"Lincoln Log" heatsink 3/4" copper bar for $0.20 an inch? What?

LED Flashlights – General Info
14

US coins and currency belong to the Federal Government- you do not actually own it, you own it’s value but not the instrument itself. And you’re not legally allowed to alter or damage it in any fashion. I’m not aware of anyone ever being prosecuted for such as this- they generally only go after those altering values and mass coin melters so we’re probably safe.

They are getting the copper pennies out of circulation as fast as they can because at those quantities there is considerable money to be made by melting, even when you factor in the cost of it’s replacement. There is also a move afoot to eliminate the penny as several other nations have already done with their smallest coinage. While it’s also technically illegal to hoard coinage or currency, for those so inclined you ought to get going with that for in a few more years copper pennies will probably be almost all gone. Being that we don’t need many better grab them while we can.

Phil

15

Please add this modifier to your picture in the OP.

!picture link!

Otherwise it makes the entire page all massive for mobile users.

16

So as long as we justify breaking the law it’s ok?
Geesh officer, my house note was due and there was that armored car just sitting there loaded with money, figured I could grab some and take it inside the bank for em, pay my note… just trying to be helpful after all right? Pretty sure we all know self justification is a great way to cause one’s self great disaster.

This forum reaches a LOT of viewers. One guy stacking a few pennies is not the end of the world, obviously, but a thousand guys stacking pennies (and hoarding for the next mod) turns into some hefty losses to the government. OUR government, everyone seems to forget that when you scam the government your’e scamming yourself and your neighbors. You’re scamming ME! This is why we have laws, although the way people break laws these days it’s no wonder our country is sliding down the tubes…

My grandmother always told my mom and her sister that a job worth doing is a job worth doing well. Striving to get something right, as best it can be, is how things are invented to begin with. It’s my understanding that to have a proper thermal path one needs as few interruptions to the heat as possible. Stacking pennies is a lot of joints, not sanding them fully flat is a lot of solder and/or air pockets. A lot of rosin in place of solder maybe. A solid copper bar conducts heat far more efficiently. So if one is going to the trouble at all, why not aim for the best possible result?

I once saw a thermal image of the LED emitter process in action. The heat coming out the base of the light actually transfers in much the same conical pattern as the light coming out the top. Being able to conduct heat away from the emitter and disperse it as quickly as possible is key to having the emitter survive “overclocking”. Does solder equal copper in it’s thermal characteristics? Electrically, I am under the understanding that it works well enough but it’s still a good idea to keep solder to a minimum in an electrical situation. Solder does NOT come close to the thermal characteristics of copper, it’s really simple, look at what it’s made from.

So, whether it be for legalese or common sense (cents?) stacking pennies to make a heat sink is a lot of work for a poor result. (poor being relative to what COULD have transpired had the work been aimed properly.)

17

Cute dog, my husky never would have held still like that, he probably would have tried to eat the pennies then spat them out and ran across the back of my couch sideways like a berm. Lol at the “Lincoln Log” name, clever title for it.

I grabbed this from an article about cutting coins for jewelry. It looks like it’s not illegal to modify the coins as long as you have no fraudulent intent. In other words, you aren’t altering the value or presenting the coin to be something it isn’t, and you aren’t melting it down to sell as metal. Regardless, I think it’s borderline paranoia to worry about the Feds showing up over $0.20 worth of currency.

U.S. Code is 18 U.S.C. §331 reads: “Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled or lightened - shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. [Emphasis added.]”

Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who ’fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States. This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent. (Source U.S. Mint)

18

Ok, seriously, bustin your chops over the use of pennies. Any pennies worth using were taken out of circulation long ago and don’t actually fall under law pertaining to current use coinage. :stuck_out_tongue:

BUT, numismatic value could possibly have you breaking a sweat.

This penny was sold for $4,500

Potentially, a stack of pennies pre ’81 could be worth a small fortune, almost assuredly they’re worth more than .20.

19

Sounds good to me.

Hopefully our fledgling member OP doesn’t get scared off from posting other tips in the future. :beer:

20

hmm because it doesn’t have a mint code?

21

My guess is that it has a manufacturing defect. (The bump below and to the right of the last “t” in Trust) That would make it quite unique.

