Interesting. From the limited research that I've done, there is also a medium scope of involvement. As far as I know, Disney does not have anyone producing massive silver statues. If you make ripoff posters or other things that they are selling, it can more easily be construed as you taking sales away from them. Based on the etsy answers that I found, the deal is that if you don't make so many of them that Disney cares, you are fine. Stop when the C&D letter comes though...

These statues are pretty hard to make and time consuming at that. I can't really see making more than a few for just the handful of forum fans out there.

God... I'd give it a shot, but I wonder how far is too far before Disney comes after me for Intellectual property infringement. I mean, people make Star Wars stuff and sell it on etsy and such without a problem, but I wonder what the threshold is for requiring license to make stuff is.

*edit* Eh, for as few as I'd make, it doesn't seem to be an issue. I'll play around with it, but I have a feeling it wouldn't turn out as well.

One death star isn't enough? 

No idea, it was just gone when I pulled my jeans out of the dryer.

Platinum isn't as widespread for investing in as gold/silver is, however there are a lot of reasons why mints don't produce it. The blank costs are higher, as it has a much higher melting temperature than gold or silver, and its also harder and more difficult to machine. You can find silver bullion for $1-2 over spot value for a 1 oz coin, ~$10 over spot for gold, but its more like $50 over spot for Platinum. Custom die setups are much harder I'd imagine as well.

The Cas coin went through the washing machine quite a while ago, probably 2014 anyway, but I still hold a grudge.

Also! Here is the photo gallery of the process to produce the deathstar, Ill post it and an explanation of whats going on in the OP.

https://imgur.com/a/3RQkR

The 3D model is printed, cleaned up, and attached to a sprue, it is then put inside of the steel flask. Investment powder is mixed and put under vacuum to pull any air bubbles out that might stick to the model. After it dries, it goes through a 12 hour burnout, ramping up to 230C for the first hour, and then 3 hours after that. Then increasing 150C/hr up to 730C (~1350 degrees F) at which it stays for 4 hours, until the model is finally done, and ramped down to the casting temperature at around 500C for 2 hours. The silver is then melted, and when done, the flask is removed from the oven, placed onto the vacuum casting table, so that when the metal is poured, the vacuum pulls the molten metal into all crevices of the mold, and then is left to cool before being quenched in a bucket of water, and finished/polished.

Not to spoil too much, but after putting my 2013 gold/silver 1BTC Cas coin through the washing machine, water/fire resistant wallets have been on the to do list. Silver/Gold/Platinum/Paladium/Rhodium wallets with engraved keys perhaps? Mints wont produce platinum coins for people, and there are relatively few government mints that are setup to make platinum coins. However, with a hydrogen torch and a laser cutter, I shouldn't have "too" much trouble. As long as you don't have a 5,000 degree house fire, it should be pretty safe.

Hi all, this auction is for a 300g .999 fine silver statue of the Death Star. The pictures below show the exact piece you are bidding on. For those interested in how it was made, I'll include the pictures I have and a description as soon as my battery charges.

https://imgur.com/a/VrBI3

Countdown Timer:  https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/to?iso=20180225T115959&p0=263&font=cursive

Auction rules The starting bid is 0.02BTC. Please bid in Bitcoin increments, however I will accept Garlic, BTC, LTC, ETH, or most other exchangeable alt coins at your converted bid rate after the auction has ended, if you have any questions, please ask. The minimum bid increment is 0.0025 BTC. This auction will run from time of posting until Sunday February 25th at 11:59:59AM (Noon) US Eastern time. Shipping is free to and outside of the US, however if you are outside of the US, please make yourself aware of any laws and  import taxes involved with the import of precious metals. Ideally I'll have it shipped out to the winner on Monday. Any bids within the last 15 minutes of the auction ending time will extend the auction by 15 minutes. EX: a bid at 11:58AM on the 25th will extend the auction end to 12:13PM, a subsequent bid at 12:05PM will extend the auction yet again to 12:20 PM.

I'm more than happy to use escrow with any mutually agreeable escrow agent, however I do ask that you pay any associated fees. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to ask. After the auction has ended, I'll give this a final shine and send it on its way.

If you have any questions, comments, hate and discontent, please feel free to ask.

