Regular made officially permanent / what to do with this stuff?

**SKWrapper** · 02-07-2020, 01:55 PM

I had a regular (had them for 1.5 years now) contact me again yesterday - one less than 5 miles from my house and their "higher ups" made it official that I am the person they contact for removing their metal and similar materials etc in all their warehouses... They are fine with the fact that I work full time and am only available on weekends or after hours.

I picked up these from them last night and am trying to decide if I should attempt to dismantle these GIGANTIC transformers for the copper or just sell them as is? I say "GIGANTIC" because with just 2 cabinets (2 large transformers per cabinet with a bunch of small ones in each - insulated copper and capacitors etc..), my truck is sagging and two of us could hardly load the cabinets on the truck, in fact they were strapped to a pallet so they could forklift them into my truck. Should I bother trying to cut them open to take out the copper or just sell the transformers as they are - without the screws and wire etc...?

**JJinLV** · 02-07-2020, 02:21 PM

Large transformers do have a little better price and recovery than small ones for sure but they're are also extraordinarily expensive as parts. I know the ones we ship out (overseas) are bound for refurbishment and mostly not scrap. That said, is selling them as is for large transformer scrap price a good enough margin for you? If so then "turn and burn" as someone once said. Otherwise if recalling right those large transformers have somewhere around a 12-15% Cu recovery average if that helps. Either way congrats on what looks like a great client!

**SKWrapper** · 02-07-2020, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by JJinLV

Large transformers do have a little better price and recovery than small ones for sure but they're are also extraordinarily expensive as parts. I know the ones we ship out (overseas) are bound for refurbishment and mostly not scrap. That said, is selling them as is for large transformer scrap price a good enough margin for you? If so then "turn and burn" as someone once said. Otherwise if recalling right those large transformers have somewhere around a 12-15% Cu recovery average if that helps. Either way congrats on what looks like a great client!

Thanks for the congrats and advise.

Do you know who buys them? Suppose I can search here DOH! <slaps own face>. I can hold on to them for a while, they don't take up too much space. Right now my backyard makes it look like I am stockpiling anyway because I have had no time to go to the yard.

**mikeinreco** · 02-07-2020, 03:33 PM

Call local yards sell as is

**JJinLV** · 02-07-2020, 04:24 PM

As scrap if you take the transformers out the cases (and they're copper and not aluminum) we'll pay you .22/lb at today's Cu prices. If you have enough weight, freight from Denver to Las Vegas is super cheap, especially if you have other non-ferrous or ewaste to ship with. But all this depends on what local Denver yards will pay for good medium transformer like those. Very well might not be worth the trouble to ship. If they're over 500lbs each we'll call them large and give a little price bump.

**greytruck** · 02-07-2020, 05:55 PM

I would pull the copper out if they are indeed copper wound.

Also congrats on the contact promotion lol

**hills** · 02-08-2020, 07:01 AM

The general rule of thumb would be to go for the "better than scrap" option if possible. The main thing is to find a buyer. Doesn't seem like a terrible thing if you could get .22 per lb. Less work and reasonably good pay.

Same thing only different here. Have a Generac 15kw stator and rotor where the windings test out good but there's no market other than scrap that i know of.

**mikeinreco** · 02-08-2020, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by greytruck

I would pull the copper out if they are indeed copper wound.

Also congrats on the contact promotion lol

U are better man than me

**greytruck** · 02-08-2020, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

U are better man than me

LOL yeah ive done a few old arc welders in the past. They were definitely worth it.

**SKWrapper** · 02-10-2020, 06:15 PM

It was total of ~475lbs just the 5 bare transformers (one not pictured - I don't have the ticket on me). I should have stopped and checked back in here before I pulled them from the electrical boxes and sold them to the yard.

Good news is that besides the transformers, I had 40 lbs of yellow brass, some "finger boards", #2 copper and what not, decent ticket.

**in2scrap** · 02-11-2020, 08:18 PM

I would have had to broken down at least one. Very good score tho.

**greytruck** · 02-12-2020, 10:33 AM

How much did they pay per pound on the transformers??? I can get .12 here.

**wayne1956** · 02-12-2020, 11:13 AM

Next time you get some take at least a medium size one and look at it good, see if you can figure out a way of breaking it down relatively easily to get clean copper. I had some wound motors that had a coat of varnish on them and the strings that I thought would make them a pain to break down, so I sold them as electric motors. After a while I took one and studied it, figured out a way of getting the string off and the copper removed, and now no longer put them in the motor pile.

**greytruck** · 02-12-2020, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by wayne1956

Next time you get some take at least a medium size one and look at it good, see if you can figure out a way of breaking it down relatively easily to get clean copper. I had some wound motors that had a coat of varnish on them and the strings that I thought would make them a pain to break down, so I sold them as electric motors. After a while I took one and studied it, figured out a way of getting the string off and the copper removed, and now no longer put them in the motor pile.

If you can find the right spot on the string and clip it, you can just pull all the string right off like undoing shoe laces. Not on the shalacked ones ofcorse

**wayne1956** · 02-12-2020, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by greytruck

If you can find the right spot on the string and clip it, you can just pull all the string right off like undoing shoe laces. Not on the shalacked ones ofcorse

Yeah, I do that with some copper wound motors I get from dishwashers. Some of them do not have the shellac coating on them, so it is very easy to remove the string. Then I just cut the windings on one side, pull them out the other and viola, clean copper wire.

Regular made officially permanent / what to do with this stuff?

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