With current technology, would it be viable to produce completely customized coin albums to order?

MrEureka · June 20, 2017 8:23AM

I would happily pay $100 or more for certain albums if they could be made to order.

TopographicOceans · June 20, 2017 8:32AM

Sure - and you don't even need to use any technology.
It can be done the old fashioned manual way.

CoinCast · June 20, 2017 8:50AM

It couldn't be any worse than Dansco. For the typical modern sets they have switched albums and pages so many times that I have order customers the pages they need anyway because there are too many to possibly have in stock. Half are backordered/discontinued making it even more of a pain. Many times a custom page would have been easier. I assume Andy you thinking more about vintage applications, but this could be helpful even to the casual guy with the pieced together Dansco Modern Penny Set.

msch1man · June 20, 2017 8:53AM

I think Caps albums come pretty close ( http://www.capsalbums.com/customize-a-caps-album ) - the only downside being all ports on each page have to be the same size

messydesk · June 20, 2017 9:09AM

I guess it depends on how album manufacturers cut and print their albums. If it's one die per page with captions hot foil stamped with manually set type, then the setup costs would make a custom album pretty expensive. If all the ports are cut by a CNC cardboard cutter and captions printed by computer, then it's quite feasible to produce. All that is needed is a way for you to design the page and schedule the production job from a website. Of course, doing that is also a pretty big setup cost, but it's a one time cost that would be amortized over everyone that ever ordered a custom album.

MrEureka · June 20, 2017 3:00PM

What about 3D printing?

neildrobertson · June 20, 2017 3:15PM

@MrEureka said:
What about 3D printing?

It could work. It would likely be slow and may not be able to easily get to the tolerances you'd have with a milling/CNC type of machine (I'm thinking consumer grade 3d printers).

Someone would have to look into the archival quality of the common plastics and materials used for 3d printing. Plasticizers and solvents can be used to make 3d printing material more workable. I know there is some off-gassing with some 3d printing materials.

Stork · June 20, 2017 4:46PM

A thousand years ago I inquired with Intercept (back when they were an entity you could communicate with) to see if they could do a Japan Type album (the old Danscos are hard to find). IIRC it would have required a minimum order of around 5K units, and the lack of interest was overwhelming. Granted, a little more complicated as it would be along the lines of a 7070 with different sizes all over a page, but still a disappointing response on many levels.

That communication was around 10 years ago, so it would fan-flipping-tastic if it's a project that could be done with newer technology. A personalized album...I'd pay $100 easy. The Danscos go for a lot more than that for something of dubious condition at this point. To get something updated and inert, too tempting.

Stork · June 20, 2017 5:13PM

@CoinsAndMoreCoins said:
There are online entities that will 3D print or machine anything for which you can supply design/dimensions and on the cheap.

My guess is there are some that would hand sketch this project for you while you measured your coins with a decent pair of calipers. Amazing how many people actually cannot measure something round with any useful accuracy.

Recently had a high temp metal manifold 3D printed that the most expensive aspect was drawing it up in Pro-E. It cost 800 bucks to print and to have machined it in a 4.5 axis center would have cost over 3.5 grand.

Thankfully I've got a catalog that is quite precise on diameters And, we've got some pretty nice calipers in the basement so I could cross check...you are giving me some ideas. The layout and the sizes are easy, just would need someone to 'make it so'.

MrEureka · June 20, 2017 5:36PM

Whatever it costs today, it will soon cost dramatically less. So the question isn't if it's viable, but when it will be viable.

Wabbit2313 · June 20, 2017 5:58PM

That would be cool.

Mission16 · June 20, 2017 6:04PM

If it's so darn easy, why is no one doing it?

GaCoinGuy · June 20, 2017 6:39PM

I designed and printed a customized page for my personal 7070. Have it put together, just having trouble finding the dies to cut the holes.

morgandollar1878 · June 20, 2017 7:29PM

Sounds like a a cool idea to me. It would essentially be a spin-off of what Capitol Plastics does already.

With current technology, would it be viable to produce completely customized coin albums to order?

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