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I brought in a 40 lb RAD to the yard. The guys said they were happy they were getting extra copper because i didnt cut off the ends. I went to get paid and found out they paid me Dirty price because i forgot to unscrew a total of 6 screws that held on 2 thin plates of steel on each end. >:) i was quite annoyed. Lost 20 bucks
Sounds like an easy $20 extra profit for the yard.
That’s what is called the difference between clean and dirty. On any particular item, you have to decide if your time and expenses , are worth converting dirty to clean. Usually a trial and error type deal aka as time vs. money. What works for some may not work for others. Your call.
Read some of the old threads here. You won’t go wrong. Education here is free. Happy scrapping.
You only get caught once.. Call it a 'education' but a bit of reading here is a near free investment in knowledge.
I find that a electric jigsaw works best, cut the Copper loops outside of the Steel strip and peel that Steel strip off.
(Picking lots of Copper loops out of the Steel strips not fun..)
So, that's three things you learnt today, two for free & one for $20.
All free on Scrapmetalforum... (Or just donate $20 to SMF every time you learn 3 new things here. :-) )
Thank you for the tips and support. Going to add jigsaw and metal blades to tool box tomorrow. Im glad you guys are on my side. The yard sometimes isnt forthcoming with information.
If you don't like the price you always can take the item back!
I use a sidegrinder with a diamond blade (most commonly used to cut tile or cement) to cut the loops off. Does away with trying to get an angle of attack and the vibrating a jigsaw or sawsall does.
Today highlighted the advantages of a good relationship with a yard. I hauled in some car panels from a local body shop. The magnet did not pick up one piece and the operator notified the claw that it was stainless. The claw picked up a full truck and left the stainless. I felt like a heal for not checking it more carefully and both operators had fun giving me a hard time.
When I went into the office they started giving a hard time as well. They said I owed a box of donuts for that mistake. I deal with large loads of ferrous most of the time so they like teaching the green horn new things.
I prefer a sawzall theyre quick. Still trying to find a good way to keep loops from flinging into the unknown.
I make certain to pull any and all steel or plastic from any radiators, even if I have to bust out an old hacksaw.
I learned to take the time and do this, as my dad got a bunch of radiators from a bodyshop he worked at from wrecks years ago, and when he finally took them in, the guys at the yard told him he'd get more money by taking off all the plastic / steel, so he had me do it. Lucky the guys working at the yard were nice enough to suggest doing this for maximum profit.
I agree that this kind of thing gets chalked up to a learning lesson, cost you some money, but you won't let this happen again I'm sure. I made a mistake dumping heavy steel pipe and not getting re-weighed before dumping my sheet steel (I didn't know at the time I had to do that). The heavy steel paid more, but nothing I could do, so I chalked it up to a lesson learned, but was the heaviest / bulk of my load, lol.
This reminds me, I have some radiators I need to prep for the yard, been putting it off.
On a/c coils I use a sawzall and do my best to stay right on the inside edge of the steel plate and not get into the first layer of aluminum...many of the copper loops fall into a tub below and the rest usually fall out while smacking it with a hammer. If the saw blade gets into the aluminum, the aluminum keeps a grip on the copper.
Well u could always go the manual route with a hacksaw like I do.Quote:
Originally Posted by t00nces2
I had a 34lb rad I got 34$ I lost 5 dollars not stripping all the tubes out but if I get 20 window ac's like I'm hoping to that would be faster. I did get 7lbs of copper out of the compressor though I figure always take the motor out of the compressor 12$ vs 5$ for it whole.
My buyer usually has a good price for ACR ends. We cut them with a sawzall (demolition blades work great) just inside the metal strip (only if it isn't aluminum). My buyer usually pays between .50 and .70 for the entire end, Iron included. Since the majority of weight on an average cutoff is iron it's usually cost efficient to sell them as such instead of trying to get the loops out for copper price.
Certain large ACRs with a higher cutoff copper percentage would of course be an exception. It also depends on your buyers ACR cutoff price, assuming they even have one. Happy hunting!