SDS hammer drill

When I use the hammer only setting and have a wide chisel bit why does it not make any copper dust as opposed to using a sawzall or a ocilator to cut off the crown of a electric motor I've seen even a grinder makes dust but this does not any reason why? It's nice I don't waste any copper from dust.

I dunno ... i'm still trying to figure out where my lap goes when i stand up.

Originally Posted by Scrap-Metal-Forum

Lol, just testing out some of my admin features—I have a few more things I want to try if you are still feeling testy. I’d rather not be the speech police. Let’s keep things friendly and professional. I usually don’t have any issues unless someone is making my life harder than it needs to be!

My secret to running heard on a bunch of yahoos with my day job is to let them run free. The more i try to control them ... the more unruly they become. Leave them alone and they self govern for the most part.

It's been quiet here for a long time. Not like it used to be when we had active forum moderators.

There's another forum that i'm active with right now. It's not a very good place to be. Everybody is fighting with everybody. The more heavily it's modded ... the more it ratchets up the tensions ... leading to even heavier moderation. It's a vicious cycle that they can't seem to break.

A healthy community is largely self regulating. It needs very little policing.

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.

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.

That's a little bit of a variation from your usual syntax Gil. Did an A.I. highjack your account ?

Originally Posted by alloy2

Na, every old codger wants to make peace with his enemy's before his number's called.

As for mike1's question, would rather him given a performance report on the SDS hammer, this would have had value.

Makes sense. I just didn't know if the admin was punking on you. Tomorrow is April Fool's day. You gotta admit ... it's not like Andrew is without a sense of humor about it all. He made Jim an admin without any mod powers when he was complaining about how the forum was run last year. That was a wicked good prank.

Originally Posted by hills

Makes sense. I just didn't know if the admin was punking on you. Tomorrow is April Fool's day. You gotta admit ... it's not like Andrew is without a sense of humor about it all. He made Jim an admin without any mod powers when he was complaining about how the forum was run last year. That was a wicked good prank.

His comment could have been perceived as challenge, threat or promise, in earlier times would have resulted in a permanent ban. With so few active members these days, the latter would have been like shooting oneself in the foot.

There's a group out there buying up forums to capitalize from ownership, those that have come into new ownership share the same moderators. If and when Andrew is approached, hope he negotiates a decent price as a reward for all his time and effort put into the SMF.

I hope it pans out for him but there doesn't seem to be a lot of future in this. I've seen a few active forums go obsolete over the years because times changed. Most of the scrappers i see in my day to day are like the kind of people you described in your earlier post. They're opportunists looking for a quick score without having to put much work into it. It's a lot like a gambling addiction for those coming in 2-3 times a day. It's interesting to watch them. They cut a few cords and maybe find a piece of copper or brass and you would think they hit the jackpot. More often than not ... they walk away empty handed but that only seems to make them even more determined to do the same thing even harder. Endorphin junkies i suppose ....

Most of the knowledgeable scrappers i see work at a scrapyard now. The freelancers that really know their trade seem to be far and few between.

I don't know as i'm going anywhere in particular with this. It's just my day to day observations based on what i've seen over the past few years.

Originally Posted by hills

I hope it pans out for him but there doesn't seem to be a lot of future in this. I've seen a few active forums go obsolete over the years because times changed. Most of the scrappers i see in my day to day are like the kind of people you described in your earlier post. They're opportunists looking for a quick score without having to put much work into it. It's a lot like a gambling addiction for those coming in 2-3 times a day. It's interesting to watch them. They cut a few cords and maybe find a piece of copper or brass and you would think they hit the jackpot. More often than not ... they walk away empty handed but that only seems to make them even more determined to do the same thing even harder. Endorphin junkies i suppose ....

Most of the knowledgeable scrappers i see work at a scrapyard now. The freelancers that really know their trade seem to be far and few between.

I don't know as i'm going anywhere in particular with this. It's just my day to day observations based on what i've seen over the past few years.

Quick trip into Brandon, grocery shopping, leaving the city spotted a large roll off sitting outside the fenced area of a power sub. The bin with 8ft sides was empty with the exception a few hundred pounds of stainless laying on the bottom.

The hinges on the rear gate, either rusted of frozen, could not open.

Next stop, landfill at the village of Forest, scored two 20 ton hydraulic bottle jacks with NAPA tags, upon arriving back home called NAPA about repair kits. The counterman could not locate a listing for such an animal.


Google found, Blackhawkparts for me, they have the kits.

I personally have no use, and will gift them with the info where to purchase the kits but most of the time bottle jacks are low on oil.

Debbie a tag along scored some nice stacking chairs metal frame with what appears to be Baltic birch which had been steamed then formed into shape.

At the Walmart exit a young woman sitting the curb with a sign asking for spare change for food. Being a fare distance from the downtown core, figured she wasn't a working girl. Gave her a $20.00 and wished her well.

Originally Posted by alloy2

Quick trip into Brandon, grocery shopping, leaving the city spotted a large roll off sitting outside the fenced area of a power sub. The bin with 8ft sides was empty with the exception a few hundred pounds of stainless laying on the bottom.

The hinges on the rear gate, either rusted of frozen, could not open.

Next stop, landfill at the village of Forest, scored two 20 ton hydraulic bottle jacks with NAPA tags, upon arriving back home called NAPA about repair kits. The counterman could not locate a listing for such an animal.


Google found, Blackhawkparts for me, they have the kits.

I personally have no use, and will gift them with the info where to purchase the kits but most of the time bottle jacks are low on oil.

Debbie a tag along scored some nice stacking chairs metal frame with what appears to be Baltic birch which had been steamed then formed into shape.

At the Walmart exit a young woman sitting the curb with a sign asking for spare change for food. Being a fare distance from the downtown core, figured she wasn't a working girl. Gave her a $20.00 and wished her well.

I'm not too keen on used bottle jacks. They should work after being rebuilt but you can never be sure. It's always chancy when you're jacking something up. I've never been hurt but have had a few close calls over the years.

Your trip out sounds like most of the people i see doing their weekly chores when they come through. We opened up a " Take it or Leave it " building last year. It's like a free swap shop. It's been hugely popular with everyone. Some folks come in just for that alone.

It's always a hard thing with the pan handlers. Canada is a cold place in the winter. Maine is too. Homeless people die from the freezing temps every year. The social safety net is there but they just don't want to come in for their own reasons. Chronic mental illness often goes hand in hand with a drug problem. A structured environment of any kind isn't a good fit for them. It's hard to know with that $ 20.00. It might cause them more harm of they use the money to support their drug habit. Working girls tend to be pretty evil in their own fashion but at least they're earning their own keep. It doesn't seem like it's my place to judge others for what they do to survive. It's a hard old world we live in.

Those big green ones i was saying are the septic pumps. i believe they are called "the waste eater" which is printed on the box. Those are always very gross, slimy, stink, and usually have toilet paper stuck to them. yuck.

The other day i was thinking about well pumps, those are encased in stainless and are always copper wound from what ive come across. The stainless may be a telling sign of an copper motor.

Oh well, off to mess with a 10hp motor i got. wonder if mike has ever split any larger motors with his Hammer drill.... i do get these time to time and sell them as is cause i cant pull the copper by hand and i dont have hydraulics like i see others use on youtube to split and pull the copper out of larger motors.