Does anyone own a 3D Scanner or have 3D Scans of the standard US or world coins? I'm working on a project to 3D print large replicas of coins for blind students to be able to see (read feel) how our coins actually look. Thanks for the assistance.
@jwitten @furryfrog02 @NorthKorea @messydesk @SuperDave @Paddy54 @paddyman98 @physics-fan3.14 @mikenoodle @tommyc03 @heavycam.monstervam @Santinidollar @TJ1952 @Duke Kavanaugh @KoinJester @green18 @Treashunt @Pilkenton @Cascade @Kentucky @Markus1959 @Rick Stachowski @eddiespin @desertgem @Insider @C-B-D @cpm9ball @BooksB4Coins @coinman1234 @OdedPaz @rzage Guys, sorry to bother you, but I need as many eyes on this as possible. Do any of you have any idea where I can get 3D scans of US coins? Thanks for looking, it's for a great cause.
Have you tried contacting Google and explaining the project to them? They might help fund it or provide the printouts. There actually might be legal reasons that prevent this.
At the risk of sounding stupid; do you have any recommendations on who/how to contact in Google? I think it's a great idea and could work.
Have you contacted the Mint? They might actually have some already or have the ability to source something for you without you have to actually duplicate the coin yourself.
Your source for things like this are Maker forums. I can't recommend a specific one - out of scope for me - but there's no doubt in my mind there are thriving online communities of Makers easily found. The types who will be heavily into 3D printing will also have scanning capability, and this kind of resolution is freely available (that much I've researched).
I've seen some people posting photos of large US coins which is as big as their palm. Do you require something that's even larger?
I'm not sure you would actually need something as huge as you think. I would imagine that the tactile precision of the average blind person that reads Braille is quite high. If blind since birth, the shapes of letters may be meaningless, anyway. As for what you need, the one person you forgot to tag who should be able to get you an STL file of a coin's surface quickly is @rmpsrpms. The easiest way to produce what you want is by converting a focus-stacked image to a 3D surface with something like Helicon 3D, which can write out a file, probably in either STL or OBJ format. He has done this before with high-magnification images. I don't know if he can do it effectively with lower magnifications, but he's closest to the solution you need.
Many thanks! With regards to the letters and size, that was the feedback my blind friend gave me regarding reading them. He finds value in being able to feel them out. They are, after all the way the rest of America writes and it would be nice for them to fully understand what is on the coin. He said the 3" rounds were nice but he would go 2-3x that size if possible and he has been blind since birth. To each their own
Sorry but have been pretty busy with work since the holidays are right around the corner. This sort of thing is out of my wheelhouse as to my expertise . However there is the work house for the blind in Baltimore . Maybe a lead to connecting to the needs. It's located in South Baltimore right off I-95. Maybe a lead?
Thank you for everyone's input. So far I have contacted @rmpsrpms the US Mint, Google, Google Search Advice, the Smithsonian's National Numismatic Collection, and a few other random sites. I haven't had any feedback yet but there's a chance I'll hear something early next week after they've sifted through their messages. Please keep the ideas coming!