Edit* Here are the pictures of the process used to make the death star.

https://imgur.com/a/3RQkR

The 3D model is printed, cleaned up, and attached to a sprue, it is then put inside of the steel flask. Investment powder is mixed and put under vacuum to pull any air bubbles out that might stick to the model. After it dries, it goes through a 12 hour burnout, ramping up to 230C for the first hour, and then 3 hours after that. Then increasing 150C/hr up to 730C (~1350 degrees F) at which it stays for 4 hours, until the model is finally done, and ramped down to the casting temperature at around 500C for 2 hours. The silver is then melted, and when done, the flask is removed from the oven, placed onto the vacuum casting table, so that when the metal is poured, the vacuum pulls the molten metal into all crevices of the mold, and then is left to cool before being quenched in a bucket of water, and finished/polished.

Yup, I posted pictures of it a week or so ago in another thread. LC's was lighter, as I intentionally made the stand larger to help support it this time around. The size of the death star itself is the same though. This one just had a different assembly method for the 3d printed model.

*edit* Oh, you mean was LC under the impression it would be a one of a kind piece? No, I told them that I'd probably make one more and auction it off.

Ahoy all, I had Lesbiancow commission a silver death star with me. I had made two models, so I decided to cast the second today (not the 1 kilogram one)
Just wondering if people would be interested in having me auction this off, or if I should just keep it? I may finish it up a bit more, I'll be able to tell better in the morning's light.

https://i.imgur.com/TgqZlFI.png

It is 300 grams of solid 999 fine silver, I'll certainly take better photos if people are interested in it. Its not very likely that I'll make anymore, unless there is a huge demand. They take a long time to make and the shape irritates me as I can't get a perfect pour.

9 additional garlic bread loaves are now in stock.

Here is the video of the pour: https://vimeo.com/256492427

I'm changing a few things up, including the mold material. I have a much lower success rate, with about 50% of loaves needing to be scrapped and repoured, and a bit of weight inconsistency, but the loaves that do come out right, really come out right. The texture on them is incredibly gratifying. Hopefully I'll have better luck with them in the future, but its worth not having to let the molds sit and cure overnight.

Here is how we ended up at finishing, weighing in at 249.1 grams.

https://imgur.com/mzki3hD

Of course, the weather took a turn for the worse, so I'll have to hold off until tomorrow to cast. I got two bread loaves done, but they aren't cleaned up yet. I used a new casting technique, and they turned out quite a bit different, but I'm liking it. Will upload pictures when done.

This is also unfinished, so it looks really rough at the moment, but.
https://i.imgur.com/kkviDti.png

Not that I'm disagreeing with you here, but your threads have around 20 views each. Its not that your content isn't good, its just that there wasn't much exposure. I'm assuming what you posted was quickly buried in the altcoin discussion section, and either because there wasn't much for people to add to the thread, so discussion didn't keep it bumped, or just because of the volume of threads burying it was so massive, people didn't see or merit it.

The reason people are trying to merit farm in Meta, is because it typically takes a while for a thread to reach the second page, and the moderators are a bit more careful about deleting things in Meta. Of course, after the 200th merit thread a few weeks after its introduction, our caution starts wearing thin, and the trashcan gets taken out and replaced with a dumpster to make room for the things that dont deserve a 5th thread about.

Just because you don't get merit for good posts, doesn't mean you should stop posting well. It helps improve the overall quality of the forum. Quality topics and replies are easier for other people to respond with quality.

Its actually perfectly how I thought things would go. Lets bring back this little snippit with the important parts bolded


The people who don't like Laudas ratings are typically older members who can take care of themselves. Those that support Laudas ratings tend to be more newer members who rely on Default Trust. Exclude Lauda all you like, if you don't need their feedback, great! If you want me to provide sources for this, I'll just refer you to any topic regarding Lauda in the Meta section over the last few years.


On an unrelated note, and the reason I'm back in this thread, the people Vs OGNasty debate needs its own thread if you'd like to continue it. I would have split the topic myself, but it'd be a conflict of interests, so I'm going to report the conversation and ask that it gets split from this thread.

So this is likely the last reply on the matter I'll make. I've got a pretty good handle on all of the situations of how this could play out and what actions I'll take. I don't really need people's feedback on the matter, I've already talked to those who's opinions I value, so people spamming me can stop.

I'm adding Lauda because they represent the will of a large portion of the forum's users (myself not included). I disagree with a bit of what they do, but DT isn't really that necessary of a tool for well established members, its more for people who are just starting out and don't know how to create their own trust lists. By the time you've been here for a couple of years, you know to escrow when in doubt, and trust no one that doesn't have more to lose than they have to gain by scamming you. You can configure your own trust lists, so without any green or red numbers at all, you should be able to read the quantity and quality of an individual's feedback, and accurately make most judgement calls.

