Dear all,

I was planning to use the Common Cents System for three of the blanks I have here so as to determine their proper line weight and to define their action, power and strength but I am currently facing a stupid issue…. I have no US Cents here in France!!

I was wondering if any European rodbuilder on this forum has ever used / tried this system, and if so, what has he replaced the US cents by?
(to all my friends from Great Britain, do not tell me what you’ve used because I am sure I won’t have it also.)

Am I wrong to assume that both US and EURO cents have the same weight, around 2 grams?
If I am right it would mean that I just have to replace one US cent by one Euro cent, has anybody ever tried this ?

Frantz

I do not use the system for a couple of reasons, but here's some info that may help you.

Several years ago when I looked at the Common Cents system I found out something important. I don't know if the Common Cents specifies what year pennies to use since I did not spend alot of time looking at the specifics of the system. Please know that the U.S. penny coin comes in two weights (as far as I can tell). Older penny coins weigh more, newer penny coins weigh less. Both coins are widely circulated in the U.S. today. Older coins weighing more, if I remember correctly, were prior to 1976 - but the date may vary a few years either way since I did not weigh coins to cover every year-class.

Older pennies weigh 3.1 grams.

Newer pennies weigh 2.5 grams.

Maybe you can grind down some of your coins to exact weights.

Hope this helps.

Lou

Frantz,

A US penny weighs 3.11 grams. A 2 Euro cent coin weighs 3.06 grams. For the accuracy you need, I think they can be considered equivalent. I got these figures from the internet, so you might want to double-check.

An alternative might be to go to a bank and get two rolls of pennies.

Jim

The Common Cents System does indeed specify which date range of pennies to use. These were/are produced as post 1995 cents.

Don't try to get close - get exact. The CCS has tremendous resolution.

Dr. Hanneman sent the following to me some time ago. It should help you do what you’re wanting to do:

As a parochial American, I failed to consider that before the Common Cents System could be adopted worldwide, it would be necessary for individuals in each country to make measurements using their own currencies.
In order to convert the number of coins of country X to the corresponding number of U.S. cents which have the same weight, one must first determine the relative weight of one coin of country X to the weight of one U.S. cent. Then the total number of coins required to load the rod must be multiplied by that factor.

(The weight of one country X coin) divided by (the weight of one U.S. cent) times the number of country X coins = The number of U.S. cents.

Current U.S. cents (post 1995 pennies) can be considered to have an average weight of 2.50 grams, 38.60 grains, or 12.50 carats. It will be the task of each investigator to determine the average weight of the coins he chooses to use. Make certain the coins are recently minted and undamaged.
If an accurate gram balance is not readily available to you, visit your local jewelry store. Undoubtedly it will be equipped with an electronic diamond balance and the weight in carats can be determined almost instantly. To obtain averages easily, weigh either 5 or 10 coins at a time and divide by the number weighed.
For example, if the average coin of country X weights 6.25 carats, the factor will be 0.5, and twice as many of these coins will required as cents. Should the coin weigh 25 carats, the factor will be 2 and the equivalent number of cents will be twice the number of foreign cents.


..........

Thank you for all those usefull information!!

Frantz,

Pennies minted after a certain date were chosen because they all ahve the same mass to use as a means of determining the mass needed to flex the rod or rod blank a certain fraction of its length. Most rod makers do not have access to a balance (sometimes erroneously called a scale) and by counting the number of identical pennies whose mass is known, the total mass of the pennies can be determined without having access to a balance.

If you know the mass of any particular coin, then you can use those coins to determine the massneeded to flex the rod blank. If you can find the mass of a Euro based coin or any other French coin, you could use those to determine the mass needed to cause the desired amount of flex in the rod blank. If you have access to a balance, then you can uses any mixture of coins or any other object since you can obtain their mass by direct measurement on the balance.

Good luck.

Mike Blomme

You are right Mike.
I have finally found that according to the official european community documents, one euro cent should weigth 2,3 grams and I have also made the test recommended by Tom and I got an average of 2,28 grams, so I will go for 2,3 grams.
I have already made a small calculation with Excel so as to convert the number of US cents to the corresponding number of euro cents, based on those two weights: 2,5 grams for the US and 2,3 grams for the euro.
It works perfectly!

Thank's again

mmmmmm I can see the commen cents method being rewritten soon with a "standardised unit of weight) something that is avalible throughout the world and readily avalible as did the ancients when they adopted the caret ( actually a bean from the caret tree) as a measure of weight for presious stones.
Maybe we should get heads together and devise a "standard weight for those around the world to use

Just my thoughts

You can find an inexpensive, about $25.00, digital scale on the internet that will weigh in grams, grains and ounces. With it you can make up your own set of weights that are the equivalent to any number of pennies.

CCS scale in Euro Cents:

English
[personal.inet.fi]

Italiano
[www.pipam.com]

Leon Vina

As Emory mentioned, the scales he suggests are what I have. I have a jeweler's scale that measures weights up to 500 grams, also have a bigger scale that measures weights up to 35lbs. Both are pretty darn accurate. The scales manufacturer sent me a set of calibration weights at no cost by simpl;y writing them and asking them for a set.

Lou

Rolls of US cent coins can be found on @#$%&. As far as I know, this is the easiest and least expensive way to buy the coins for someone living outside the USA.

Jan