For a 5cm diameter coin, metal print costs, one-offs (material cost):
Stainless Steel - USD$44
Gold Steel - USD$48
Brass - USD$191
Stainless, Gold Plated, 14k - USD$225
Pure Silver - USD$317
And then Gold and Platinum dust prices are just insane. Titanium is out of stock for the printer model...
Printing is thus prohibitively expensive.
Some fun things we can print though:
Sandstone - USD$8
100% Pure Platinum - USD$13,252 (dies)
If the plan is to make metal coins in large volumes, you'll want to get a third party to make a die or a stamp.
My reaction to the cost of Pure Platinum
i like the idea of 1 or 2 brass coins made. 1 is gifted to the foundation to do with as they please -- perhaps an auction to raise funds -- and the other is gifted to the cpid that mines the millionth block. i also like the medallion size.
Damn, that 100% pure platinum cost... wow!
Just to clarify - these are costs for dust for the 3D printer right? Not for the CNC? As I know there's been some confusion.
Correct, trying to clarify that further where there are misunderstandings. This is for additive manufacture - 3D printing. Traditional manufacturing, like CnC, is far cheaper, but more labour intensive.
Cheers Dutch, thank you for clarifying!
Also, I obviously cannot CnC one from platinum, as I don't tend to keep platinum bar lying around. =P
Is aluminum off the table? I'd imagine that is cheap.
I don't have the gear to laser sinter aluminium unfortunately.