

Very cool...

 

How long does it take you to make a batch from start to finish?

[+joefrog]

Looks great! Wish I could get one!

[FISUR]

Sweet!

[+carleenp]

Where can we get those metal discs to make our own?

[+Ambrosia]

Where can we get those metal discs to make our own?

Ditto. This is interesting me very much. I was about to make some laminated business type cards, and I still may, but I like this much better.

[+halffast]

Nice job

[+elgecko]

Thanks for the comments.

 

TeamK-9,

The longest part is cutting the graphics out to put on the coins. It might take me an hour to do 30 coins. Spray painting the coins does not take long. It takes forever for the epoxy paint I use to harden. Then mixing and coating 1 side does not take long to do. A little over a 1/2 hour for 30 coins. But then it takes 72 hours for the mix to harden, then you have to repeat to do the backs. Since it's a little time stretched out over a period of time, I never kept track of it.

 

carleenp and Ambrosia,

Like I said I'm lucky and we have a metal cell were I work. I pick them out of the scrap bin, although the 2" size I use is not very common.

You could always check to see if there is any metal fabricators in your area that might have 2" or whatever size discs you would want. They may give you some. I do woodworking and there is 2 places near me that they have allowed me to take some of there scrap oak. I have made a few projects using there wood.

[benji55545]

epoxy resin

 

this is used in DIY fish tanks. i thought it was available at most hardware stores, but maybe not.

 

benji