Advice for small timers

**jimicrk** · 10-22-2017, 08:46 AM

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.

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

**hobo finds** · 10-22-2017, 12:11 PM

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.

Also put a sign by the dumpster area!

**reuseit13** · 10-23-2017, 05:59 PM

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.

**in2scrap** · 10-23-2017, 06:16 PM

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.

**reuseit13** · 10-23-2017, 07:15 PM

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

**eesakiwi** · 10-24-2017, 08:54 AM

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

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.