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Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 9:44 pm
by texcollex
Prompted by the passing of my Dad (he left me around 7500 pennies to sort through), I got out the comparitor I bought a decade or so ago and cobbled it together into something workable for sorting out the coppers. I ran through a box that I've had sitting around for ages, and got through them in just over 2 hours. I didn't find anything fabulous, in fact, the yield was only about 10% and only 2 Wheaties. Oh, I had one Canadian copper in there, too, great, eh? Anyway here is a Pic of my crude contraption.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 10:01 pm
by JerrySpringer
So you hand feed it? 3 boxes of pennies in 2 hours if pretty good. How long did it take to build?

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 10:28 pm
by cwgii
He said, A box.

Hand sorting,, I do it in just about 2 hours. If my neck and butt , cooperate

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 10:44 pm
by shinnosuke
Hey tex,
San Antonio here. I'm sorry to read of your father's passing. My own dad is 93 and starting to be unstable or off balance when he walks. He is my hero for introducing me to precious metals when I was a kid.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:56 pm
by texcollex
JerrySpringer wrote:So you hand feed it? 3 boxes of pennies in 2 hours if pretty good. How long did it take to build?


Yeah, I ran about twice that many today in about 90 minutes. I was feeding with both hands. I had jams 3 or 4 times, but got through all that Dad had accumulated. I found 10 Wheaties in this bunch. I don't have the eyesight nor patience to do that many by hand.

It only took me a couple of hours to cobble together my setup. I bought the comparitor ( it came with the coin slot mount) over 10 years ago. I used it a little bit, but it's been in the closet most of the time since then.

I opened up the cover on the comparitor and soldered a jumper from the Inhibit leg to the ground. I read on another forum that I needed to do that, and it worked ( I tested with a temporary jumper first). I just screwed some plywood to a1x4 and use a clamp to secure it to my coffee table. Pretty crude, but it got the job done. I re-ran all of the coppers and got no zincs this run. I sorted through the coppers visually and pulled out all of the Wheat cents that I spotted.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:57 pm
by texcollex
cwgii wrote:He said, A box.

Hand sorting,, I do it in just about 2 hours. If my neck and butt , cooperate

My back is pretty upset with me after this run. Using both hands was less back-friendly.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2024 8:01 pm
by texcollex
shinnosuke wrote:Hey tex,
San Antonio here. I'm sorry to read of your father's passing. My own dad is 93 and starting to be unstable or off balance when he walks. He is my hero for introducing me to precious metals when I was a kid.


Thanks much. Dad was 92 and he died very suddenly. We were out with him and Mom the day before, roaming the countryside and hitting yard sales. He was my influencer for PMs, too.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2024 8:03 pm
by texcollex
JerrySpringer wrote:So you hand feed it? 3 boxes of pennies in 2 hours if pretty good. How long did it take to build?


Oh, Dad left me about 7500 (guesstimate), but I had one box that I've had stuck back in the closet for a decade or so. That box is what I sorted yesterday.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2024 5:52 pm
by Robarons
Cool setup, something I always wanted to do when I was hand sorting. Kinda reminds me of a Ryedale apprentice unit.

Not sure where Ryedale went or if anyone uses their sorters anymore but they were similar.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 8:04 am
by texcollex
Robarons wrote:Cool setup, something I always wanted to do when I was hand sorting. Kinda reminds me of a Ryedale apprentice unit.

Not sure where Ryedale went or if anyone uses their sorters anymore but they were similar.


Yeah, I'm pretty sure I got the idea for it from this forum.

My estimate on Dad's pennies was a bit high. I think it ended up being around 5k total.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 10:50 am
by 68Camaro
Robarons wrote:Cool setup, something I always wanted to do when I was hand sorting. Kinda reminds me of a Ryedale apprentice unit.

Not sure where Ryedale went or if anyone uses their sorters anymore but they were similar.


Andy Redlon is still active - his web site is current and still selling machines and parts.

https://www.pennysorter.com/

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 4:47 pm
by Tourney64
Pretty good machine.

Re: Homegrown Penny Sorter

PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 2:52 pm
by texcollex
Tourney64 wrote:Pretty good machine.


Yeah, it is okay. I don't see much more need for it in my future, so I may end up putting it on feeBay.