SDS hammer drill

Originally Posted by mike1

Haha well that's interesting never seen the admin come out of the woodwork in all the years I've been on here neat. I am curious though about why it makes no dust and still cuts through copper.

It's like slicing something with a knife Mike. It's more of a shearing action than a sawing action. It still makes a little dust but not enough that you would notice.

Some guys use a machete or a meat cleaver to split their electric motors apart. Machetes and meat cleavers are kinds of knives too. They slice through.

Originally Posted by hills

It's like slicing something with a knife Mike. It's more of a shearing action than a sawing action. It still makes a little dust but not enough that you would notice.

Some guys use a machete or a meat cleaver to split their electric motors apart. Machetes and meat cleavers are kinds of knives too. They slice through.

Yea that's what someone also said. Id say I like my SDS er drill not the fastest thing I found out going through the copper is a bit faster. I have 76 small ac fan motors to do half have a plastic tape that's a pain to try and get off the other half have a paper stuff and 5 are bare with no paper so the paper and bare ones I can do faster the plastic tape ones not so sure. In any case I still have a er drill that I can use to do other stuff besides scrap since I'm on the last of the AC stuff now also have brass from relays not sure how much I'll get out of that I have a 5gal and a partial full of them. I'll report back on those when I'm done. It's been a interesting journey. It's sad how the forum has kinda went down a slope since I joined it was vibrant not many of us left I suppose I have used the hammer drill to split motors in half to works good if you can get in-between the plates I found it easier to cut the copper crown with the hammer drill I can do that in 3 minutes so that's pretty cool. My knees lock up sometimes haha it sucks being 36 yrs old haha. Comes with scraping I suppose. You can even use the hammer drill on the brass weights on the bottoms of the window ac compressors I have 4 lbs from 35 compressors some had a top and bottom brass some on had the bottom ones. Some have steel that sucks when that happens.

Originally Posted by mike1

Yea that's what someone also said. Id say I like my SDS er drill not the fastest thing I found out going through the copper is a bit faster. I have 76 small ac fan motors to do half have a plastic tape that's a pain to try and get off the other half have a paper stuff and 5 are bare with no paper so the paper and bare ones I can do faster the plastic tape ones not so sure. In any case I still have a er drill that I can use to do other stuff besides scrap since I'm on the last of the AC stuff now also have brass from relays not sure how much I'll get out of that I have a 5gal and a partial full of them. I'll report back on those when I'm done. It's been a interesting journey. It's sad how the forum has kinda went down a slope since I joined it was vibrant not many of us left I suppose I have used the hammer drill to split motors in half to works good if you can get in-between the plates I found it easier to cut the copper crown with the hammer drill I can do that in 3 minutes so that's pretty cool. My knees lock up sometimes haha it sucks being 36 yrs old haha. Comes with scraping I suppose. You can even use the hammer drill on the brass weights on the bottoms of the window ac compressors I have 4 lbs from 35 compressors some had a top and bottom brass some on had the bottom ones. Some have steel that sucks when that happens.

Whoo boy ... if you think your knees are bad now just wait till you're 65 like me. There are days when it takes awhile to get going in the morning. Working on a cement floor all day doesn't help. If i could offer a bit of advise ? My knees started bothering when i was about your age so i started taking glucosamine chondritin. It does seem to work. Helps with repairing the knee and reducing pain. My knees aren't perfect but i'm in a lot better shape than other people my own age. I was talking with a guy 62 years old the other day. He's going in for his third knee joint replacement soon. My wife of 61 years sometimes needs a walker because the arthritis in her knee is so painful she can barely stand on it.

< gentle laughter > It's all your fault Mike ! You got me interested in doing window ac compressors and now i'm up to my neck in scrapping work to do in my spare time. I accumulated about 18 of them since the discussion started awhile back. I've processed about 8 so far. They are hard to do even with a pipe cutter. You really earn your copper when you are doing those darn things. It's an awful lot like work.

