Beginner's diary

I am not sure, if it's allowed to post here in the style of a personal blog, with occasional updates, as my journey progress and when I need to share something, because I would like to get some reactions from your experiences.

I am not sure why my first post here is in a lack of responses, I would appreciate some. Or maybe if I broken some rules, please let me know, maybe I talk stupid questions. Btw, I am from Czech Republic and when I talk about prices, I just recalculate with current echange rate to USD currency.

Anyway. I was very happy when I pre-calculated my future earnings from scraping electromotors (em). It sounded unbilievable to me at first. My counting was based on a number I have found somewhere at this forum - and this number is 30-40% of copper in the weight of a em. As I wrote in my first post, it made logic to buy all the working em at auctions and scrap them for better money. I hardly could believe it. And when I bought my first 5 em and scraped them, I was very disappointed. Now I know, that there was not more than 14% of cu in one of them. The oldest one, the heaviest, had only 2.8% (btw the cu was white, like aluminium, is it still copper?). The best one, with 13.5% was the lightest, the 10kg em, there was 1.35kg of cu.

Before this realization I was starting to imagine how I would double the money with each em bought. Now, I need to revise my strategy and accept the fact, that there are no easy money again :)

But I am surprised that even the advanced scrappers here, don't know how many % of cu is in a em in average. I got replies with similar numbers as posted here, they said, it's around 30%. All I see now, they never precisely measured it. They just see big pile of cu and think, it's very much - or otherwise I can't explain it. I now understand the prices for unstripped em, they are $0.46/kg

Now, I am going to measure how much cu is in a tv, computer monitor.

And I am looking forward for a heavy welding machine, my friend is scrapping 3 of them very early. He is doing it many years, in a big way, and he says, there's 40kg of cu in a 190kg welding machine (not average, but in a exact brand) - but I am afraid, he just estimates these numbers and I hope it won't be the same as with ems.

I forgot, all the 5 ems had no copper in a rotor, so I need to learn, which ems have cu in a rotor and maybe aim for them, but first, weigh them and see the profit per kg (so I know what price buy them for).

Thanks for listening :)

Yes, do use this thread as a record of your scrapping with updates. Don't worry about the lack of responses on the other threads. I think part of it is in the wording which may be a result of translation software. It just takes more concentration to follow. No rules broken. If there are any, I'll let you know. If anybody looks up weight conversion, post them here for reference.

I'm assuming "em" is "electric motor" and "cu" is "copper" - right?

Experience is the best teacher. With experience you will be able to understand more of what is offered here. Even without the language barrier it is difficult to follow some threads until you have dismantled many items. Get out there and tear some things apart and see what's in them. You will quickly determine what is worth your time and what is not. Also you techniques for dismantling will improve and there are always more power tools to buy.

I am very interested in how this business is conducted in the Czech Republic. So keep posting, neon.

I am interested in your experiences as well. I am sorry we did not welcome you at first. We have a lot of people come on the forum and try to play tricks on us and sometimes we wait to see if someone is sincere. If you keep reading older posts on this forum you will find much more help than I can give. Do you know how to use the search feature at the top right corner of the page ? You can type in motor or transformer or compressor and click on the little Q-like symbol. There is much information there. You need to scratch the wire in all motors before you start to harvest the wire. If it is white or silver, it is aluminum and is best sold as a whole motor, in my opinion. Also, study the threads (older posts) on T.V.'s and monitors before you buy them in bulk. In our country we have difficulty finding a safe way to dispose of the CRT's (tubes) because of the toxic contents. Best of luck to you. I look forward to your next post. Dee

neon, I want to tell you that I think Kris Kringle has hit on a very important point. You must be very careful about taking one person's opinion as fact. You need to read a lot of posts and ask a lot of questions before you make any decisions. Also,I would like to hear more about your mentor. Are you sure you can trust him ?

Some motors are worth breaking down, some are not. anything with AL windings is not. As far as copper content, its something you have to get a feel for. As you break down more and more you will begin to understand which ones are worth the time for a few dollars and which ones are not. Experience is the key.

Other people's estimates are good but each motor is made different. there is an average range, but its not a set number. the best answer would be something like "15%-30%" depending on the model. but only you would know from the feel of it and what it looks like. Good luck!

Thank you very much for all your opinions ;)

Mick: yes, em = electromotor, cu = copper

DD: yes, I know the search option, I am studying old threads in a little time I have left now. I am fully working with my mentor these days, for free, just to learn how he does it. If I can trust him? I am still not sure myself. He shares a lot of knowledge with me. Only problem I have is, that he wanted to lend money. He is addicted to his job and he has a problem to let pass any earning possibility. He is still buying welding machines, em, pianos, old furniture also (he deals with antic) and I can understand why he needs money, even when he is quite rich, when he sells it all. I think I describe something many of you know very good, when you start to use all the possibilites how to get the scrap things. He is stopping his car whenever he sees an old car, pile of steel, any house that is being repaired, any house that is being for sale (he just ask the real estate sales person, if the house is free to clean and usually the owner is very happy - he scored many welding machines this way for free, among other things) - I am sure I describe something you know very well. He is investing quite much money each week into an advertisement - offering to buy ems, welding machines, cars. The problem I have with him is just that he is unpredictable, his time/place promises are always broken and the same with money - he is promising to pay me 10% more with my money I have lend him... I will see. Maybe you are laughing now, that I am stupid to trust him :) But I see it, that he is explaining me all his knowledge also because of lending him money.

Btw, he taught me how to burn the cu from ems, so the white wire wasn't aluminium, it would melted - it is probably cu, just white, as I have read in an old threads.

I am happy to see how easy it is to get the stuff. Today, we were cleaning a construction place. He just stopped and ask the boss if he can clean the rubbish - no problem, all for free, just not being lazy and ask. In 3 hours, we got $180 and a lot of burning wood (for burning the ems and other stuff) - and there's 5x more like this.
Now, whenever I see any construction, I won't hesitate to ask, I can imagine many opportunities just from this.

Another good move was from starting a good partnership with employee at local rubbish yard (not sure about right US term - just the place where people through their rubbish for free). I am not sure how you look at these things, but I am giving little money to this employee and he is leaving me interesting stuff. I like that I pay him in natural products like hard liquor, honey, apples, eggs - all made at home, by our family - I just like it, better feeling than paying with the cash and I can make other jobs (bees, growing fruit trees etc.) profitable this way.

Today I took 2 TVs, 1 computer, 1 gramophone, 1 humidifier. I am not sure about the last two, I need to learn what's inside of them.

Clothes dryer motors are often Ali windings. You could melt the Ali out over a fire though.

Some clothes dryer motors are Copper wire, I'm trying to find out what ones are at the moment.

The 2 garbage disposales I got last week were alluminum wires too.