SDS hammer drill

[hills]

I bet. That video is of all the motors I've done I got all the compressors done to I have to do they relays next

You did good Mike. I only had 17 window ac compressors and it took awhile. Got the last of em' finished up yesterday. The regular fridge/freezer ones are a lot easier to do.

[greytruck]

I bet. That video is of all the motors I've done I got all the compressors done to I have to do they relays next

Did you cash in the copper before the big drop? we went from #2 copper at $3.80 down to $2.60/lb here

[mike1]

Did you cash in the copper before the big drop? we went from #2 copper at $3.80 down to $2.60/lb here

I was able to do most of it before it tanked luckily oh I see your price is the same as mine is. I was hoping it was going to hold out but that shocked me. I got the motors done now finally. I'm going to try to get some golf cart chargers hopefully.

[mike1]

You did good Mike. I only had 17 window ac compressors and it took awhile. Got the last of em' finished up yesterday. The regular fridge/freezer ones are a lot easier to do.

Thanks I appreciate it. It's hard work doing scrap for sure. Unless your doing wires haha then that's easy just feed it into the stripper.

[hills]

Did you cash in the copper before the big drop? we went from #2 copper at $3.80 down to $2.60/lb here

I cashed out all of my copper and most of the brass before it dropped. Took about a $ 150.00 loss on the last bit of brass due to the price drop. The drop seemed to coincide with Mr.Trump announcing a 90 day postponement of the tariffs. It's hard to say what the future might hold. The tariffs might be a good thing for us if they do eventually go into effect.

I'm back in scrapping & stockpiling mode again. No more selling for awhile. It might be for years if the economy goes into recession and prices drop.

[hills]

Thanks I appreciate it. It's hard work doing scrap for sure. Unless your doing wires haha then that's easy just feed it into the stripper.

Whoo boy ... you really have to work for it sometimes. Did an old Craftsman radial arm saw yesterday. Had to cut through cast iron to get the motor free. What a beast. I tried cutting the crown off with a carpenter's wood chisel. That didn't seem to work very well. I found that a sharp chisel made cutting the strings super easy though. It's the best way i've found so far. Better than a hatchet or the claw from a straight claw hammer.

Have you tried the hammer drill chisel on the strings ?

[greytruck]

I cashed out all of my copper and most of the brass before it dropped. Took about a $ 150.00 loss on the last bit of brass due to the price drop. The drop seemed to coincide with Mr.Trump announcing a 90 day postponement of the tariffs. It's hard to say what the future might hold. The tariffs might be a good thing for us if they do eventually go into effect.

I'm back in scrapping & stockpiling mode again. No more selling for awhile. It might be for years if the economy goes into recession and prices drop.

I took a huge hit on my copper and brass. probably lost over $300 on mine but oh well, its happened before. Copper is going back up but no one is raising there prices and i dont blame them.

One thing about the tariffs is, i hope prices actually drop back to around 100/ton for steel. I got way, way, way too much competition in my area. need some to drop out of the game. I swear its been years since the cord cutters have been around, and now seems they are back.

[alloy2]

Beginning of a very cold Canadian winter started feeding a stray cat, still without a name.

How many do you have Mike1.

[hills]

I took a huge hit on my copper and brass. probably lost over $300 on mine but oh well, its happened before. Copper is going back up but no one is raising there prices and i dont blame them.

One thing about the tariffs is, i hope prices actually drop back to around 100/ton for steel. I got way, way, way too much competition in my area. need some to drop out of the game. I swear its been years since the cord cutters have been around, and now seems they are back.

Steel is a bit different here because it's so rural. It has to be trucked out in 15 ton loads in order for it to be cost effective. People occasionally try to do it by the pickup truck loads but they don't make much after expenses.

Try to ignore the cord cutters as much as you can. It's like most anything else in life .... you only get out of a thing .... what you are willing to put into it. The cord cutters ? They generally don't make much of an effort so they don't have much to show at the end of the day. They aren't much of a threat to you.

I'll tell ya though ... i have been tempted to coat those cords in grease, burnt transmission fluid, or old differential oil.

[greytruck]

Steel is a bit different here because it's so rural. It has to be trucked out in 15 ton loads in order for it to be cost effective. People occasionally try to do it by the pickup truck loads but they don't make much after expenses.

Try to ignore the cord cutters as much as you can. It's like most anything else in life .... you only get out of a thing .... what you are willing to put into it. The cord cutters ? They generally don't make much of an effort so they don't have much to show at the end of the day. They aren't much of a threat to you.

I'll tell ya though ... i have been tempted to coat those cords in grease, burnt transmission fluid, or old differential oil.

Steel here is very abundant. if prices drop down the part timers drop off cause thats really all there is at the curb besides alum patio Funiture and such. Oh and Cords too lol. I agree with the cords, not much value really. just annoying if you come across a washer and dryer and the cords are gone and the wires ripped out.

If "something" happens to your cords, it will be interesting to see how the copper holds up.

