can you make your own chips?

[jdl22]

I was just wondering how difficult and costly the necesary supplies would be to make your own clay or ceramic chips. Do you need more than the average ceramics enthusiast would have? Would it be possible to make them using equipment in most fine arts departments?

Obviously it would be cheaper to buy them than make them if you just want 1 set, but if there are benefits other than super customization and a more personal value to the chips then it may be worth it if it isn't ridiculously expensive.

[TheStew]

You must be a soccer fan.

[Sundevils21]

I think its interesting. I would like to hear some thoughts on the idea. Ive thought about it myself but never looked into it.

[FyrFytr998]

I would go to a site tha makes them. Look at the price of the set you want, and cut it in half. Where you gonna get a Kiln to fire the ceramics though?

[Sundevils21]

I'm pretty good friends with my old high school art teacher(we go to church together). I'll bet she would let me fire them up.
Still, how would one go about making the chips though.
Paint the basic design onto the clay?
Create a sticker and glue the hell out of it onto the fired chip?
While this is an entertaining idea, I doubt I'll ever try it. I know nothing about the production of chips, obviously. It would be a cool experiment though.

[jdl22]

FORZA SEVILLA!!!

[jdl22]

I looked on EBAY for a kiln at it was about 300 bucks. Not sure if that's good enough because I don't know how what kind of temperature will work. There are also some higher end ones (well at least more expensive).

Any potters know anything about how to actually make the chips if you have a kiln? I guess you would just stamp out a pattern and go with it.

Also anybody know of a ceramics 2+2? Short of going to the pottery museum in Stoke On Trent I have no experience to speak of in ceramics but for some reason it occurred to me that making chips might be fun.

[technogeeky]

[ QUOTE ]
I looked on EBAY for a kiln at it was about 300 bucks. Not sure if that's good enough because I don't know how what kind of temperature will work. There are also some higher end ones (well at least more expensive).

Any potters know anything about how to actually make the chips if you have a kiln? I guess you would just stamp out a pattern and go with it.

Also anybody know of a ceramics 2+2? Short of going to the pottery museum in Stoke On Trent I have no experience to speak of in ceramics but for some reason it occurred to me that making chips might be fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

While I am not the foremost figure in the field, I have done some research. My website ( http://www.mynameismatt.com/cg ) tries to explain some of the process.

You can not make poker chips by firing clay in a kiln. Modern chips are made by a very complex process (comparatively) which is described on my page. You can make small cermaic discs, but do not plan on getting any detail or longevity out of them.

[wacki]

I would drop two grand (2K) on equipment/renting if it would allow me to make binions style chips. i.e. 12+ edgespots, 10-11 grams, dayglo colors, 1" inlay. Nobody makes em like that, and I have no idea how much a press costs.

[ddollevoet]

Excellent post. I just finished my table last week and during our game, someone asked me if I was going to make my own chips as well. I never thought about it, but the idea intrigued me.

How does chipco make ther chips? Print a design and form the chips in a press?

[Sundevils21]

maybe making really good chips would be tough but what about the stickers? I've found some okay blank chips here... blank chips (http://pokerchipmart.com/chip_CL9BBLUE.html)
Would it be possible to make a customized chip with those colors?

[technogeeky]

[ QUOTE ]
I would drop two grand (2K) on equipment/renting if it would allow me to make binions style chips. i.e. 12+ edgespots, 10-11 grams, dayglo colors, 1" inlay. Nobody makes em like that, and I have no idea how much a press costs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Binions chips (WSOP) are made by an injection molding process. The mold itself probably costs $100,000. The machine to make them probably costs over 1 million.

Compression molding is less expensive, a 1 unit compression mold machine might cost $5,000 but the mold to make a chip could cost anything unless you can make this stuff yourself.

Again, I am looking into it. It's a slow process, but I'm discussing this with chip companies (if they'll help me) and engineers.

[MrGo]

If it was easy to make chips, all these chip manufacturers would be out of business.

