The Wild and Whacky Scrapping Adventures of MattyNoNeck

Hey everyone!

I see these threads some of you have going that chronicle your scrapping day by day, week by week, etc. I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon because I am really loving this "second job" and I feel like it may even turn into a side business since it seems to be taking off so well. So let's begin with my story on how it all started...


About a month ago, my girlfriend's car went and died when it blew a head gasket. Money was just too tight in order to to fix it and it was also almost as much as the car itself was worth. So while sitting on it and deciding to be a one-car family for a while, a co-worker asked if we were going to "junk" it. I called up a local scrapyard after googling a bit and found out they would give us $260 for her little Ford Focus. That sounded pretty cool to me! The wheels started turning and I remembered I had heard about a new scrapyard opening up down at "the port" and since it was trash night in the neighborhood I used to live in, I figured I would run through, pick up what I could find, bring it down to the scrapyard and basically see how it all worked. I found an old iron sink just...on the side of the road. So I picked it up, brought it down to the yard and got paid $22 for it. Holy crap! I can make some side cash doing this.

Now, at the time, we were still a one-car family (and I must stress CAR) so scrapping was tough in the beginning due to limited space. I had to pass up on some really good stuff like dryers, lawn mowers, etc. but I was able to make some hauls and get $20 here and $40 there. I knew I would need a truck, so I pulled some strings, consolidated some debt and bought this...


LEMON!

Turns out the brakes were shot but I was able to get it fixed (this is well chronicled in another thread I posted) for way cheaper than it should have been. That mechanic has definitely earned a loyal customer. oddly enough, we were going to junk it and just eat the difference but we were able to get it in the road. It was go time!

Shortly thereafter, I began to schedule pickups by responding to craigslist/freecycle ads and posting my own. What I've found is that if I follow every reasonable lead, I'm PROBABLY going to end up with more scrap than I originally go out for, either from the person I'm picking up from or found by the side of the road. My three 'big' hauls have stemmed from smaller pickups thus far. This is what I ended up with after going to pick up some Corolla rims/tires from a guy


Lots of stuff from his garage and it happened to be trash night in that area. BOOM!

This past weekend was also very good to me. A couple of Craiglist postings led me to all of this



Pretty nice! That one was my best haul yet, almost half a ton of shred! I know I could have made more if I did a little sorting as there was some aluminum in there but space is at a premium for me right now (more on that in a bit).

My girlfriend and her daughter have been super supportive in this venture of mine, and one of my girlfriend's side hobbies (in addition to her own full-time business) is antiqueing. Our worlds tend to collide in this respect. We cruise around to garage sales and thrift stores and pick up antiques for SO SO SO cheap and sell on eBay or to an antique shop. I pick up any non-ferrous metal items I can find for dirt cheap, as well as other things I know I can re-sell. Mini-fridges are my jam right now! Garage sales are great opportunities for me since people just want to get rid of stuff as quickly as they can. I got about 20 pounds of wire/cable yesterday for $1. Their loss is my gain!

And I'm honest about what I do, too. Because of this, one couple holding a moving sale jumped at the chance to have me take away a bunch of old wire fencing, an old swingset, a non-working grill and some other miscellaneous items. Picked up some vinyl records too! I buy/sell these as well and I friggin LOVE garage sales for this reason!



So yesterday I had a pickup for a dryer scheduled after I loaded up the truck with all the items from this moving sale and then I had a pickup of some free (!!!) vinyls a guy was giving away on freecycle. I figured, ok, it'll be a decent day. On the way down there, rolled up on another grill, lawn mower, printers, keyboards, scanners and other e-waste. When I finally got down to get the vinyls, the guy saw my truck and asked if I wanted a fridge that he'd be getting rid of in a couple of weeks. Hell yes!

So it seems that following every lead I can and getting my name/face out there is really the best thing I can do. If I can be the guy who will always show up, have a good attitude and work hard, I will do just fine in this business.

My major obstacle at this point is space. We live on the second floor of a house and I have no garage or space to work on big stuff. So I really can't sort like I'd like to. I'm building up a couple of brass/copper/other buckets so I'm doing the best I can. Thinking about a storage unit, just have to get a good rate.

On slow days I try to break down the electronic stuff I pick up. I grab TVs if they're around but I don't go out of my way for them. I'm really fuzzy on e-scrap stuff but here's what I've done with a TV and...can I sell the low-grade boards for anything? And I don't know what all the other stuff on the boards is...should I break them off? I'm lost! I am keeping the copper and wire, though, of course.




Well, that's the story up until now. Got a big job tonight hauling some steel racks from a store in the mall and maybe a washer/dryer pickup after that. Onwards and upwards!!!

Stay tuned, and I hope you've enjoyed Part 1 of the Wild and Whacky Scrapping Adventures of MattyNoNeck. Until next time...

Originally Posted by Otto

Matty, until you get familiar with what the copper bearing components look like, you can use the printing on the boards as a guide. "T" followed by some digits denotes a transformer, "L" an inductor (coil), and "K" a relay. Break them down if you have nothing else going on, otherwise, just sell them as copper bearing.

Otto, you mean like these pieces?





And what is this doohicky? It looks like it might be copper bearing but I don't see any of those prefixes



Thanks!