I found it's a lot easier to cut off the copper crown too. I usually use the Diablo 22 tpi sawzall blade to cut the crown off. It makes a nice smooth cut without too much dust. Sometimes i use the 1/16" cutting wheel with my angle grinder. That always makes a nice cut but puts a lot of dust up in the air.

There are two kinds of hammers that carpenters use Mike. They are round claw an straight claw. Was experimenting a few weeks ago and found that the straight claw makes short work of the strings and plastic on the windings. It's just chop,chop,chop against a flat piece of steel and they're no problem at all.

I've got a few old friends in the plumbing trade. Was talking with them and they have a bunch of old sewer pumps that have piled up back at the shop. They're a little nasty but a good source of scrap copper & cast iron. Thought i might take a run at those after i'm done with the sealed units.

Originally Posted by hills

Whoo boy ... if you think your knees are bad now just wait till you're 65 like me. There are days when it takes awhile to get going in the morning. Working on a cement floor all day doesn't help. If i could offer a bit of advise ? My knees started bothering when i was about your age so i started taking glucosamine chondritin. It does seem to work. Helps with repairing the knee and reducing pain. My knees aren't perfect but i'm in a lot better shape than other people my own age. I was talking with a guy 62 years old the other day. He's going in for his third knee joint replacement soon. My wife of 61 years sometimes needs a walker because the arthritis in her knee is so painful she can barely stand on it.

< gentle laughter > It's all your fault Mike ! You got me interested in doing window ac compressors and now i'm up to my neck in scrapping work to do in my spare time. I accumulated about 18 of them since the discussion started awhile back. I've processed about 8 so far. They are hard to do even with a pipe cutter. You really earn your copper when you are doing those darn things. It's an awful lot like work.

I found it's a lot easier to cut off the copper crown too. I usually use the Diablo 22 tpi sawzall blade to cut the crown off. It makes a nice smooth cut without too much dust. Sometimes i use the 1/16" cutting wheel with my angle grinder. That always makes a nice cut but puts a lot of dust up in the air.

There are two kinds of hammers that carpenters use Mike. They are round claw an straight claw. Was experimenting a few weeks ago and found that the straight claw makes short work of the strings and plastic on the windings. It's just chop,chop,chop against a flat piece of steel and they're no problem at all.

I've got a few old friends in the plumbing trade. Was talking with them and they have a bunch of old sewer pumps that have piled up back at the shop. They're a little nasty but a good source of scrap copper & cast iron. Thought i might take a run at those after i'm done with the sealed units.

Haha. Yea I know I have that effect on people sometimes haha. That ac lot I probably won't see again once in a lifetime thing. Glad your doing sealed units and acs they add up fast the rads are the fastest and easiest part to do and separating the num 1 and num 2 tubes I'll take that stuff hope it helps also been having memory issues back in 2019 since I started my first job I blame 4 yrs of hitch paint exposure with no respirator.

Originally Posted by mike1

Haha. Yea I know I have that effect on people sometimes haha. That ac lot I probably won't see again once in a lifetime thing. Glad your doing sealed units and acs they add up fast the rads are the fastest and easiest part to do and separating the num 1 and num 2 tubes I'll take that stuff hope it helps also been having memory issues back in 2019 since I started my first job I blame 4 yrs of hitch paint exposure with no respirator.

Sewer pumps will be much easier to do I bet. Some maybe aluminum though.

Originally Posted by greytruck

I did mess around with sub pumps since i get 100+ a year from my plumbing contact. Almost all are alum wound. the only ones i found worth messing with are the EverBuilt brand that have a stainless cylinder, or the big green pumps that weigh 50lbs. Those are copper, but on the big green ones you have to break the stator out of the cast iron shell. You will be surprised how small the motor actually is in them, not worth it for the little copper in those. Plus the oil in them stinks and the grossness from most you dont want to be touching or breathing that sewage stink. I just cut the cord and if clean enough, pull the stainless handles and on to the next.

Just guessing, but i think these would more likely be lift station grinder pumps for a septic system. It might not make much of a difference though. Almost all of the fresh water jet pump motors i've seen are aluminum wound.

It may be that aluminum is the preferred choice for certain applications that involve handling water.