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Copper/ brass radiator

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    Copper/ brass radiator

    Hi got my first brass/copper radiator didn't know what it was until I got the steel off thought it was dark aluminum lol banged it copper to my surprise. Brass tank ends one end has a steel thing inside it I was thinking on buying a osilator tool little more control on cuts since I have to cut the nuts out cause they soldered them on or something won't turn they normally turn. So do I cut off the end then cut the bolts then pull it out that way? Don't want to cut to much. What do those normally go for are they worth more than copper/aluminum rads?


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    The brass radiators do pay better than copper / aluminum.

    I don't know about the other things. I've only seen one or two brass radiators in the time i've been scrapping.

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    Those are pretty rare now-a-days. In my 14 yrs scrapping i maybe did 3 or 4 of them. I think i had to remove one side of the tanks to clean them and sell the tank side as yellow brass after the steel was removed. Its been maybe 3 yrs since my last one. A pic would help.

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    When I was much younger those rads were common, the scrap yard kept an old axe at the scale to cut the metal sides off they were only soldered to the top and bottom brass tanks. Some metal sides wrapped around the bottom tank but never soldered all the way around.

    Sold as number 2 copper.

    Large radiators from cranes and dozer both the top and bottom tanks were made of cast iron and were bolted to the tanks with a heavy gasket between tank and rad.



    Last edited by alloy2; 05-11-2024 at 05:48 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hills View Post
    The brass radiators do pay better than copper / aluminum.

    I don't know about the other things. I've only seen one or two brass radiators in the time i've been scrapping.
    Cool how long have you been scrapping? I only had one.

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    All the radiators before the mid 1970's were copper core with brass tanks, the preferred rad in GM pick ups was a four row core cross flow. The factory stick rad as a two row core.

    Copper lasts years longer than the aluminum rads.

    You will never find an aluminum rad used in heavy equipment, over the years I've had many rad similar to the one being rodded in this video..

    I started scrapping when I was 15 years old - 60 years ago.


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    Myself ... i've been scrapping off and on for 25 or 30 years now. I don't have all that much experience with steel & automotive. Most of my stuff is building trades related. Plumbing, heating, electrical, and whatnot. It's just an occasional side gig to keep my hands busy when work is slow. Work the regular 40 + hours as the prime gig that pays the bills and make a few extra pennies in my spare time so i can take my wife out to dinner at McDonald's when we visit the big city.

    I gotta respect the guys that can do scrapping full time and make a living at it. It's no easy task to run a business. Especially a scrapping business.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hills View Post
    Myself ... i've been scrapping off and on for 25 or 30 years now. I don't have all that much experience with steel & automotive. Most of my stuff is building trades related. Plumbing, heating, electrical, and whatnot. It's just an occasional side gig to keep my hands busy when work is slow. Work the regular 40 + hours as the prime gig that pays the bills and make a few extra pennies in my spare time so i can take my wife out to dinner at McDonald's when we visit the big city.

    I gotta respect the guys that can do scrapping full time and make a living at it. It's no easy task to run a business. Especially a scrapping business.
    The scrap I processed required torch cutting,

    Track mounted, Mach IV Sherman tank undercarriage, this would have had several copper radiators one to cool the engine while the other would have been an oil separator and oil cooler on the rotary screw air compressor.


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  13. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by alloy2 View Post
    The scrap I processed required torch cutting,

    Track mounted, Mach IV Sherman tank undercarriage, this would have had several copper radiators one to cool the engine while the other would have been an oil separator and oil cooler on the rotary screw air compressor.

    Wow a tank you don't see that everyday. I bet that would be a huge radiator I wonder what it's like to ride in a tank or something with treads I wonder if it's bumpy. Restore it and run through town �� that will get heads turning.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hills View Post
    Myself ... i've been scrapping off and on for 25 or 30 years now. I don't have all that much experience with steel & automotive. Most of my stuff is building trades related. Plumbing, heating, electrical, and whatnot. It's just an occasional side gig to keep my hands busy when work is slow. Work the regular 40 + hours as the prime gig that pays the bills and make a few extra pennies in my spare time so i can take my wife out to dinner at McDonald's when we visit the big city.

