Separating Grades?

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...-isri-etc.html

I watch the iscrapp app on my phone have have several yards in my area but only one of them have there pricing on this App but it may give you an idea for your area.
Also this site is helpfull witht the pics.
Scrap Metal Pictures - Rockaway Recycling

Guess I will have to start browsing the pics, and posting some of my own here.

Trust me I know about the horrors I have been royally ripped off and when you express your anger you get the boot. I look like a kid literally so they take advantage of me no matter where I go which is why the first question out of my mouth before they even say a thing is what are they paying per lb or ton so it looks like I am keeping tabs it's almost like warning them. When I did all light iron I was able to tell roughly my weight according to my trucks squat and the lower it got the less I made that day, the lady in the scale house was obviously putting cash in her pocket! Mowing down on a pizza all I could think was...I just bought you that pizza your stuffing your face with while I bust a$$

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

The copper might be varnished which could change the color, coils, chokes and degaussing cables are varnished and usually you'll only get #2 price for it.
Alum. heat sinks that look like they have been pulled thru a die is called extruded and usually pays .05-.10 a lb better. My yard throws most everything else in what they call "old sheet".

As far as steel, if you have some heavy (thick) stuff, keep the length down to 2 or 3 ft. (depends on your yard) and that should pay better than the lightweight stuff, tin and such. I think they call it #1. prepped.

This stuff is varnished so it won't short out.

So that's why I can't find my #2 copper...its varnished :-O

I think it was a joke Mechanic688, haha

Ok I took some pictures, here are some of the types of copper I have been saving; there are 6 examples of wire type, some hydraulic line and plumbing. Normally I just throw everything in a 5gal bucket and bring it in like that

The wire on the far left is very red in color, the next one to the right seems to have an extremely thin coating of plastic or clear coating, 3rd to the right still has a little red in the color. The 4th 5th and 6th on the right are a lighter color in various sizes, I make sure there is no solder on the plumbing so that's #1 copper right?



Here is some of my aluminum, which I think can be sorted? I assume the painted gutter/siding is not worth as much as the ski poles, heat sinks and iMac G5 computer casing?



It's all clean aluminum so is it #1 aluminum and the gutter/siding is #2 aluminum?



I also have 5gal buckets full of aluminum that is either painted, greasy, or very dull looking is this all considered #2 aluminum?



Now for my steel/iron prep confusion...for example I have these motor end caps on the left, motor cores stripped of the copper in the middle, and center spindle drums on the right. I assume the end caps are considered "prepped steel" and the pile on the right would be what light iron?? They consist of a mix between aluminum and steel/iron and are way too much work to separate...



The stripped motor cores I am unsure on, I think the outer housings are steel but the one on the left is a cast...and the centers the wire is wrapped through are always sandwiched plates of I think steel?

Seems like scrap yards grade thiere scrap diffrantly so it realy depends on your yard as far as sorting and grading. At the yards that I use, all the copper in the top pic would be #2 copper.From what I can tell the aluminum in the next two pics seem to be sheet aluminum but one piece in the bundle to the right of the pic looks like it might be extruded. I would have to see the end view of the square piece in that bundle to be sure. At my yards they don't care if it's painted or not. Also did you check the bottems of those heat sinks to see if they are copper or not, sometimes the bottem plate is copper, take a file and scrape the finish off and see what color it is. The aluminum in the bucket looks to be cast aluminum except the red pieces look to be sheet. As far as the steel goes someone else will have chime in on that. 99% of the steel I get is shred so it all goes as shred. Hope this helps, but the best thing to do is ask your yard how they want it sorted.

Yes this helps, now I can start to see the difference in aluminum grades; sheet and cast. I'm also getting the concept that only copper has to be "clean" of dirt, grease, paint, etc?

I checked the heat sink bottoms they are aluminum, however there is a copper tube that runs up the heat sink fin layers that is too much of a hassle to remove but I figured they would accept it since the copper is worth more than the aluminum.

Someone told me to take sandpaper to the copper plumbing to raise the value, but the last time I took stripped wire I think they took it as #1

When I grinded into it with a bench grinder it did not show red/orange. The bolts were non-magnetic so I figured they are aluminum as well

Alright numbers are in, I went to AKS recycling which I believe is the best yard around Fitchburg MA.

They took literally all my wire as #2 copper even though I'm pretty sure a lot of it was not varnished @ $2.00/lb and all the plumbing copper (as long is there was no paint on it) was taken as #1 copper @ $2.20/lb

I had a mix of white & yellow brass but they took it all as the same class @ $1.40/lb

My aluminum was both sheet and cast but they only take that as one class as well @ $0.40/lb

I had some non-magnetic stainless and they bought that @ $0.35/lb

I brought 180lbs of light iron and I got $14 so that's still at least $0.07/lb


I have a bunch of steel and iron left to bring, but need to get the sorting understood. Seems there are two iron types; light and heavy. Is steel only considered a single class? Or is heavy iron considered steel??

Makes sense.

I still have these motors but they are a pain in the balls to strip, usually I take a saws-all to one or both coil bundles and hammer out the bundles that run through. However the shell is in the way and I do not have a press to remove the center so I'm not sure what to do...

Those links do not help, these are casted steel bodies there is no weld line to cut to remove the center wingdings.