[hills]

Steel here is very abundant. if prices drop down the part timers drop off cause thats really all there is at the curb besides alum patio Funiture and such. Oh and Cords too lol. I agree with the cords, not much value really. just annoying if you come across a washer and dryer and the cords are gone and the wires ripped out.

If "something" happens to your cords, it will be interesting to see how the copper holds up.

There really doesn't seem to be very much copper coming in. With the price being up ... all the easy stuff is picked out long before the rest is being dropped off where i am. It takes a keen eye and a bit of work to extract what little does come in. The cord cutters don't put in much effort ... nor do they know what to look for ... so they tend to walk right past what is there.

Had a little time yesterday so i processed the 12 remaining sealed units in the shop. These ones were from fridges & freezers. I set the stators aside and left them to sit on top of some cardboard with newspaper on top. That tends to draw some of the oil out and make them a bit less messy when it comes time to process them. Cut the crowns off with the angle grinder and then tried the hammer drill to remove the windings. That was amazing. The windings practically flew out of the stator. Had all twelve processed in less than ten minutes. Many thanks to Mike for the heads up on that one !

There is one thing about those kinds of sealed units though. Four of those twelve were aluminum wound. Maybe it's a sign of the times. They're making the fridges & freezers cheaper these days ?

It's rare to see a washer or dryer with a copper wound motor now.

[greytruck]

There really doesn't seem to be very much copper coming in. With the price being up ... all the easy stuff is picked out long before the rest is being dropped off where i am. It takes a keen eye and a bit of work to extract what little does come in. The cord cutters don't put in much effort ... nor do they know what to look for ... so they tend to walk right past what is there.

Had a little time yesterday so i processed the 12 remaining sealed units in the shop. These ones were from fridges & freezers. I set the stators aside and left them to sit on top of some cardboard with newspaper on top. That tends to draw some of the oil out and make them a bit less messy when it comes time to process them. Cut the crowns off with the angle grinder and then tried the hammer drill to remove the windings. That was amazing. The windings practically flew out of the stator. Had all twelve processed in less than ten minutes. Many thanks to Mike for the heads up on that one !

There is one thing about those kinds of sealed units though. Four of those twelve were aluminum wound. Maybe it's a sign of the times. They're making the fridges & freezers cheaper these days ?

It's rare to see a washer or dryer with a copper wound motor now.

Did you notice if the alum wound ones were from units that have that newer flammable refrigerant? those seem to always be alum wound from the few i cut open.

[hills]

Did you notice if the alum wound ones were from units that have that newer flammable refrigerant? those seem to always be alum wound from the few i cut open.

Where this is new to me ... i never thought to keep track. There is one drained freezer that's clearly labelled cyclopentane on the back. If i get a chance ... i'll pull the compressor and check it out. Might not make much money but it would be a good learning experience.

[hills]

Did you notice if the alum wound ones were from units that have that newer flammable refrigerant? those seem to always be alum wound from the few i cut open.

I had a chance to pull one out of a freezer. Processed it a few minutes ago. Sure enough ... aluminum wound !

If i get a chance ... i'll try to write what type of refrigerant was used, and what it came out of, on the compressor from now on. It would save some time if one knew the ones to look for and the ones to avoid.

[greytruck]

Good to know it wasnt just my luck on those. There are a few compressor brands i knew not to open. Cant think of them right now its been a while.

The guys at my old yard said their buyer dont want any Lg brand fridge compressors since they were aluminum wound. i know newer samsung fridge ones are also no good too.

[hills]

Good to know it wasnt just my luck on those. There are a few compressor brands i knew not to open. Cant think of them right now its been a while.

The guys at my old yard said their buyer dont want any Lg brand fridge compressors since they were aluminum wound. i know newer samsung fridge ones are also no good too.

Thanks for the heads up on Lg & Samsung. I'll keep an eye open for any that come in and then crack them open after the Freon has been removed. It's getting pretty easy to do the sealed units now. The hardest part was figuring out how to manage the oil so that it doesn't make a mess of the shop. I found it's a whole lot easier not to drain the oil first. Just keep the unit upright and fasten it down to the bench or sawhorse with a couple of GRK framing screws. Cut the upper part off ... about an inch above the weld ... with a 1/16" cutoff wheel. Pull the stator / compressor assembly and set that on some cardboard to absorb any residual oil. You're basically left with a bowl 1/3 filled with oil. You can just pour that out into a 5 gallon collection bucket.

You can maybe get the basic breakdown done in about five minutes or so. Processing the stators is a few minutes more but the windings easily come out as one piece after you cut the crown off.

[hills]

Just figured i would bump this one. Alloy posed a question in a tread that was closed by by Admin earlier. It had to do with how many compressors i had processed so far. Haven't really been keeping track but i remember 17 AC compressors. Got those ones done first because they were the hardest. I probably did another 13 fridge/freezer compressors recently. Brought in another 8 compressors to the shop over the past weekend.They will get processed in my spare time over the next week or so.

They're actually kind of fun & easy to do once you work out a method.

They're just another source of copper for those who are primarily into non-ferrous.