Today in the Garage. Questions & Pics!

**armstrt8** · 08-10-2014, 06:24 PM

I have gotten a bit backed up with my scrap piles and today it was finally time to get out into the garage again! Some of the pics are a tad blurry since I apparently cant hold a camera straight, but any questions/comments/concerns are welcomed.

QUESTION!!
I recently picked up a safe that is about 2ftx2ftx2ft. It is closed and seems to be empty. The front electrical panel part is hanging off of it. Its a cheap safe. I put an axe through the side of it and its filled with some sort of clay material. Can I bring this to the scrapyard? If not, can I not bring it since its locked? Or since the clay material is giving it most of its weight will they deny it?

First on todays list is this snazzy Trolling Motor I picked up. It has only been used a few times, and was then put into a closet like 15 years ago. Supposedly works great and it still looks in excellent condition! Im not sure how my 12ft aluminum boat will like that 60 pound thing hanging on it... but we will see

Foot controls n all!

So, I was moving a few 4ft rolls of carpet around a few days back and out of the end comes one of these... nuts?? I then bang it on the ground and THIRTY FIVE of these things come tumbling out!! Some squirrel was a PROFESSIONAL horder. The best part was I left them sit on the ground there and they were gone within 48 hours!!

The wife getting her hands dirty! Very nice to have some help on the simpler things out there O.O I can only cut so many cord ends off plugs before my eyes start to cross.

Got some work to do on this stack of AC units tomorrow!! Freon evacuated and ready to be ripped up! Get all sorts of goodies from these. Last batch was only 4. I haven't figured out what to do with the compressors yet... I also havent asked much. They weight like ~20 pounds each. Hoping my yard just wants me to drill a hole and empty the oil.

I bet there is 100+ pounds of copper/alum rads alone

Felt a bit dumb today! Got this HEAVY backup UPS from the hotel and started ripping it up. Did I think I think about the power this things may have in it still?? Nahhhhh
Got it opened up and when I was cutting the cords that ran to the socket I got a quick jolt up my left arm and a lil shower of sparks!! What should I do?? How can I get the juice out of those big ol batteries!?

Ren fest in a week!!!

Originally Posted by PickerBenny

Looks like a nice day to be in the garage! Thanks for the pics, that helps a lot in these posts!

That mini kota motor, we have one for our 16 ft boat with a 25 hp evinrude on it. Include 3 more people + equipment and it pulls us like it's gas powered. It would be perfect for the 12 ft boat

I currently have a 7.5h on the 12 footer and I FLY across the water haha! I hadnt thought of just sticking the trolling motor on in its place tho... that is a much better thought. I was thinking it would weigh me down too much with the 7.5h and the trolling mtr

**PickerBenny** · 08-10-2014, 06:40 PM

Looks like a nice day to be in the garage! Thanks for the pics, that helps a lot in these posts!

That mini kota motor, we have one for our 16 ft boat with a 25 hp evinrude on it. Include 3 more people + equipment and it pulls us like it's gas powered. It would be perfect for the 12 ft boat

**PartTimeScrapper** · 08-10-2014, 06:58 PM

alwats pull the batteries out first. then connect them together so the caps can discharge.

**spinroch** · 08-10-2014, 07:06 PM

Like parttime said, disconnect & remove the batteries first.
Then, take an insulated handle beater screwdriver and short the terminals on each electrolytic capacitor.
Remove the caps.
Voila!

**ryanw** · 08-10-2014, 07:50 PM

Those PTAC units are nice and easy to take apart. I don't know what you get for scrap, but that would be 6-700 for me broken down.

Some notes - leave the ends on the rads even if they're steel. They are so small it comes out as a wash cleaning them.
An angle grinder is easier to put a hole in the sealed units than a drill.

Have fun!

**armstrt8** · 08-10-2014, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by ryanw

Those PTAC units are nice and easy to take apart. I don't know what you get for scrap, but that would be 6-700 for me broken down.

