fire extinguishers

[corycouch]

done the search and didnt see anything, we cut up a rolled oil tank a couple weeks ago and wanted to take some fire extinguishers just in case. i have a friend that owns a fire saftey store that services fire extinguisers and he give me a couple to take. anyway to the point our recycling came up and to shorten the story i got three 16 foot trailers full of fire extinguishers. now these are alot of work and have to be cut in half. some are aluminum and some are steel. some have brass fittings and some have aluminum, the little cylinder in the inside is sometimes plastic, but usually steel or aluminum. anyway lots of work separating and we do it in our spare time. we have started on a pile of aluminum oxygen tanks fire fighters wear and had 50 to 60 when we started and they weigh 17 lbs apiece at 58 cents a lb. it will take us months to process this in between cars and he said we could count on at least 200 or so a month so our dead time from now on shouldnt exist. anyway we usually pay for everything but he wanted it out of the way so we settled on lunch. some of you guys out there might make a call or even a visit its our favorite score yet just because of no down time plus a steady flow of cash

[PartTimeScrapper]

What do you do with all the dry chemicals left inside them? Or does the company give them to you empty?

[GeorgeB]

Better pray that they are all empty. If not, be one heck of a mess lol.

[corycouch]

most of them are straight co2 and the kids squirt it out usually not much, the powder is mostly gone we dump it in buckets and my buddy told me it was harmless(tho i wouldnt eat it ) just getting started and we have made a few hundred on the tanks

[PartTimeScrapper]

That is awesome. I wonder what the fire system companies do here i denver.

[freonjoe]

I'll bet you're calling them tomorrow to find out!

[Mechanic688]

most of them are straight co2 and the kids squirt it out usually not much, the powder is mostly gone we dump it in buckets and my buddy told me it was harmless(tho i wouldnt eat it )

Probably just a form of baking soda with something added.

[PartTimeScrapper]

I'll bet you're calling them tomorrow to find out!

I bet im sending every single one of them with a website an email tonight

[corycouch]

i live in a town of about 70000 and we have 3 companies here that do it, my friends company has alot of industries schools and hospitals on contract. i can only imagine in a city like denver what would be available. good luck to everyone

[GeorgeB]

most of them are straight co2 and the kids squirt it out usually not much, the powder is mostly gone we dump it in buckets and my buddy told me it was harmless(tho i wouldnt eat it ) just getting started and we have made a few hundred on the tanks

What do you use to cut them in half?

I would first find out if my yard even takes it, before I start taking them (talking about what I personally am going to do be doing)

[corycouch]

my friend let me know up front i had to cut them in half but i did check the yard to make sure. the first ones we done we started a pilot hole with our 4 1/2 grinder and went the rest of the way around with a hackzall takes a little less than 10 minutes,(on the oxygen tanks) we bought a chopsaw from ace hardware still takes about 10 minutes but is alot easier , it also slices thru the small steel ones with no problem . the fastest way is with our concrete saw but its heavy and uses gas oil and blades. we are looking at bandsaws and plasma cutters and leaning towards the northern tool plasma cutter it has pretty good reviews. you will also need a heck of a vise and pipe wrench to take the handles off, like i said lots of work but definetly worth the effort.

[GeorgeB]

my friend let me know up front i had to cut them in half but i did check the yard to make sure. the first ones we done we started a pilot hole with our 4 1/2 grinder and went the rest of the way around with a hackzall takes a little less than 10 minutes,(on the oxygen tanks) we bought a chopsaw from ace hardware still takes about 10 minutes but is alot easier , it also slices thru the small steel ones with no problem . the fastest way is with our concrete saw but its heavy and uses gas oil and blades. we are looking at bandsaws and plasma cutters and leaning towards the northern tool plasma cutter it has pretty good reviews. you will also need a heck of a vise and pipe wrench to take the handles off, like i said lots of work but definetly worth the effort.

What do you do to penetrate the Oxygen tanks? The grinder?

[corycouch]

yes i cut a slot big enough for the sawsall blade to fit in, or with the chop saw i just let the saw do it, we did buy some skinnier 7/64 blades last night im sure they will wear out faster but i think they should cut faster plus they were cheaper, its raining here right now and cant seem to get motivated but ill try to find out today, has anyone used the everlast plasma cutters they have a couple 50 amp models for around $500

[IdahoScrapper]

From what I have found regarding Everlast plasma cutters is that the IGBT units are better than the mosfet units.

Plus Everlast has a better warranty than any other company that I am aware of.

I was thinking of going with the 70 amp model, but maybe a 50 would be okay for what I do.

Then again, you rarely, if ever, hear someone say "boy, I wish I'd gotten the smaller tool".

