WOW Copper just Hit $4.5591

[injunjoe]

Amazing how copper has increased in price this winter.
Sure wish I had not scrapped out early. Oh well building up a nice stash again.

[Mick]

And it just keep on going... Makes my boxes of copper pipes and stuff look like red gold (ditchdigger - kind of like "white gold" or snow for us old plow guys).

[luke]

is it worth it to take the copper out of the electric motors or is it better to just scrap the whole thing, Price wise?
Thanks and God Bless

[injunjoe]

is it worth it to take the copper out of the electric motors or is it better to just scrap the whole thing, Price wise?
Thanks and God Bless

I find I make a good percentage on all types of motors, removing the copper.
Try one and weigh it before and after. After you start collecting the copper for a while the numbers start to add up nicely.

[Mick]

Be sure to check the windings as you get them. Some are copper coated aluminum. I had 43 pounds of wire that I took in one time. About a fourth were copper-coated. Took the whole bunch back to re-sort. Wound up being such a pain trying to sort that I took the it all back and sold it as aluminum. Talk about PO'd!!! Just scrap off a little section. If it's silvery, it's aluminum. After awhile, you'll be able to pretty well tell without scraping.

[injunjoe]

So far in the last two years I have only came across two motors with aluminum windings.
One was from a good sized air compressor. I did take note that the aluminum wound motor had an"A" in the model number and most copper wound motors have a "C".

I do AC work, so most of my scrap comes from air conditioners.

[Thejapster]

I started out scrapping the whole electric motor now i always take them apart so far nothing but solid copper just wish i had started ealier

[injunjoe]

I hear ya' bro! Hind sight's 20/20

[IdahoScrapper]

Last two motors I pulled from a washer and dryer were copper coated aluminum. Tore apart a vacuum for the hell of it. Not much in there, but the windings are copper.

[injunjoe]

The motors used in garage door openers are easy to take apart and have a good amount of copper in them.
Between door openers and ac units, makes up 99% of my scrap.

[Scrap man]

I hate taking apart motors. I just throw them in a bucket and sell them as is. I can't even figure out how to take apart 3/4 of them

[IdahoScrapper]

Is there an effective way to get the aluminum off the motor shafts? It's not much, but I figure in time it'll add up.

[injunjoe]

I have thought about the aluminum. I am thinking my band saw will do the trick.
I need to rebuild the base she's a 1941 model. The guy I bought if off of made the base it was on out of particle board. The base also is the motor mount.
Funny how he had all the wood working tools yet used crappy particle board. Here in Florida that junk don't cut it.

Also thinking, it is the way to go on the ACR coils. It will so much easier to cut things with the band saw then with my dancing, bouncing, blade bending reciprocating saw. Should save a huge amount of time and effort, not to mention the expense of the blades. A good metal blade for the band saw is about $20.00 and should out last a bunch of reciprocating blades.

As far as cutting that Aluminum off, I don't know if it will be worth the effort yet. I will let you know as soon as I get a chance to fix my saw.

[IdahoScrapper]

Well...I gave it a try. Couldn't find my cold chisel, so I used a flat screwdriver. It started to separate it, but it's clear that would take too long to get it off.

So then I tried the sawzall and that was a waste of time as well. Got a small chunk off and called it good.

[Mick]

How about a grinder? Seems like that would go right through it.

[IdahoScrapper]

Could try that. I have a 4 inch grinder, but it would take quite a bit of material. When I bought a multipack of wheels, a few thin discs came with it, but don't work with the grinder. The nut won't come close to snugging down on it. I've heard of people stacking washers in there, but that seems like a good way to work itself loose and explode in my face.


I have a air cut off and it seems to have died a few hours ago. Was working great...though I didn't try it on the motor shaft/aluminum.

If I can use a thin wheel in an electric grinder, my life will be much easier.

[injunjoe]

On your grinder is a bushing that holds the wheel, take and flip it over and put back on grinder.
One side has a bigger shoulder for grinding wheels, and the other side is for the thinner cutting wheels.

[IdahoScrapper]

Hey, thanks. I never noticed it. Then again I never tried a cut off wheel until recently when I bought a pack to try.

Tried it on the motor shafts and it's slow going so I will pass on getting the aluminum off those. Also tried using it to cut motor windings. That was slow going as well, so I'll stick to the sawzall, though I can see a band saw being more efficient.

Thanks again.