Some notes - leave the ends on the rads even if they're steel. They are so small it comes out as a wash cleaning them.
An angle grinder is easier to put a hole in the sealed units than a drill.

Have fun!

600-700 for those ACs?! No way im getting that. Im thinking 300ish. What do you mean about the steel ends? If I leave them on (and they arent small) I get a lower price for the entire rad

**ryanw** · 08-10-2014, 09:51 PM

I get 1.20 for dirty rads and 1.40 for clean. The loss of weight basically evens it out...even selling the ends for 0.40/lb. Do the math yourself before and after.

Also yes I didn't count them correctly. 3-400 is right.

**armstrt8** · 08-10-2014, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by ryanw

I get 1.20 for dirty rads and 1.40 for clean. The loss of weight basically evens it out...even selling the ends for 0.40/lb. Do the math yourself before and after.

Also yes I didn't count them correctly. 3-400 is right.

I see what your saying on the rad ends. They definitely have some girth to them. In the past I have used a MASSIVE spike to smash them off.... took probably 5-10 minutes per rad and it wasn't easy on the hands. Prices here are 1.08 dirty and 1.31 clean (Going to check a couple other yards before I bring this load in). Not sure if its worth the 50 cents or not that it takes to get the ends off this way.

This time I will be giving the sawzzle method a try. Just going to get all the copper ends off but leave most of the rad whole. Since I will take the ends off there is no reason at that point to no just pull the iron piece off

**ryanw** · 08-10-2014, 11:23 PM

Saw all works best for that. If you can clamp them upright on the side, just run it down each end. If no vice big enough for that, you can put some nails through a piece of plywood and slap them onto it. Make sure the wood is attached to something elevated ( so the ends hang off and give the blade space ). Also make sure it's secured to the ground or something really heavy.

**Pnutfarmer** · 08-10-2014, 11:51 PM

That clay stuff in the safe is a kind of concrete probably fireproof. Many yards don't take safes just for this substance adding a lot of weight, however, some yards with lots of volume will take them. You just have to call around and ask. You can cut a hole in each side, then beat the heck out of the whole thing with a hammer and pulverize the concrete and shake it out, but that's almost like work.

**eesakiwi** · 08-11-2014, 02:27 AM

With the Ali/Copper radiators with the steel ends..

I use a hand held jigsaw Inside of the steel end peice.
Or, run the angle grinder down the Outside of the steel end peice.

I have found its worth doing it, they are about 1, 1/4 - 1, 1/2 inch thick.

If they were thicker, I'd use the angle grinder to cut the steel end and Copper loops off.

With the jigsaw, pressing it down hard onto the radiator makes the job a lot easyer, it won't jump around nearly as much.

I just did about 90lbs worth of them last week.

**msmoorad** · 08-11-2014, 10:47 AM

i picked up an old UPS like that a few weeks ago
it was HEAVY
turned out it had 10 batteries in it.

got about 20 something batteries now
gonna be taking them to the yard soon

**DevinThaScrapper** · 08-13-2014, 01:04 PM

Such a coincidence I had one of those things that shocked u also my uncle works for a comp company and gave me it and I have no idea what it is and when I hit it with a hammer it showered sparks so I gave up for a while than when I was moving it in a truck it started raining and it started billowing out smoke!!! So I let it cool down for a day tha. Put it inside, I would love to know what it is and what's in it so if you know please get back to me

**Mechanic688** · 08-13-2014, 04:34 PM

Batteries, transformer, power supply board, wiring, usually steel framework.

**streetdoc560** · 08-18-2014, 02:21 AM

Hi Here in Mississippi I get 2.71 per # for Cu and .57 per # for Al

**happyscraper** · 08-21-2014, 02:40 AM

On the ac ends, I use a 4" angle grinder with a metal cut off blade. Cut the copper elbows on the outside of the steel, you have cut these flush with the steel. Use a large pair of pliers to pull the steel off. Now you have a clean aluminum/copper rad, a small stack of steel ends and some # 2 copper.

Today in the Garage. Questions & Pics!

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