22

Nice dog, labrador? :slight_smile:

It’s not easy finding an answer to this on Google but I’ve read in a few place’s that you’ll be breaking the law if you deface bank notes but it’s not the same with coins.

With coins you’ll only be breaking the law if the defaced or altered coins are then passed on in order to commit fraud?

Is that right?

23

Doberman. As for the coins to my understanding unless you melt a bunch down in order to sell the copper as it’s worth a little over $.02 copper weight or trying to alter the value nobody will be coming for you. Like I said before for personal use in a flashlight I see no problem. If one was to somehow start to make a profit doing such things I’m sure Uncle Sam would have something to say about it. If you get caught….

24

That’s what I mean, manufacturing defects on coinage usually increases rarity and value. But I thought all pennies had the mint mark and that would be a defect, but I looked it up and apparently the penny is the one coin that has often appeared without a mint mark.

25

I imagine if would work great if available. All the copper grounding rods I have seen are copper coated. I don’t think they could be driven into hard ground if they were pure copper.

Nice thread Turningbluechips. Great bargain alert.

26

IIRC, there “have been” such a thing as “solid copper” ground rods. But if they exist today, I don’t know of it. All I find available in my area are steel and copper clad steel. Even so, the “solid copper” rods were certainly not pure copper, but some alloy. As you said, they often need to be driven into hard ground.

Oh look, I found one! :sunglasses:
From that page:

27

Chops busted bud. I guess now I’ll have to put one to use, time to resurrect the micro mag.

28

this is one of those “urban myths”. that your not allowed to use pennies to make something. heres some other “legal urban myths”…

1) “common law marriage”. “You know, you and your girlfriend are legally MARRIED, you’ve been living together for 7 years!” “Oh, i heard that was down to 5 years now in this state…” People on TV like newscasters? Know nothing about the law, and when they say “Bob Bobbers, and his common law wife…” what they MEANT to say, 99 percent of the time? is “Bob Bobbers and his live-together-arrangement girlfriend.”

2) “if you have a license to carry a concealed firearm? you shoudl NEVER carry handloaded ammo, only FACTORY ROUNDS… some prosecutor could claim you were trying to make more deadly ammo!” The truth? Its another legal urban myth that got repeated so many times, it isnt even funny. Its NEVER ONCE been a deciding issue in ANY self defense case, ever.

One more time, though i KNOW some of you wont believe me? DEFACING coins? Is a specific legal term. The coin itself has a “FACE VALUE”, which is what its worth… de-FACING the coin? Means trying to alter the coin to spend it as a higher value coin. “MELT-ing” a coin? Another specific legal term. It means MELTING to make a profit on the value of it.

People for some reason, love to say sagely then “well, you know, its best to be on the safe side… you dont want to take the chance…”

can anyone show a single case of someone making a necklace, or making anything else out of a penny, and was prosecuted for it, let alone convicted?

As far as “hoarding” being illegal? if it was at all enforced, no coin collector would be allowed to save up silver coins or anything else… and it would be illegal to SELL silver coins and copper pennies…. because if you had a bunch to sell saved up? You were obviously HOARDING them…

I’m allowed to save up all the pennies i feel like saving up… and you are definitely allowed to make a heat sink out of one if you want to. Me? I used copper pennies to make a copper shelf in a hollow pill, worked great.

we all know penny arcades all have the “squish the penny into a necklace” machines… we all know they make jewelry…. but, can anyone saying “its better not to try it…” demonstrate a SINGLE case?

29

But how do the pennies feel about all of this?

30

Do traveling carnivals still have those machines that squash and restamp pennies into oblong keepsake mementos?

31

It is?
What constitutes hoarding money?

32

hoarding COINAGE i dont even believe, but… its more believeable than “hoarding currency is illegal”.

you would tell me its ILLEGAL for me to make a pile of cold hard CASH and put it in my safe? poppycock.

Now, I’m in the united states… Manila, for example? has strict laws against hoarding coins… but if some old “silver” law even IS still on the books here, its certainly not enforced.

this is SO… well, almost silly. Theres machines still around, that make keepsakes out of pennies. I have seen them and made the keepsakes and gave it to my girl. Companies exist all over the united states that make stuff out of coins and paper money too. Its a common scoience experiment to put i think sulfur onto an old copper penny and heat it to make a chemical reaction.

33

so banking is illegal
i wouldn’t count on it