As mentioned in another thread, during lockdown I went and bought myself a 3D printer as a hobby. One side thing that I've been doing is 3D printing coin tubes since it's been a bit of a struggle to sometimes find tubes with the diameters I need or without needing to buy them in bulk. An example (50xRound 50): I thought that maybe I might be able to help others out with similar problems and maybe recoup some of the cost of the printer. So anyone who is interested: Square tubes, 80-120 mm in height: $6.50 Boring round tubes: 80-120mm in height: $3.20 I can do any diameter up to 210 mm (sorry those with 10 kg coins) and up to 200 mm height. I can also do custom formats and potentially cases for other types of bullion like bars. For example, if you have small coins I could do 4 stacks in one tube. Price depends on what you want. Material PETG. Can consider other materials though price will vary. Post of your choice at cost. A few disclaimers: Only doing this for fun and as a service to the community. This isn't going to make me rich nor even come close to recouping my printer. I can match your specifications for size but I will not necessarily have a coin that size to test it with. An example I've found the hard way is that a stack of coins is higher than the thickness of an individual coin with indicate. 3D printing is not a fast process. Please be patient on lead times. Though I am fine tuning speeds, the current time to print the square tube in the above image is 3 hours. Round tubes 1 hour. There are only 24 hours in a day...
I didn't design them to be air tight but I did make the fit of the lid really tight and it does make a satisfying pop when you pull the top off which indicates it's at least close to being air-tight. I could design one that uses an o-ring. Is that what the air-tight tubes have? I can do transparent but it's not clear as a lens. You'll be able to see how full it is though!
Transparent is like this: It is possible to do clear - but there's a bit of work involved and/or equipment.
The air-tites are normally thin PVC transparent with red end caps. O-rings are definitely better than thin PVC films. Transparency is not necessary anymore if the tubes can be more rigid. I would definitely love to buy these for my 1/2oz, 1oz, 2oz coins, especially Lunar Series II and Series III. It'd be perfect if we can fit at least 12 coins in a tube. Possible to have them in different colours? I hope the cap has some sort of locking mechanism so that it doesn't fall off when the tube is handle at different position.
I'll look at what colours I have. Ah I see, so the capsules are the air-tite bit and the tube is just a normal tube? Your lunars are in capsules or are you storing them naked. Let's talk dimensions via PM. In terms of locking - I designed them with a tight fit and my 50x50c tube can be inverted and shaken without the lid coming off (though if I try hard enough I can get it to happen). That's 664 g. I will try an annular snap lock: But just have to balance strength with inability to open.
I was referring to Perth Mint's lunar coins, with capsules, not naked. Do you have the American Eagle coin tubes, they have a twist locking mechanism, which is very secure. If you can add a o-ring in between to make it even air-tite that'd be ideal.