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I was looking for a tool to cut power supply wires without spending a lot of money.
Here is what I found:
Finger Release Ratcheting PVC Cutter
It does not always cut all the way thru due to it's design but a few twists usually seems to cut the stragglers.
Straight tin snips are ok, two snips and its off. I also use a small set of cable cutters which are really good.
https://www.google.com/search?q=klei...22799152420380
The high leverag ones for $26
Everyone should do a cost/benefit analysis on cutting the wires off. It sounds crazy, but you are loosing money cutting them.
When I was doing a bunch at a time I used a limb trimmer or lopper as their also called. Very quick to lop all wires at once.
http://c.shld.net/rpx/i/s/i/spin/ima...arpen=1&qlt=85
Yes the high leverage cutters are a good investment. I've had the same ones for almost 20 years and they work as well now as when I bought them.
That might be true for you but it's not for everybody. Power supplies here sell for 10 cents a pound with or without wire. Same as shred, motors and transformers. Same as the low grade board inside them. Sucks. I process a lot of PC's and I don't have the time to remove the power supplies and process them. I don't even remove the power supplies anymore. Cut the wires, remove the mother board and gold finger boards, fill the PC case with any scrap metal I have, put the cover back on and move on to the next one.Quote:
Cutting power supply wires
Everyone should do a cost/benefit analysis on cutting the wires off. It sounds crazy, but you are loosing money cutting them.
Full article at Scrap Metal Forum: http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/compu...#ixzz3DEpSSdjB
Depends on what you get for wire. Ps without wire i get .20#. The wire I sell at romex pricing1.25-1,30#Quote:
Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste
The best tool for cutting PS wires I have found so far is one of these:
https://www.google.com/search?q=repl...2F%3B550%3B411
I don't have one of those exactly, but a home depot husky brand one. Blade lasts a long time if you're just cutting PS wire. Slices through it like it was butter, and can easily handle the base of the bundle in one clip.
Angle grinder is what I have used in the past. Its quick and easy. Mike
Definitely losing money cutting them
The wire portion weighs so little that the extra money you get from the wire is not enough to cover what you loose from not having the wire attached. In the case where the local yard only pays 10 cents per pound, you may come out a little bit ahead. You still have to account for the labor involved.
At 1.40# there's not much to lose especially if you wait till you have a nice gaylord full and do them all at once.
Here is a quick breakdown of 5 random power supply's I cut the wires from. I'm not the best at math late at night so I might be off a little.
Ps #1- 10.4 oz
Ps#2- 6.6 oz
Ps#3- 7.0 oz
Ps#4- 5.4oz
Ps#5- 8.2oz
Total weight 2.35#. I'm rounding down so at $1.40#. That is $2.80. For 5 random ps. I did those 5 in 1 min which is not very fast. But say you do 5 a minute for an hr you will have done 300 ps
Now 300 divided by 5 is 60 times $2.80 is $168.00 an hr and that's rounding down.
Now let's say you only get half which is 0.70# you still make $84.00 an hr
I don't know about you but i sure wouldn't mind making that an hr.
Oh and at $1.40# with 300 I could pay someone to help and still make money.
And yes it would be hard to do 300 hr anyways you get my point for me it's well worth cutting the wires off.
I keep my power supplies for when I have slow days. But I break them all the way down.
I am currently getting .16/lb locally and that price has fallen from .20/lb in the last two years over time.......THey don't care if I cut the wire they pay the same.......They don't do a lot of ewaste anymore at this company so I'm glad they are still giving me a little better than shred for these........They are paying .11/lb for shred so I just include a couple of totes of these everytime I go dump shred......Makes it worth the 20 mile round trip as there is a yard a lot closer but they don't buy the power supplies..........And yes I try to cut the majority of the wire off and am getting .80/lb for that so it is worth it to me
It all depends on where you live and how much your yard is paying.
I use bolt cutters for mine, can cut through all the wires in one cut
Well this is a important question for me as I am getting a lot of power supply's, it's Sunday and I am home so I can't do the numbers, but like a few guys say you are losing money cutting the wires and I believe them to be right, Now for the guys that sell to a yard that does not pay you more for the wires on or off same price, it's just common sense to snip the wires basically because the value of the wire is more that the power supply, but has any one done a comparison of getting 20 assorted power supply's weighing them with the wire on and then cut the wire off and done the numbers, I will do this tomorrow just for my own knowledge, you have to use twenty to get a true a picture.