    I gotta respect the guys that can do scrapping full time and make a living at it. It's no easy task to run a business. Especially a scrapping business.
    Right my primary pay sucks haha. I make 18.54 a hr. Living wage in Indiana is 21$ without kids. Instead of giving me a .54 cents raise I should have gotten $2 raise that's what I was wanting anyway.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mike1 View Post
    Wow a tank you don't see that everyday. I bet that would be a huge radiator I wonder what it's like to ride in a tank or something with treads I wonder if it's bumpy. Restore it and run through town �� that will get heads turning.
    Mike that unit would have had a radiator for the engine plus another large high pressure rad on the compressor side used to cool and separate the oil from the air., This tank drill as their know would have had a rotary screw compressor, the oil in the system flows through the compressor for lubrication and sealing the slight gap between the screws.

    Another type of large of air compressor is the rotary vane, should a vane disintegrate it can destroy the whole compressor casting.

    Often used in old logging camps to drill blast holes into rock where they need a road were large portable piston units. those also used a large radiator to cool the air, due to the high air pressure those rads were extra heavy duty.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mike1 View Post
    Wow a tank you don't see that everyday. I bet that would be a huge radiator I wonder what it's like to ride in a tank or something with treads I wonder if it's bumpy. Restore it and run through town �� that will get heads turning.
    Another Sherman used as a Spar Tree to recover logs from steep mountain sides.


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    Quote Originally Posted by mike1 View Post
    Right my primary pay sucks haha. I make 18.54 a hr. Living wage in Indiana is 21$ without kids. Instead of giving me a .54 cents raise I should have gotten $2 raise that's what I was wanting anyway.
    It all depends on how it plays. Sometimes you're no further ahead by getting that $2 raise because you have to pay a larger share of the government subsidized health insurance. It all goes round and round if you have a wife & kids along with most any kind of government assistance. You want to do better for yourself. You want to work hard. When you finally do start to get ahead ... they cut your assistance and you are no better off than when you started.

    There's a way to break this cycle but you have to understand the part before we can talk about the next steps out of being the working poor.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hills View Post
    It all depends on how it plays. Sometimes you're no further ahead by getting that $2 raise because you have to pay a larger share of the government subsidized health insurance. It all goes round and round if you have a wife & kids along with most any kind of government assistance. You want to do better for yourself. You want to work hard. When you finally do start to get ahead ... they cut your assistance and you are no better off than when you started.

    There's a way to break this cycle but you have to understand the part before we can talk about the next steps out of being the working poor.
    Interesting that's very true. Plus unexpected things come up like they always do when I think I'm getting ahead ��. The universe hasn't been very nice to me lately.

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    Neat that's some big equipment.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hills View Post
    It all depends on how it plays. Sometimes you're no further ahead by getting that $2 raise because you have to pay a larger share of the government subsidized health insurance. It all goes round and round if you have a wife & kids along with most any kind of government assistance. You want to do better for yourself. You want to work hard. When you finally do start to get ahead ... they cut your assistance and you are no better off than when you started.

    There's a way to break this cycle but you have to understand the part before we can talk about the next steps out of being the working poor.
    Be sure to VOTE

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    Quote Originally Posted by alloy2 View Post
    Be sure to VOTE
    Politics and economics are two different things.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hills View Post
    Politics and economics are two different things.
    about as different as beer and wine

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    Quote Originally Posted by mike1 View Post
    Interesting that's very true. Plus unexpected things come up like they always do when I think I'm getting ahead ��. The universe hasn't been very nice to me lately.
    I think it's going to be a hard winter for a lot of people this year Mike. It's not just you. You've got a lot of company. The cost of living is probably going to increase again. This inflation thing isn't done running it's course yet.

    If the cost of living goes up faster than your yearly pay raises .... it leaves you with less to live on. That's the way it usually works out for most working people. They stay on a job for 20 years and end up working for less that what they started out at. There aren't many jobs that offer what's called " Real Wage Growth ".
    Last edited by hills; 10-19-2024 at 08:42 PM.

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