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n/a
deleted
38 Posts |
 Posted - 09/19/2007 : 22:02:46
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I know about the Rydale sorter but has anyone thought about a faster way to sort. All I can think about is a 55 gallon drum filled a quarter of the way with pennies and fill to about a foot from the top with water. Then rig up a giant paint shaker and I would think this would work like panning for gold. The coppers should settle to the bottom. Then scoop out the zincs on top.
BTW I realize that as you get to the copper level it would be harder to get the zincs without grabbing some coppers too. But we are talking about maybe 95% purity. The impurities are justified in the amount of time you will save and it won't greatly diminish the melt value.
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n/a
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38 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 22:09:55
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| I figure you could sort 10 bags an hour or 50,000. Sure beats the 300+ of the Rydale. In terms of quanity this would be hard to beat. |
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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2007 : 07:33:04
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How about a penny sluice? I can see myself now hauling bags of pennies down to the creek near my house and running them through my homemade sluice. What will the neighbors think? 
Seriously, I would guess 1 person could operate 3, 4, 5 or even more Ryedale machines at the same time. All you would need are some really big hoppers feeding into the Ryedales. So you can easily up your through-put by simply buying more machines.
Plus, if you are trying to sort that many pennies then you may have bigger problems than sorting them. I think the challenge would be in actually acquiring that many pennies to sort and getting rid of all the zincs.
At least for me, time (during bank hours) and returning zincs has always been the bottle neck...not sorting and I don't even own a Rydale. So, I am limited to buying only what I can get in one-two trips to a bank per week. And I am limited to sorting only what I can return during the one time a week that I can actually get to a credit union with the free coin counter... |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2007 : 17:15:45
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"Returning the zincs has always been the bottle neck"
Maybe we need to turn this problem on its head,
Is there some way to get rid of zincs without taking them to a bank, a credit union or coinstar?
Could you contact Brinks to haul away the zincs?
There aught to be some way to unload the zincs in an easy fashion.
Any ideas?
I should have chosen "Cut-n-Paste" as a forum name, since that is what I do, mostly. |
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Ryedale
Administrator
USA
523 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2007 : 19:45:55
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Mastro,
Welcome to the forum,
You said..........
I know about the Rydale sorter but has anyone thought about a faster way to sort. All I can think about is a 55 gallon drum filled a quarter of the way with pennies and fill to about a foot from the top with water. Then rig up a giant paint shaker and I would think this would work like panning for gold. The coppers should settle to the bottom. Then scoop out the zincs on top.
BTW I realize that as you get to the copper level it would be harder to get the zincs without grabbing some coppers too. But we are talking about maybe 95% purity. The impurities are justified in the amount of time you will save and it won't greatly diminish the melt value.
When I first started making the machine (pre ban) one of my customers wanted to do it big, and they simply bought multiple machines, at full price ($800 at that time). After the melt ban came into effect, it really slowed this down to either insiders (with the Fed) or the hobbiest/speculator.
Like was stated above the problems are not sorting anymore, as there are commercial machines that are already in use, that sort coins very fast. (by metal content)
Your system would involve a batch process, using shakers and water, You could get about $1000 face in the first 1/3rd of the drum, and after soring you would have contaminated (wrong metal) and wet coins. Now you have to dry them, etc, and still return the zinc.
A bank of 10 Ryedale Apprentices can sort 180,000 coins per hr. About $3000 investment, and give you ~99.8% accuracy (copper keep mode) on the first pass. (not to mention they are still dry)
So the question becomes, how much money do you have to front to invest in this speculative play? How much access do you have to coins, because with my bulk sort proposal, it can do $1800 per hr, or about $14,000 per 8hr shift. How many days can you run this, and not run out of pennies, or money to front the unmeltable coins?
You may say I'm beeing the salesman, but the fact is that the sorting is the least of the problems. If you have access, in the Chicago area and want to sort massive amounts of coins, let me know and perhaps I can connect you with somebody that already owns the equipment. If you have "license to melt" as suggested by the melt ban from December 14th 2006, thank god you found us, because there are many here that would love to sell you thier copper coins.
Again thanks for coming to the forum, and please continue to post your thoughts, and if you continue to develop your method, we will surely be interested.
Ryedale
Hoard Copper Pennies,
The market will develop |
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beercritic
Penny Pincher Member
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2007 : 19:56:59
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Hmmm... Will zincs fit into a 12 gauge shotgun shell? They're cheaper than lead, right? Might make some interesting markings on the target.
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n/a
deleted
38 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2007 : 20:46:32
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Ryedale, I have no grudge against your machine. Its just that $3000 or even $300 for that matter is a lot. Plus you have to look at the time it takes to recuperate your investment.
P.S. Do you think it is a good idea ( In that it would separate the pennies?) |
Edited by - n/a on 09/20/2007 20:47:04 |
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Canadian_Nickle
Penny Hoarding Member
Canada
938 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2007 : 21:53:13
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i think the key would be finding a liquid with a specific gravity such that copper sinks in it but zinc floats. Then just toss the pennies in, and skim off all the ones that float to the top. Perhaps mercury or a mercury compound of some kind would work.
________________________
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CA10Ag250:CA50Ag100:CA25Ag30:CA500Ag48:US100Ag20:CA1000Ag16
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n/a
deleted
38 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2007 : 22:17:59
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| Ya I thought about that to but the cost of mercury would make it prohibitive. I actually thought adding a solute to water to raise it specific gravity would be a cheaper way, kinda like salt water. |
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Jason
Penny Pincher Member
USA
138 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2007 : 23:57:40
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Yes, a liquid with the proper specific gravity would work for sorting copper from zinc, but mastro specificlly identified water as the liquid. You would never be able to sort copper from zinc in this manner using pure water. Gold can be seperated from dirt in this manner because dirt is a whole lot lighter than gold. In comparison copper and zinc would not be that far apart. I don't believe salt water would work either Mastro, sorry. You would need and EXTREMLY dense liquid. Mercury would probaly work. Don't worry about cost. Just go to every business in your town, ask them to give you all of their used flourescent lightbulbs, and break them all in the same room of a building and eventually you will start getting a sufficient amount of liquid mercury. Now you must realize that this will take a long time and you probably will get mercury poisioning (causes you to loose your mind, think of the mad hatter on alice in wonderland. Hatters used mercury while curing beaver skins to make top hats), but hey, free mercury, lol. Just stick with ryedale, i think his machine is the best thing to ever happen to penny sorting. I still haven't bought a machine from you ryedale, but i promise one of these days i will.
M20/1USMS:US1Cu22700:US1Zn7500:US5CuNi720:US10Ag128:US25Ag89:US50Ag43:Us100Ag3 |
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penny sorting
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