Advice for small timers

Hi all, I’m new here and just posted in the intro forum. As stated, I used to scrap a lot but due to a spine condition I’m pretty much slow with limited use of my left hand. I do save cans and strip copper sometimes, I was wondering if anyone had advice for someone in this situation? I am mechanical and can use small tools. Each day is different so some days are awful, some days I can get around in short spurts well. Anyway, I’m not on Dr Oz and we talking metal. Sorry for the story. I’d be much thankful for any input. Much gratitude, mark

First you have to decide what is the maximum you can safely and repeatedly lift. Be realistic in answering this question. Mine was 20lbs and I was able to get motors that weighed 10lbs each. I broke them down for the CU, AL , steel and insulated wire.

After awhile I moved into scraping computers and other electronics.

If you were to really read the old threads and keep up with the new ones you will be able to discover areas and techniques available to you.

What works for me or someone else may not for you. With the thousands of members we have many different ways of getting and processing scrap. Learning to test and troubleshoot computes and other electrons is a possibility, I did it.

Good luck and keep reading, 73, Mike

Being confined to an apartment, where people in the complex throw away decent to awesome stuff all the time, ive stepped up my ebay game over the last year. It doesent compensate for being able to store large amounts of scrap but it helps.

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Originally Posted by andyheim

Being confined to an apartment, where people in the complex throw away decent to awesome stuff all the time, ive stepped up my ebay game over the last year. It doesent compensate for being able to store large amounts of scrap but it helps.

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If your apartment complex has a laundromat, you should advertise inside on the board for electronics pickup or any other scrap they may have.

I do electronics as well. I consider them to be lightweight and not hard to disassemble. You do end up with a lot of leftover steel though that you would either need to take to the yard or find another scrapper to take off your hands.

It is getting harder to come by old computers though. 10 days ago I got a long overdue phone call and had to go pick up about 130 of them. Moving that many at once is hard work. And unfortunately I haven't had a free minute yet to start breaking them down.

For someone in your situation, finding a partner may be a good idea. Find someone in a similar situation and work at it together.

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Originally Posted by jimicrk

If your apartment complex has a laundromat, you should advertise inside on the board for electronics pickup or any other scrap they may have.

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Also put a sign by the dumpster area!

Thank you all so much. I get electronics and such given to me at times. I need to get into the threads for small stuff and figure out what I’m looking for and any safety issues. As I said, I’m mainly a can saver.

The only advice i have would be to use whatever tools you can to make things easier. Get a small vise to hold items as you take them apart. Use cordless grinder, impact, etc. Pick up some cheap 4 wheel moving dollies from Harbor Freight to make it easier to move scrap in and out. Good luck. let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you. I’m just looking at one example as I’ve got an older DVD player that I picked up from a relative. Is it worth going into? I’m wondering about the power cords but I know they are thin and likely hard to strip but inside? I’m currently searching now but haven’t found anything. This may be a stupid question and in the wrong thread. Again, thanks.mb

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Originally Posted by reuseit13

Thank you. I’m just looking at one example as I’ve got an older DVD player that I picked up from a relative. Is it worth going into? I’m wondering about the power cords but I know they are thin and likely hard to strip but inside? I’m currently searching now but haven’t found anything. This may be a stupid question and in the wrong thread. Again, thanks.mb

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Good question. It is.
It took me years to figure something about power cords out.
I would collect plastic coated wire, car looms mostly, clean them right down and burn the insulation off.
Now burning the insulation off is a big 'No No', environmentally and it can get you in a lot of trouble. Its not something you can do anywhere near a population, and it messes up chimneys and causes chimney fires.
So dont burn the insulation off..

In fact, its hardly even worth more because they send it all to China and they use mills to cut it up and separate it and they get clean Copper and they also recycle the insulation.
So basically they also buy the insulation on it.
You know the cheap dress belts, 'pleather' with some rubbish material inside them? Its a mix of recycled glue, lint and recycled plastic insulation, surrounded by two thin strips of hide, made to look like leather. They use it in shoes too.

