I bought an antique welder last weekend for $75. It had 18 plugs on it to adjust the amperage, not a dial. I took it apart this morning and it was not as hard as I thought it would be. After taking the transformers out it took about 15 min of banging and prying to get the steel off the windings. They where just sandwiched together.
Copper windings from 2 transformers 65 pounds.
1 stripped cable [the insulation was falling apart] 11 pounds
1 longer cable [I did not strip yet, the insulation is good so I may try to sell and it as is] 27 pounds
18 brass plugs for plugging the cables into at 3 oz each + a few other fitting that came with it.

Close to 100 pounds of copper. Not bad. I think I will watch for these. I know to stay away from the "tombstone" and newer welders with Aluminum windings.
Chris