Sorry to say, but you're not going to make a quality chip unless you want to spend 6, perhaps 7 figures.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I would drop two grand (2K) on equipment/renting if it would allow me to make binions style chips. i.e. 12+ edgespots, 10-11 grams, dayglo colors, 1" inlay. Nobody makes em like that, and I have no idea how much a press costs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Binions chips (WSOP) are made by an injection molding process. The mold itself probably costs $100,000. The machine to make them probably costs over 1 million.

Compression molding is less expensive, a 1 unit compression mold machine might cost $5,000 but the mold to make a chip could cost anything unless you can make this stuff yourself.

Again, I am looking into it. It's a slow process, but I'm discussing this with chip companies (if they'll help me) and engineers.

[/ QUOTE ]

$100,000 for a mold, $1 million for the injection machine?

Where did you get these stats from?

First of all, there is no way a mold for a chip costs $100K. Ever heard of C&C milling?

Second, don't make up stats when you don't know. If you don't know, say you don't, don't make stuff up.

[MrGo]

Do you expect this to be a cheap process? If so, you're sorely mistaken.

I don't think "$2,000" is going to get you a single chip.

[WEASEL45]

do you mean CNC milling

[jdl22]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En respuesta a:</font><hr />
You can make small cermaic discs, but do not plan on getting any detail or longevity out of them.

[/ QUOTE ]

This might be ok depending on what you mean by detail. Don't enthusiasts make plates and bowls with fairly intricate design patterns? I was thinking it might be possible to make something roughly similar to a ceramic bowl, though perhaps a little softer.

It seems there are a couple themes going on here - one is making chips at home that are similar in quality feel and look to chips you would see on TV or in a casino. The other is whether it is possible to make something halfway decent (say better than the 11.5 5stardeal ebay chips) that doesn't necesarily look like those chips you see on tv but could be customizable. I would think this would be possible with reasonably nice equipment. Surely you can make a dinner plate with something like edgespots, but maybe not, so I would think a smaller version (say a poker chip) would be possible. Also, not to sound too much like a former president, what do you mean by longevity? I will mainly be playing a weekly game and playing my friend heads up quite frequently, it's not like I'm opening a room or anything of that nature.

As for being able to copy binions chips and others I would think that this is very difficult or else counterfeit chips would be too easy to make for the casinos.

[dandy_don]

[ QUOTE ]
ceramic chips

[/ QUOTE ]

Wouldn't these be fragile? My first thought about ceramic is that this stuff breaks real easy. That ought to make for an interesting "splashing the pot".

[ QUOTE ]
clay chips

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know about the injection molding of clay chips, but from what I have read, one method of making clay chips requires a great deal of heat and pressure. I can't imagine that type of equipment would come cheap.

You ought to check into some type of polymer material (plastics and new age materials). All I know of this stuff is that there is a School of Polymer Science at the University of Southern Mississippi where I attended for a short while during the '80s.

[Wayne]

I made my own playing cards. Scissors, cardboard, and 4 colored markers (for a 4-colored deck). They are a bitch to shuffle though...

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
do you mean CNC milling

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes you are right. Thanks for correcting me. :-)

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you expect this to be a cheap process? If so, you're sorely mistaken.

I don't think "$2,000" is going to get you a single chip.

[/ QUOTE ]

I bet you could make a poker chip for $2K.

Think about it the chips from pokerchips.com are baked at 300F, that's not that hot. A soldering Iron is hotter than that, and propane torches can generate heat in excess of 5,000 degrees. That's more than enough.

Have someone CNC a mold for you out of high strength steel. Should take less than an hour for a CNC machine to make a mold for 1 clay chip. I have a buddy that took a CNC course which cost him $1K and he made all sorts of crap during that course out of high strength steel. So I'm sure a mold could be done for around $1K if you designed the mold with a CAD program.

Now you need pressure, a 20 ton EZ press costs $2499. EZ PRESS (http://www.internationalcrystal.net/icl73.htm)

The chips would be made 1 at a time, but it could be done.

This setup, would be over my $2K mark, but that buying equipment not renting/borrowing. And it certainly is under a $1.1 million mark.

It would take dedication, and somebody that had 2 much time, but it could be done.

Bear in mind I spent about 2 minutes researching this so i'm sure there are better ways.