OK, a lot of plastic coated wire has the copper wire 'Tinned', it makes it easier to solder and has a sorta anti corrosion effect.
The Copper wire in power cords is not plated with Tin at all. So its worth a bit more, higher grade. It comes out of the granulator as clean bright high grade Copper. Ideal to melt down right away and reuse.

Tinned Copper has to be electroplated out to get clean Copper from it. That's a extra expense for the refiners.

Find out how your scrap buyer grades it and their prices.
It could be worth just selling with the plugs on 'as is'. There's no work involved for you then.

Or it could be worth stripping then outer sheith off and cutting the plug end off and saving it all up seperatly from many other plastic coated Copper wire that you get.

I do separate mine into 3 grades. One yard, of the 3, now 2 I have used, only pays the lowest price possible, they don't grade it on returns. So I mix everything anyway.

They have 'Plastic coated wire'. 'Wiring looms' . 'Cable with plugs on' and stuff that I dont even get, like Steel sheithed industrial cable.

Try and save up as much of any NonFerrous grade metal that you can before selling it.
We here in NZ use Metric, Kilogrammes, Kgs.

If in every sale I average between say whatever the scale reads, say 20Kgs, and the next graduation up, 21 KGS, that makes a average sale of 20.5 Kgs.
So I loose 0.5 KGS of weight in every sale. (500 grammes) That's more than a Pound of lost weight to you Imperialists.
10 sales of 10Kgs looses me 11 Pounds of metal.
One sale of 100Kgs gives me extra by, in Copper, NZ$30. And its only one trip to the yard. Not Ten.

Its not as bad if you sell metal by the Pound, but it gives you a extreme indication of the idea.

not sure about the extent of your injury but theres a guy around here that got his arm paralyzed awhile back and had the doctors cut it off. so he's only got one arm now and still manages to lift engine blocks into his truck by himself. its all about will power. if you want to do something you can find a way to get it done. not saying you need to kill yourself but maybe build a small crane on your truck or trailer with an electric winch running the drag line if your unable to lift big stuff by hand.

Thanks again for taking time to answer. You folks have helped me a lot. I got the DVD player apart cleanly and got the boards, 1 green, 1 brown\green. I’ve got the cord but haven’t stripped it. I’m reading all I can and learning from the wealth of info. I hope I can find a buyer in SC or Charlotte NC. I didn’t see any listed. I’m looking at the list to see the minimum wts n such but I’m sure I’ll collect for quite a while. Scrapman, my problem is the spine. I have balance issues n such and lift a fraction of what I used to. It’s sad but true that I was a heavy drinker for many yrs and I’ve fallen and gotten injured many more times in the 7 yrs sober than 25 drunk. A funny irony of life on earth I guess.

If your disabled you would prolly qualify for one of those hyd cranes they put on the corner of the truck beds to load elect wheelchairs. Theres a guy over here that uses it to load larger items into his truck. Most scrayards will hel you unload. Just something you may want to check on.

It sounds like a sit down job would be the best fit if it's a struggle to get around on a bad day.

E-waste isn't too hard but it's an industry in decline. One of the biggest reasons is that consumers have gone from computer towers & laptops to tablets and pads. The tablets & pads are uncommonly difficult to repair and don't have very much scrap value. (I'm only shipping 1/3 of what i did a few years ago.)

Best advise for somebody just getting back into scrapping would be to get a digital weigh scale that goes up to 100 lbs. Weigh everything up as you go along. That way you can run the numbers and decide if a particular thing is working for you or not.

Were I in your shoes, I would set up with only taking (buying) clean boards and stripping them for IC/tant/plating this way you dont deal with mountains of plastic and sheet metal. Then either sell the sorted components by the pound or better yet refine the PM myself.

But to each their own.

For me scrap metal is a bi-product. I'm a curb side shopper. I go out looking for anything I can repair, refurbish, or sell as is. If I come across good scrap metal I do take it. But I usually drive right past steel that doesn't weigh much and takes up space on my truck.
There is way more money in selling things for what they are as opposed to the metal they are made of. Certain broken items can even be sold for parts with no work breaking them down.
So if I can't repair it, refurbish it or sell it for parts or use it for parts myself, then it becomes scrap metal.
BTW I use Craigslist to sell everything.
Also get some cheap business cards made. It really helps.
Good luck, Randy