It was another good day yesterday. That job at the mall paid pretty well! I negotiated a 50/50 split of the metal plus a $0.40 a mile. Not too shabby IMO. Here's the haul.



They were pretty happy when I got back and forked over some cash (I was too!) and they said they may have more stuff tomorrow. Cha-ching! I may just give them some cash up front and then take the haul for myself, depends on what they're interested in.

After the mall job I picked up some junk around the mall, namely a beat up shopping cart and some aluminum. Then I decided to cruise through the UAlbany campus and check out what the college kids may have tossed since graduation was this past weekend. Holy crap, they throw EVERYTHING out! I got two futon frames, some metal shelving, pots and pans...AND A WHOLE FREAKING COMPUTER from a dumpster. Their waste, my gain! I'm at work right now and I left the PC at home (didn't want to leave it in the truck while I'm at work for obvious reasons) so I'll post a pic later. Here's yesterday's haul...



...minus the computer, which I am going to have fun breaking down. Haven't had a chance to scrap a computer yet and I'm looking forward to it!

Bonus: In order to get those futon frames, which were in a dumpster but nowhere near the top, I had to improvise. BEHOLD! The Scrapgrabber 3000!





Going with my tools for sure! I also have two because I needed another one to grab the original that I dropped in the dumpster. OOPS!

Anyway, tonight should be good to me again. Spring cleaning night in one section of the city!

Until next time...

Originally Posted by Otto

Top picture - bottom, middle looks like a transformer (below the blue cylinder which is a capacitor).

2nd picture is a flyback transformer. I believe most places would take this as copper bearing.

3rd picture looks like it contains RF tuning circuitry. Some places would take this as copper bearing as well.

Awesome, thanks!

Originally Posted by Yunkman

Interesting and thank you. You appear to be a young guy so you shouldn't need tools to retrieve stuff from a dumpster. Just DIVE IN !! LOL
Yep, you got the 'bug'....happy scrappin.

Oh, and how did you get your name?

Young, yes. Good shape? Nope!

I really have no qualms about diving into a dumpster, especially when it doesn't look nasty and gross with food stuff...I just would have a legitimate problem getting back OUT of some of these big ones.

Name is an old college nickname. Long story short we had a "Mafia" party and we gave each other gangster-like names. I ended up with MattyNoNeck since I'm a big guy and look like a meathead...my girlfriend at the time got "Missy Meatbags" I'll let you guys figure that one out

Might have to look around to find a yard that will buy the low grade, usually .10-.20 a lb. I pull the alum, coils, chokes, and transformers, also large IC's, and transistors.

And don't forget the "silver" wire down around the tube, that's copper also. Plus check the clamps that hold the copper on the neck of the tube, some of them are SS. May have a regular screw on a SS clamp.

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Might have to look around to find a yard that will buy the low grade, usually .10-.20 a lb. I pull the alum, coils, chokes, and transformers, also large IC's, and transistors.

And don't forget the "silver" wire down around the tube, that's copper also. Plus check the clamps that hold the copper on the neck of the tube, some of them are SS. May have a regular screw on a SS clamp.

That's the problem for me...I don't know of any yards around here that buy e-waste like circuit boards but I'll call around, I may just have missed it in my searches.

Scrapping a DVD player on my breaks at work...just to occupy my time and satisfy my curiosity at what the guts look like. I'm trying to learn about e-scrap and what not, I've read the e-scrap sections here and...what is this? If I had to take a guess I'd call it "mid-grade" or "peripheral." Am I right? Close? Way-off? Should I just give up now? :P Help!

Originally Posted by ryanw

You are correct, sir!

Yay! I'm learning!

Next question...do I pop those chips off or leave them in?

Fun fact: The big one was apparently made at the big new chip plant about 40 minutes north of me

Originally Posted by ryanw

Leave them in if you want to sell the board as mid grade.

Awesome, thanks!

Originally Posted by Pnutfarmer

The "big new chip plant" is the one you need to contact. Maybe you can get a deal on hauling away their scrap chips that did not pass inspection.

OOOOOOO...I did not even think about that! That's an awesome idea, thanks Pnut!

So, had a few good jobs recently. That mall job on Monday netted me about $50 which wasn't bad considering I split the take 50/50. This was the load from that one.



And two days ago I was contacted again by the same store for more stuff, but most of it needed some prepwork so I told them I'll take it, but I get 100% of the haul. They were just happy to get it out of there...win/win! They even threw in one of those step ladders they use in the back rooms of retail stores...and that sucker was HEAVY. Score!

Included, a bunch of old lawn chairs I found in a dumpster...acquired using the Scrapgrabber 3000. Macguyvered tools for the win!



My best run yet! Would have been more but some of the items I still didn't have a chance to prep so it'll go in with the next load.

Spoke to the neighbor last night and negotiated a trade...I had some plywood from this last mall job and he was VERY glad to take it and offered me 3 or 4 dead boat batteries. At $0.30 a pound, hell yes I will make that trade. He even let me know that those casters on the fixtures from the mall job would go for way more on CL or ebay than for scrap. Really glad I ran into him last night! I would have been none the wiser and they would likely be getting tossed around the shredder as we speak (read? post? whatever...)

Anyways...got three pick-ups tonight. Dishwasher, a dryer and two lawnmowers. Looking forward to it!

Until next time...