Not true, as was stated numerous times it all depends on what pricing you are getting. Anything over $1 a pound for the wire makes it worth it to take 30 seconds to cut the wire. It is on a rare occasion when I am backed up with other things that I sell them with the wire for a nickle more per pound.Quote:
Originally Posted by ResourcefulRecycling
I use 12" or 18" bolt cutters...kinda awkward at first but it gets pretty smooth going before long
The yard I take mine to buys them as steel-cased batteries (Yes, that was my reaction too) with or without the wires so I snip them. I haven’t brought in the computer wire to a yard yet but I may throw them in with my next batch of low-grade wire. I don’t think the place I bring my insulated COPPER wire will take it but I’ll have to see.
The power supply wire is usually not copper, correct? Or am I confusing myself?
power supply wire is generally tin coated copper. easily confused with aluminum if you are not looking closely. if you strip it, it should be #2 copper.
Ahhhhhhhhh...what about the rest of wiring inside of the computer? And what of ribbon cable?Quote:
Originally Posted by MattInTheHat
I cut off about a hundred plugs today with PVC cutters like those but a bit more curved and they worked great IMO. Cheap and effective.Quote:
Originally Posted by Riverside
Matty - my yard just allows me to throw it in with my smaller wire (ie the lower priced stuff)....so I oblige. YMMV, so just ask...and no stripping it for that little bit of wire in them, NOT worth the time.
Oh I definitely won't strip all of that little stuff. As long as the yard will buy it at low-grade price, it's good for me.
My one yard only pays .60 lb for "computer wire" but the other one pays .85 lb.Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyNoNeck
Take what you can get on it. it seems to be graded different by every yard.Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyNoNeck
I have some wire I sell sorted, and I have 2 mixes that the scale guy eyeballs as he dumps them. I could probably make a little more, but I pick out the good stuff and get top dollar for it, and I do very well on all my non ferrous.
If you have a core buyer nearby, you could take him some power supply wire and see what he offers. I usually get between 1.25-1.45 with ends cut. that's better than a lot of people get for romex.
This has been basically said by those claiming you're losing money by cutting the wires. But to reiterate. You don't lose money based on the time it takes you to cut the wire. The loss is in the fact that you are devaluing the power supply itself, 99% of the weight. Of course, this doesn't apply if you get the same price for the power supplies with or with out the wire. But in my case, I get on the order of $0.26# w/ wire, and $0.22# without the wire. So yes, I can cut wires and get a little bit higher price on a couple Oz, but by doing so I lose $0.04# on the sale price of the box (~99% of the material by mass).
This was my point exactly, it is not the time invested, it is that you de-value the power supply box, which is 99% of the weight.
Until now, I have been selling my power supplies complete with the wire. The yard I used to deal with had two price one with wire and one without wire. Lately I started to sell to a different yard which pays more, and they have the same price with and without the wire.
I took a little more than one Gaylord of power supplies and cut the wires off to see what it yielded. This was a fairly average lot, with about 10-15% server power supplies included which don’t have any wires.
This is my result: Total weight before cutting the wires was 1370 lbs. It yielded 1220 lbs power supplies without wires, and 150 lbs of wire. It took a good two hours to cut, using a band saw. In my case it is well worth it, and I will be cutting the wires from now on.
My yard pays the same pitiful price for power supplies with or without wire, so for me it is definitely worth it to cut the wire. And I just cut them with a "large-mouth" pair of lever side cutters...
I have two yards in my area. One pays shred for power supplies (with or without wire), which most recently was $9.50 / 100#. The other one pays $15.00 / 100#, but they want the wires cut.
I've done the breakdown vs selling them whole at .27 per pound to a buyer on here and for me it's not worth the time to break them down. The few I did break down I lost money on (as opposed to selling them whole). I have a little over 400 pound right now so I'll take the $108.00 and use the time doing something more profitable, but that's just me. Everyone gets paid different prices for wires, aluminum, etc so It's really a matter of if its worth it/profitable for you.
First of all the question was what is the best or fastest way to cut the wires off of the power supply. After almost seven and a half years the best way I have found to cut the wires is with a 4 1/2 " angle grinder with a metal cut off blade. You can get the grinder from harbor freight for about 20.00, cheaper if it's on sale. Grab the wires with one hand and cut them off right next to the steel box. If you do this you will see that the wires are copper and sell as #2 insulated wire (I don't know what you all mean by low grade wire, it's either #1 or #2). All wire in a computer is copper, aluminum will not stand up to the heat that the computer gives off, Ribbon gable is also copper but the yield is so low that most yards won't buy it or will pay very little for it. Also if your selling server power supplies to a scrap yard you should use the angle grinder to cut the gold fingers off and send them to a buyer here on the form (50.00#).
I usually get around 0.90 to 1.00 a lb for power supply and all computer wire(even ribbon cable) around here, and only 0.15 cents a lb for power supplies as dirty aluminum, with or without wire. So its worth it to me to cut off the wire. I use bolt cutters.
Open up hot swap PSUs, 50/50 the heatsinks will have a partial copper plate or be entirely copper. That's the reason they are so heavy for being so small.