I pulled out my set today & believe it or not, the Penny Shell got inside the Half shell while they were in my coin purse. Besides shaking it in a glass, does anyone have any ideas on how to seperate the two?

Everything was nested as it should have been in my coin purse, I don't understand how they seperated & ended up like this?


Does anyone have any advice on this?



Thanks,
Mike

Hi Mike,

Try a piece of double-sided tape to pull out the inner shell while gently holding the outer shell with your fingertips.

Regards, Steve

Put them in the freezer for a few hours and then use the double sided tape, a bang ring or throw them on to a carpeted surface

Thank you!

I tried the tape, it wont stick enough to pull it. I will try the freezer idea. The problem is that the penny shell is all the way in the half shell. When I first took the set out, I thought the penny shell had gotten lost somehow. It wasn't until I tried to put the half shell on the half that I realized the shells had nested (perfect fit).

Thank you,
Mike

No luck, those things are locked together!

Thanks,
Mike

Perhaps taking a pair of scissors... or a pair of pliers. And putting double stick tape on both sides of the plier's nose.

Put the pliers inside the shell and open it up so that the double stick tape is pressed against the edges. --- really not grabbing hold of anything.. just using the pressure of the pliers, and the stickiness of the tape to try and get some hold on the shell. While you have pressure against the inner shell, Twist the pliers, while holding onto the bottom shell. This might move the shell enough upwards that you can get a grip on the edge with a pair of tweezers.

John

I will give that a try when I get home from work!

Thanks John!!!!!!!!!


Mike

Have you tried to shake them in a small glass?
I think I used to use a shot glass when that used to happen to mine.
Mobius

I did this shaking in a glass and ended up getting them apart but also removing the rim from my shell.

I tried boiling it in water too to see if the pressure would pop them apart. That did not work.

One other time I had this problem I was able to rotate the shells until they came to a place they would separate. That worked.

Hope it works for you! It worked for me once, but as we all know... when they are machined well to fit one way, they can REALLY fit well the other way. Ack.

Good Luck, and looking forward to hearing if (or especially... THAT) it worked for you.

RevJohn

If you have a bang ring, you might try setting the nested set on top of it (since I assume your half is the e] and won't fit into the bang ring) and "bang" it to release the inner ].

Or, there was a very clever method posted here a while ago involving freezing "handles" onto the two parts, then untwisting.

Hi Kurtis, I tried gluing a handle to pull them apart with no luck. I will try the ice thing & see if it works.

So far I have..........
Boiled them
Froze them
tried tape
tried putty
tried super glue
Shaking them in a glass

I will try the ice thing as well as the plier method suggested by Rev John.


Thanks everyone,
Mike

Have you tried to part them with a scalpel, or a stanley knife, that should work, just a steady hand,and they should come apart.
GG.

Hi Mike!

Just a thought, but maybe try heating the outside coin ONLY while trying
to shake the inside loose. The thought of the outside coin expanding from heat while the inside coin retains its original size may cause the inner to shake out.

Stever

I do not know if Johnson still has their lifetime guarantee, but you might contact them about this.

Best,
Vlad

I suggest ordering a bang ring from johnson. whenever I drop my johnson shell(which I do a lot cause I use it to practice before trying the trick with a more expensive set) I force an english penny into it to reshape it and just bang it out in the bang ring. the bang ring has a lip just wide enough for the shell to fit on ad the english penny will drop out, the same should work for the ep shell

If you go to an optical shop where they sell eye glasses, they have a special heated sand that they use when bending fragile frames back into place. They also have some very small instruments, clamps, pliers, and such, that could gently pry the shells apart.

Give it a try, it might do the trick.

Also, a good jeweler may be able to help. But they usually charge a fee unless you're a steady customer.

Optical shop is a great idea. They would have probably tools that I suggested making already at their disposal... and they would know how to use them.

That heated sand is sooo cool. I remember as a kid being fascinated by it. That was before I knew you heated sand to make things... like mmm... glasses (grin).

RevJohn

Dare I ask? Just what did you use heated sand for as a kid?

When I would go into the optical shop, and see them dip the glasses frame into the heated sand... I could never figure out why, until it was explained to me. Just one of those memories. Nothing more than that. Sorry!

John