Need help from anyone who breaks down motors

[PartTimeScrapper]

I got this motor from CL when i went to pick up a load of wood it was in the same free pile with some other metal. I have never seen motor winding insulated. Is this normal? Should I take the time to rip it out or just sell the 88 pound motor for motor price? Current motor price is 40 cents a pound at my yard.

[PartTimeScrapper]

Ok ill go back to stripping it then. thanks for the repll. Maybe ill take a bunch of photos and make a how to out of this...

[jaskelkyz]

Sounds good Bro Weigh it b4 u start and after you finish weigh the copper

I like that plan,let us know

[gustavus]

Ok ill go back to stripping it then. thanks for the repll. Maybe ill take a bunch of photos and make a how to out of this...

It's all right here Bro, the how to harvest copper from electric motors http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...light=gustavus

[PartTimeScrapper]

Yeah well this project went bust real quick. Do to the angle of the encasement I couldnt get my cutting disk in there good enuff and ended up breaking 4 of them before I even got one end cut off. threw it back together and just gonna sell it as a motor. Besides the winding were insulated. Maybe ill try it again on the next motor. But the start weight was 88.8 pounds I need a plasma cutter then I would have cut the dang case off.... Wait my buddy has one I can use. Ok ill do this tomorrow and weigh everything out.

[fxcruiser]

I am breaking down pool pump motors. The copper is actually easy to get....my question. What do you do with the other stuff?
Shaft, casing, armature etc. there is part of the shaft that looks like a fan assy made from aluminum. Can you sell all of this stuff as well? Thanks!!

[PartTimeScrapper]

If its metal the scrap yard will buy it. Heck you can leave them whole if you want and they will pay you motor price too.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

I can tell you how to break it down. You would have to cut the ends of one side off clean with the rotor. Then cook the motor with a rosebud propane torch. Then after you cook the lacquer off the copper you can just pull it out. Oh I forgot to mention this is completely against the law according the the EPA. Thats always how we cleaned motors back in the day. We also used to have a whole bunch of them. I doubt it would be worth it to do that to one motor that might have seven pounds of windings in it.

[eesakiwi]

If the case is Cast iron, bashing it with a sledge hammer will break it apart.
But you would have to burn the varnish off to get clean Copper wire anyway.

[miked]

Here are some photo's I took, Mike.







In the first photo it may be difficult to see but I used the angle grinder to cut the side of the motor to allow the center part that holds the windings to slip out. I now use an angle grinder instead of the sawsall for cutting the copper, Mike.

[freonjoe]

The recycling yards here take the copper windings as field copper. They won't take burnt copper.

[Don]

On the rotor in the second picture, what are the silver fins made out of? Aluminum or Zinc? Is there an easy way of separating it from the iron? I've tried beating it with a sledge and taking a grinder to it to no avail.

[miked]

Yes that fin is Al. I have yet to figure out an easy way to get the Al off. I do have a horizontal bandsaw and I will give it a try sometime. Mike.

[IdahoScrapper]

I haven't found an effective way either. Hammered it, cut with a sawzall and cut off wheel. Just wasn't worth it. I toss it in the steel pile.

I suppose a torch would melt it off into a blob, but then are you burning more gas than what you'll make on the aluminum? Probably so.

[eesakiwi]

I'm scrapping that same sort of motor at the moment. Yup, I cut down the side too & remove the iron/copper bit.

I use a 9 inch grinder though, if you can get one, do it, discs are $6 here, probably a lot cheaper in the US.

After cutting one end of the wires off I use a punch & punch the copper thru a bit so I have leverage on the loop end of the windings. Then just pull them out.

The rotor? I punch the shaft out & put it in the heavy metal, or use it as a punch. My best punchs are motor shafts.

The Ali/laminations bit I put in its own sack, I tried to melt the Ali off in a wood fire & it didn't melt at all, coal fire maybe, but coal costs money.
Theres at least 2 Lbs of copper there, I'll weigh mine tonight.

[Filthy]

on the OP, that pump motor has an iron casing that can be removed to leave the motor core exposed. i scrapped a sump pump like that the other day. i could not get my grinder or saw in close enough to remove the windings so i had to cut it from opposite sides and tap it off with a hammer. worked pretty well, and i was able to get the motor core by itself.