New Guy
Hey fellas. I'm pretty new here but I've been scrapping for years now. Well I've recently ran into a problem that I done know how to deal with. I have a good deal of wire that I'm taking the outer insulation off of and all the inner wires .are packed with some kind of annoying gel. Do you guys have any tips on how I can remove this stuff without burning it? -thanks, Matt
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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try figuring out the type of compound and a suitable solvent.
without knowing what it is its difficult to advise you as to what can be used to clean it without causing a chemical reaction or advise on what ppe (personal protective equipment) will be required.
I like rubbing alchohol or denatured alchohol when it wont react badly because it evaporates off leaving no residue and a simple rinse of plain water will clean it up. most things are alchohol soluable and it cuts grease well.
keep in mind you are responsible for knowing what your dealing with here. we can only make suggestions or maybe educated guesses. your safety ultimately is up to you.
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What you have is referred to as either "Jelly" or "Grease" wire. My understanding is this is usually some type of communication wire and the gel, jelly or grease is to protect the wires from corrosion. There are some yards that have categories for these. A lot of processors in the US don't like dealing with these wires because it clogs up there equipment. From what I've read, most of this is sold to the Chinese. With their cheap labor, they can afford to pay someone to clean it. I've read they use hot water and soap, but can't confirm that that is the way it is done.Originally Posted by mattw204
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We've got a full gaylord of this jelly wire sitting at work that the warehouse boss is ticked about the boss buying lol. We can't strip it, gotta send it out. That stuff is ridiculous.
Scrapper, Scrap Yard Worker, Horse farm worker, Cooler Puller and just plain ''tired''
If someone has a picture of this cable/wire in its uncut and striped states please post. I would like to be able to identify this so I don't get caught off guard by something similar.
Thanks
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Sounds like you have Gel-Filled Fiber Optic Cable, most industrial fiber optic cable will have that annoying gel in it making it a true pain to strip.
I've never stripped this successfully, I just don't deal with it, but after some googling, this might help:
Clean gel off loose-tube fibers efficiently - Cabling Install
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no it's not gel filled fiber optic cable. It sounds like direct burial cat5e. Some has a gel filled core and some has a water block tape (that turns into gel if it gets wet). It comes in shielded and non shielded variety. Mostly if it is running through an underground conduit it will be unshielded, or if not, could be the reason it wound up getting scrapped to begin with. That gel is a complete mess. It is simply there to keep the water out of the cable. It's like vaseline. It sucks. But it has a purpose.
Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana - Bill Gates
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