Anyone build their own coin droppers?

Are you asking because you want to buy one or are you asking to see how difficult they are to make?

I imagine that you could make one with a pair of shears and bend the metal around a table and so forth but when you have brakes that are set-up correctly... you can probably make 20 in the time it takes to do one.

Same thing with springs. If you're design uses springs it's easier to buy them already made then to wind them on your own.

http://www.thehouseofenchantment.com/pag......ach.html

I do not make them but am posting these photos so you know.. that I know... that you know... that I know, what it takes to make them.

Unless you have a special need I would buy something already on the market.

Jay,

Your shop time per hour is a very good rate.

David

Three years ago it was higher but so were my show prices too.

You can make a Geoffrey Buckingham dropper out of cloth for a few dollars.

Depends what type of coin holder you are inquiring about. There is all kinds of designs using cloth, metal, bobby pins, paper clips, etc.

Check out http://www.nnmagic.com and http://www.vikingmagic.com and daytonamagic.com for designs of coin droppers.

Completely unrelated (maybe).... working on a nickel launcher based with a power window motor, small leaf spring, and metal slide. When complete, you mount it in your vehicle behind the grille. Next time a d-bag feels like cutting you off, hit a switch and a thick 5 cent coin will propel into the offending vehicle at a rate of one coin every second.

Ive tried a number of commercial ones... quick review notes:

COin Gondola - great for getting a stack into your hand for a shower of coins or similar effect.

http://www.vikingmagic.com/?nd=full&key=168

Murray coin dropper - My favorite for just getting one or two halves into your hand.
http://www.nnmagic.com/magicitems/ms_coindropper.htm

The coin slides I've been able to get have all been Indian pot metal junk and invariably jam on me. Viking has one in their catalog, and I'd trust their manufacture, but it says "out of stock: Still, here is the picture

http://www.vikingmagic.com/?nd=full&key=167

In the past Ive also just used a good sized paper clip and clipped a coin to my waistband, which worked fine.

.... trying to find a picture of the quarter droppers I was making a couple of decades ago designed to hold a roll's worth of quarters with easy delivery into either hand. It all started with a request from Jamy Ian Swiss. I have a drawing, I think, on the office computer. I sent them to someone a couple of years ago who had a similar request.

Soldering used to be required but with today's glue technology it might not be necessary anymore and even some plastic pipe might be used. I may have to revisit this.

Will try to post them later on.

Found it:



This is made out of brass. You just load it and clip to your belt under your coat. All it takes is a flip of the fingers to release the o-ring.

Can it drop one at a time?

These are all interesting, thanks. And Jay, I can buy them, and probably will, I'm just a big DIY guy, lol. I enjoy making my own gimmicks when I can. Looks like I'll end up buying these though. I'm also working on using a leather band/bracelet to use as a coin holdout.

This one is specifically designed to dump 25 quarters into the hand but I can see how it could be modified to go one at a time. Good idea.

That picture is the L. Ireland penny dropper, that they sold with a great routine of changing a fifty cent piece to a nickel and 45 pennies. I still have mine in my collection.

Wm, that penny is a US coin... how did you figure it came from Ireland? Don't they use GB Pence coins?


(that was a joke)

Merv Taylor made a beautiful coin dropper that worked silently and reliably.

I drew up a design for a dropper that Les Smith of Owen Magic made for me years ago. He included a couple of new Taylor droppers with everything delivered in less than a month and didn't charge me nearly what he should have for his superb craftsmanship. Hundreds of shows later they still work as if they were new.

Les was a good guy.

Make one that will drop one at a time reliably and Id buy it

As I say I'm very disappointed in my coin slides. I have an imagined Miser's Dream where I p[periodically show the right hand empty, but I need a reliable multiple single-dropper to make it work.

I'm now working on hold-outs instead of droppers. a little easier, too!

Stupid question... what is the proper definition of a hold-out? I know what constitutes a pul landa dropper, but as far as I know I've never owned a hold-out.

The young kids today, like to just use terms as they will. They never bother to look it up in the magic dictionary.

When useing the term hold-out, it use to mean the Jack Miller type of Hold-out. Or the mechanical gamblers hold-out for adding cards to a losing poker hand.

Now I guess it means any method of a delivery system or retraction system of objects.

Kids today, just throw terms around, and ususally do not know what they are talking about in the 1st place.

Magic is indeed doomed to ignorance.

Not just kids!!