Aluminum Types and How to Seperate

How do you guys separate your aluminum ?
I just went in with a load, aluminum gutters, Automobile fenders, hoods, some heavier aluminum frames, cans, rims, I got my tear weight, and then my gross weight and got paid.
I did notice while I was unloading the yard guy put the rims in a separate pile, the heavier aluminum frames, it another pile and the balance of the load went into the dumpster.
All my aluminum was clean no rubber or foam on the hoods, on the frame section I cut off the rubber mounts, no steel fasteners in the parts I dropped.
I picked up an aluminum ladder yesterday, looked like a truck ran into it, DO I REMOVE ALL THE STELL ITEMS ON THE LADDER ?
I got the felling I wasted my time cleaning all the parts ??????
I have no idea if I got paid for clean aluminum or dirty aluminum, they move so fast in the yard I was in it amazed me.
They did not tell me my tare wt, just dump it over there, and get weighed in again.
I am new to the scrap world but would like to be a little more educated before I go in.

Lot's of different categories for Aluminum but I usually separate into...breakage, sheet, cast, rims and extruded. As I'm moving bucket on scale I verify what is being put on there then double check ticket.

By me they throw clean Extruded, Sheet, Gutters, Ladders, Etc. all into one bin. The scale guy told me to not separate all of that because it all goes into the same bale. I do separate out clean cast from the rest even though I may not have to. Ask for a price sheet at your yard next time, it will show EVERY category that they have and their price. I cannot tell you how much this has helped me in the past. And as people have said before, READ READ AND READ AGAIN!

How do you guys separate your aluminum ?
I just went in with a load, aluminum gutters, Automobile fenders, hoods, some heavier aluminum frames, cans, rims, I got my tear weight, and then my gross weight and got paid.
I did notice while I was unloading the yard guy put the rims in a separate pile, the heavier aluminum frames, it another pile and the balance of the load went into the dumpster.

Kind of sounded to me like you had some steel/tin mixed in, in which case they would have paid you for the cheapest items.

Aluminum Recycling Guide

I'm always amazed at how different yards treat different items. One of my yards of the two I use lumps all aluminum except cans together at one price. The other yard, I could go in with 15 different grades of aluminum all at different prices.

Gutters
Cans
Extrusion (and there's more than one grade)
clip (again, more than one grade)
old sheet
old cast
clean cast


You get the idea

This is a good post...

I would like to say... that its important you know what is what..

ext.. how do you know if its extruded or not.? One example.. look at heat sinks.. those are extruded... like lets take the 775 chip heatsink.. its round.. and if you can imagine..

like a noodle maker machine.. that is a extruder.. you push the objext thru the machine and it creates what ever you're making.

cast.. now there are several different type of cast.. how can you tell any alum that has side walls for example Harddrives .. they have sides to them.. these can't be made thru a extruder.. due to the sides.. being higher then the center part of the metal. another way to tell.. extruded is hard or if not impossible to break.. but if you take a hammer.. use googles.. and glvoes.. put the item like a harddrive in to a vice.. and wack it.. away from your body it will break.. and along with that.. you'll noticed that the material is grey... and funny looking..

now there is cast iron.. extremely heavy.. but still cast.. in most cases.. like LCD base.. they are heavy.. non extruded and if you scrape or use a wire brush wheel.. Please use safty glasses when doing this.. take the paint off and you'll noticed in most cases its a grey looking color.. and very hard to break but possible..

plate alum. for example.. are.. gutters... now people say gutters are extruded.. in some cases yes.. but there are some that are formed by a gutter machine that is fed by material in a roll form that is consider plate... another example.. some of the old pent one slot processors where the heat sink.. was a single piece of alum.. but they cut the top of the heatsink and alternate them one fin goes one way and the other goes another way... plate alum is easier to cut then extruded. CRT boards has lots of plate alum and also extruded.. basically when plate alum is made it is formed by a machine that are feed between two rollers.. and shaped. into a long piece of alum different thickness.

most scrap yards will put plate alum with cast alum, not sure why.. but that is my experince.. but I get different prices for them, and also.. I get a higher price with extruded due to the fact again.. its harder to break and its cleaner of any other type of material.. I don't have the specs of what type of material each has but I can say. that extruded is the better quality of it all.

Hope that helps.. and you've a great week.. and Happy scrapping.

Hope this help you with some of your question.

My yard refuses to pay for extruded now and their reasoning is #1- I'm the only one that separates it from the cast and #2- they cannot bale it (big deal) throw it into a gaylord. (that's why they make them.) I'm going to save ext. up and find a yard that will pay me for my time.

Their not going to pay me the lowest alum price for one of the highest alum alloys. I was born at nite but not last nite.