[corycouch]

wondering if anyone made any contacts today, we are going to check with the other two companies here after we get a grip on what we got, kinda overwhelmed with it at the moment. i didnt try the smaller blade today it rained all day bummer weather, didn't get a single call either which is rare im hoping because of the weather. plasma cutter i think will solve my issues ive not used one in probably 17 or 18 years but im sure the cheap ones today are as good as the one i used in the 90s

[corycouch]

we havnt processed any more extinguishers, its been nasty here two days in a row, we did go buy a car today (never turn down the chance to buy a car) but my buddy is doing another clean up tomorrow and we are going to go pick up another load of extinguishers i gotta emtpy one of my trailers in the morning just to fill it up again i hope someone out there was able to get a hook up like this.

[ozzy214]

Im curious where ya at"? ANd if you would like to sell some of them at a decent rate. I would love to help out and make a few dollars....

[ozzy214]

The Everlast Plasma Cutter That Didn’t Last
Posted February 05, 2009 11:20 AM by frankd20
Pathfinder Tags: china plasma cutter ebay plasma cutter everlast neverlast plasma cutter

I know that others have had good experiences with plasma cutters from Everlast, but I did not. What follows is my own account.

The Shot Heard 'Round eBay

I made the mistake of buying a CUT 60D Everlast plasma cutting machine on eBay. The transaction via PayPal was smooth, and the plasma cutter arrived in a reasonable amount of time.

I pulled the unit out of the box, set it up, and started cutting. The plasma cutter worked well enough for the price, and I made a couple of cuts to test it. This is where my enthusiasm for this Everlast product ends.

On the third cut, the plasma cutter emitted a loud bang that sounded like a fire cracker. Then the circuit breaker switch tripped off. I flipped the switch back on and the machine started again. But when I tried to cut, another loud bang was heard.

Mad About MOSFETs

Upon opening the cutter's case, I discovered that the problem was obvious. One of the MOSFETs had blown. A metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is an electronic switching device with a conducting channel as the output. They don't sell 'em at Wal-Mart.If you look at the ads from Everlast, the company claims that its plasma cutters use Toshiba or Fuji MOSFETs. This was one of the selling points for me. When I looked at the MOSFETs in my machine, however, I found an unwelcome surprise. Covered by a metal plate as a heat sink, my MOSFETs were made by Wisdom semiconductor with part number WFW20N50.

Blame the Supplier

I contacted Everlast and told them what had happened to me. I also asked the company to replace my machine with one that had the correct MOSFETs, or - if that wasn't possible - to give me my money back.

I was told that the manufacturer in China had switched MOSFETs without telling Everlast. I was also told to wait two weeks since they didn't have a machine with the right MOSFETs in stock. Two weeks came and went. All the while, I saw the same product being sold on Ebay. I contacted Everlast again and was told to wait longer. Two weeks turned into two months.

Memory Loss and Shipping Cost

When I contacted Everlast after waiting way too long, the company didn't remember anything. So, I had to copy all the emails to remind them.

I had told them the first time that I would not pay for shipping since they sent me a product with the wrong MOSFETs. So now after waiting all this time, I was told to send the unit back – but that Everlast would not pay for shipping.

I complained by contacting eBay and PayPal. I also submitted a letter of complaint to the Better Business Bureau. Eventually, Everlast contacted me and said it would pay for shipping.

Show Me the Money

During this time, I still told Everlast that I would like a unit with the correct MOSFETs since the product I had would cut well-enough if the MOSFETs help up. I was told that Everlast would only refund my money, and did not want to replace my unit with the correct item. "Fine", I said. "Then return my money."

A week went by. I contacted Everlast again. WHERE IS MY MONEY? The company told me that PayPal had blocked them from sending money, so I'd have to wait. But when I called PayPal and told them about the situation, PayPal stated that it does not block anyone from sending money or giving a refund. The only reason would be if the company did not have money in its account.

At this point, I knew that Everlast was lying to me. So I contacted my credit card company and submitted a complaint. To its credit (no pun intened), my credit card company issued me a credit. Finally, I got my money back. As for Everlast, it's reputation (at least with me) cannot be replaced.

Found on google...so dont buy it...Chinese junk. Buy a American tool plz save the jobs in this country

[corycouch]

i live in jonesboro ar, at the moment we are going to try to tackle it ourselves. there has to be these services in every midsize town in america as we have 3 of them here. thank you tho very much for the offer. my buddy said he could make more sigining a contract than he could messing with these for a week im sure its that way everywhere. i was lucky to know the guy, but with the right approach anything is possible

[mikedmissouri]

My grandpa owned a fire safety company and when i started cleaning his farm up after he passed a found a ton of old extinguishers. Almost all of the stainless steel ones that had the nozzle coming out of the side rather than the top where topped with a large brass lid. I believe these were soda acid extinguishers. Keep your eyes open for these.