any easy way to pull the brass pins off these? then im gonna toss the rest in with 'low grade copper insulated wire' at $0.80/lb
dude with a pickup truck
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any easy way to pull the brass pins off these? then im gonna toss the rest in with 'low grade copper insulated wire' at $0.80/lb
collecting san joses scrap
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Grab them with a good pair of pliers and 'roll' it. If they are stuck, just twist them until they break off as close to the plastic as you can.
Thornton Scrapper
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When you pull them off / out, sometimes the copper wire from inside the plug will come out with it where it was cut off from the wire. Not much but it all ads up
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I haven't tried this yet but somebody posted that if you cut the plug off and put it in a pot of boilling water for a few minutes the brass pins will losen up and you can just pull them out. If you try this please post on here how it worked out for you.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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I agree and haven't tried it yet either... but the yard guy I deal with at my scrap yard does some of his own scrapping too... he has one of those electric frying pans and fills it with water and throws them in it to soften the plastic... he does this with stove and dryer plugsOriginally Posted by happyscraper
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As big as that wire is it would be very simple to strip it with a razor knife, definitely #1
P & M Recycling - Specializing in E-Waste Recycling.
If you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet.
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I did boil some water on the stove and threw a dozen plug ends into the water. I let them sit for about 2 minutes and then dumped the pan outside on the ground. I picked up the first plug with my hand and immediately dropped it. I then put on some gloves and pulled the brass out with a pliers. I couldn't believe that it worked so easy and so well.
I do that with all of the ends now. Just be careful and don't get them too hot or you can burn your hand.
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Just playing the devils advocate here, but how much energy is spent cooking these things to get the return...both human and fossil. Volume and cheap fuel would be key.
Recyclable Material Merchant Wholesaler
Certified Zip-Tie Mechanic
"Give them enough so they can do something with it, but not too much that they won't do nothing."
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Thank you Numbers for posting the results.
I posted the boiling water thing a while back. I did about a 5 gal. bucket of plug ends, both 220 and 110. I used a propane cooker, the kind you use to cook turkey in hot oil. I get the propane tanks for free from scraping and many have propane still in them. So the cost was low and since my labor is VERY cheap I guess it was worth it. I just kept the water boiling and pulled the plugs out with tongs and used two pliers to avoid burning my hands. In the end I did have a nice pile of brass and copper. Mike.
"Profit begins when you buy NOT when you sell." {quote passed down to me from a wise man}
Now go beat the copper out of something, Miked
Experienced Scrapper
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Every since I since I read this from a scrapper forum member I have been doing this method of boiling and pulling. It is so much easier. My boyfriend has bragged about it to his fellow friends that scrap to.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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I get 2-3 of these per month as a part-timer, one local yard pays $1/lb intact vs. $1.75 for the brass so I just mix it in with my insulated. Yeah at 75% it would be worth it on a volume basis, but then again it wouldn't quite be that much because right now I'm getting paid for the weight of the plastic. So before I set up another bucket, I would have to figure the weight of the entire plug at $1 vs. $1.75 for the pins alone.
Have any of you "boilers" done any before and after weighing? Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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