Lauda is on the absolute opposite side of the fence, and while I don't personally agree, I also can't say I am a good representation of newer members. Therefore, I think its important to have someone represent both sides. I think the vast majority of the people who don't like Lauda's judgement calls are people who can easily customize their own trust lists and forget about them, while those that rely on Lauda cannot do so as easily. With Lauda on DT, all basis are covered. Its just a matter of filtering out which you don't personally subscribe to.

Of course I don't like scammers, but the reason I bring this up is because we all have different definitions of what a scammer is. People are given red paint for trading accounts, as is pretty widely agreed upon by the community. I don't necessarily find that to be a offense worthy of negatives in all cases. My point being, if someone is given negative feedback, the warning states, "Trade with extreme caution" in other words, you can trade with them all you'd like, just make sure you aren't in a position to lose any money to them. Each person can decide for themselves what disqualifies a person as trustworthy with any given sum of money, and make appropriate steps to protect themselves. I used to trade with Dank on occasion, even though he defaulted on a loan. I judged personal stupid mistake differently than malicious scammer.

Well you can use literal sand, I have about 100 lbs of sand that I sifted through a very find micron mesh, mixed with equally fine bentonite clay, called greensand that you can use for sand casting. I also have some oilsands called Petrobond that I'm going to try casting into as well. With it, I'm going to cast a pan out of copper, and then plate it very heavily with silver.

The plastic cup is just something to pour the plaster into. With the bread loaves, I have about a half inch of clearance on each side. The molds are typically one use only, so even if they crack, its not until after the loaf has been poured and started to cool enough that it wont lose its shape. I've got lucky and got two pours out of a single mold, but most of the time, the silver burns some of the detail away, so I dont cast a second time. I will certainly get a good video for you this upcoming weekend  

Here is a little better of an example of mold making https://i.imgur.com/LsfiCOn.png

The stainless steel ring fits into the bottom rubber portion. The plaster will be poured in, and left to set. After that, when it dries, it goes in the oven, and the PLA will melt out, leaving a little tunnel to the cavity in the plaster. Silver is poured in, and then the sprue is cut off and the piece is sanded, polished, etc. Same deal as that youtube link I posted previously.



Also, I've done the microwave method before. Its obscenely dangerous. I disabled all of my microwave's safety features, increased the frequency of the "microwaves" by overclocking it, and it made the waves small enough to get outside of the microwave through the venting slits. Took me a minute to figure out why my face was getting itchy.

I've just added Lauda to my trust network. Lets see how this do.

I have a very different opinion of how the trust system works than Lauda. Lauda has annoyed the hell out of me on a number of occasions about trust related settings, to the point where I've considered adding them as the first and only person to my PM ignore list. I find them overly nosy and a bit abrasive.

That said, I do think they fill a valuable role on DT. My biggest problem with Lauda's trust ratings are their inclusion of merit related issues resulting in negative feedback, however, at least Lauda always leaves a good description of why they have received their negative feedback, people can ignore those if they are inclined the same way as me. In addition, I have every belief that once the merit system and whats acceptable about its use calms down, Lauda will abide by the community's decision on whats acceptable to leave negative feedback for.

I don't think its worth losing the most active feedback giver over that.

1) I hate flash
2) The big one isn't finished or assembled

The smaller one is about ping pong ball sized, the larger one is a little smaller than a baseball

https://i.imgur.com/BLcXGP8.png   - embedded below, but sometimes images don't like to load for me

I absolutely will. I was actually just thinking about asking you if you wouldn't mind. The model is finished, and I'm going to make the plaster mold the same day I do the garlic bread loaves, so it should be cast this weekend.

Funny enough, when I first printed the model for it, I messed up the dimensions, so I have yours, and then a model that is 4x larger. It'd be just under a kilogram of silver. I might make it at some point for grins.

Sand molds don't give very good detail. The end result is a really porous pitted and uneven casting. When airplane parts are cast in aluminum, they are made much larger than they will eventually be, because a team of technicians will remove half of the material to get it to what it needs to be.

I use investment powder, which is a high temperature plaster that jewelers use for making jewelry. The plaster is mixed, put under a vacuum to remove any air in the plaster mix, and then poured into molds (those are plastic solo cups that just so happen to be a suitable size). Once the plaster sets, I cut the cup off and you put the molds through a burnout cycle in a programmable oven that runs up to around 1400 degrees over ~8 hours to remove any water from the plaster and also to prevent thermal shock which would shatter the molds.

This video shows how it works pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4vSYcYwdNU