Experienced Scrapper
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thank YOU Idaho !!! Finally...and I've watched a lot of that aussie dude's stuff, but missed this one. Of course I prefer my sawsall. I haven't had anything this big yet, though. This should give noobs a much better idea of what we're talking about !!
You da man, Tater !
You're welcome Dee. I had seen it awhile back and it dawned on me to post it to help out so people have a visual on how to cut this stuff off.
I've done both, sawzall and grinder. I want to try a band saw, if I can find a cheap one.
Speaking of, my sawzall quit tonight. Not too motivated to figure out what's wrong, but I suspect the brushes need looked at.
EDIT:
Got the sawzall going. Pulled the brushes, wiped them off, put them back in and all seems to be working again.
Last edited by IdahoScrapper; 08-16-2011 at 01:36 AM.
Experienced Scrapper
I was going to post today asking about transformers, but luckily I know how to use the search feature on this site
Great information, I've got few large transformers (~200lbs total) that I need to scrap..
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yep, def missed that the first time. im gonna try that tonight. thanks!
Slacker
Image cave is gone... so here's the pic for my above post again.
Last edited by wdaddy; 12-23-2011 at 11:45 AM.
Experienced Scrapper
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Great write up Wdad.
How about if you start a topic with that and title it so it will be searchable, I think that would be a great help!
When the white man discovered this country Indians were running it
no taxes, no debt, women did all the work.
White man thought he could improve on a system like this. - Old Cherokee saying
I did not surrender, they took my horse and made him surrender. - Lone Watie
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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A little card board and wood fire. Then some times the metal pieces will just fall off easy or a few hits with a hammer , I seen all sorts of transformers , Each has it's own weakness to get at the copper. The fire burns off the paper or bit of the plastic.Transformers in general don't smoke as bad as wires.But still probably not legal . As I have seen town laws stating burning metal by it self is consider not legal
If it was like a micro wave trans you will have an easy time but yours looks like the harder type. Start by removing those screws then see if metal has any spot welds that can be popped off
Last edited by Copper Head; 12-24-2011 at 07:13 AM.
Experienced Scrapper
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I started with the clip and "wrestle" method til I got my sawsall....then I got a grinder and nothing works better for me on the small ones...for the big ones I'd have to go back to the sawsall I guess...unless you have a work table like aussie dude. (and a giant grinder)
Experienced Scrapper
I have to say that it's been a quite a while since I burned a transformer primarily because of the safety issues. We still process medium to large transformers but we do it without flame these days. The more traditional methods are used by us but the one thing that definitely helps is simply spraying PB Blaster or dunking it in the solvent tank for a bit. What does this do? It helps loosen the wraps and wedges, they essentially fall right out after lightly tapping on them.
Transformers can have some very heavy amounts of wonderful copper depending upon what kind it is, obviously the best type are those that you cut a band and they come apart in halfs, those are fun to get. The next best would be the ones that are bolted together, take out the two or four little bolts and they too break in half.
At one point we tried an experiment that had good results but was not really cost effective, we used a creamatorium (For Lg. animals) it was primarily for burning the hard wraps & varnish coating off the CU.... and oh it worked.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to All!
Experienced Scrapper
Ok so here is an idea:
You need to have a place where open fire is ok.
Get two iron containers. Place one over the fire and throw all of your motors/transformers into it. Let it roast for like 20.
Have the second one filled with ice water. (I'm a chef so I have plenty of connections on free ice in the business).
Use hefty fireplace tongs to get the motors out from one and into the other.
The process of rapidly heating and cooling materials makes the steel very brittle and much easier to rip the Cu windings out.
Experienced Scrapper
I wish this technique worked with electric motor windings.
Experienced Scrapper
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Me too, I tried it but I didn't have ice..did you copperhead?
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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well i heat up the copper i do like to cool it down with just cold water as it keeps the copper from getting to brittle . excess heat is a way to mess up good copper I don't really see a need for ice water . as any water that you douse red hot metal in gets warm fast any way
Experienced Scrapper
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then what did I do wrong ? It burned the tape off but didn't melt the plastic.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Ok - First when you take apart a motor I have found it not worth dealing with the shaft in regard to the ones with the copper wound in like thread (thats the shaft) some shafts are steel & AL. regardless if it's the ones with the copper wound i sell them as copper bearing .25 or motors if the yard person lets it slide .50
Second it is understood the copper windings on the main housing are wedged a bit tight with plastic type sleeving as copper goes into steel ,Now that under stood
we are talking about a small amt of plastic.
Procedure
have a safe area ( A Pit) have some wood and cardboard available / now get the fire started, a nice good real fire,
once fire has calmed to ambers its time have a card board box on hand - fill the box with the housings and old news paper put box on ambers fire will do the rest a hot fire is needed for reduced smoke / if you see a bit too much smoke put some more card board on it, the extra flames tend to consume the smoke some what , if those housing get red they are clean , use a stick & pick them up and put in bucket of water (ice is no need ) just water . It's a learned balance to clean but to much heat also could ruin a batch. Any way this is hypothetical as you need to see about local laws.
Last edited by Copper Head; 12-29-2011 at 10:59 PM.
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I throw them in the woodstove. Pick them out with a piece of rebar and drop them in a bucket of water.Originally Posted by Copper Head
People may laugh at me, but that's ok. I laugh all the way to the bank.
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