sorting out wires - Page 2

I sort depending on my mood. I have a bin for insulated that I have no intention on stripping, and I have a bin for stuff I intend on stripping. My mood may change and various in between wires may go in either bin depending on the day. Currently, the stuff that I will strip is large as I have no good meeans of stripping. My dad has indivated the thought of some sort of wire stripper for Christmas for me, so that may all change if that happens.

disclaimer. So far any and all of my insulated wire has been bought by my yard with no complaints. I had gotten 1.25 or so at the peak, and just recently got I believe 95 cents. There is aluminum wire ans really crappy wire all mixed in. (no ribbon cable). I do however take the time to make sure that all connectors are gone from any of my insulated that I take in.

correct me if i am wrong, but what everyone is referring to as aluminum wire is really just tin coated copper wire.
only aluminum wire i know of is the degaussing coils from some TV's and that goes directly into my aluminum pile.

Sounds like a Big, Fat, Hairy, Wirey mess to me. The yard I go to takes all insulated wire together; just clip the wall connector off, but leave all the little metal clips and stuff on. All stripped wire is stripped, regardless of thickness. then there is old copper and new copper. too easy. I live in Germany and it seems prices are about the same given the exchange rates lately. Have fun with your cable salad..

As for Aluminum wire, I find it quite frequently. I put it with my other Alu stuff., scrap yard guy says that it all melts the same..

Originally Posted by goldfinger

correct me if i am wrong, but what everyone is referring to as aluminum wire is really just tin coated copper wire.
only aluminum wire i know of is the degaussing coils from some TV's and that goes directly into my aluminum pile.

There is indeed aluminum wire. In fact, if you get a chance to check out a power company spool of wire, they use mostly aluminum wire these days.

I strip power cords for the stranded wire. I then compress it into pretty solid blocks. What copper would that classify as. I have read through all the posts but, call me stupid, I still can't discern between the grades. Every thing I get gets stripped. Some is surprisingly oxidized even though it was previously insulated, but most is bright and clean.

Jonnyjeb, it's #2 copper because the single strands are not thicker that a pencil lead, Mike.

Is that all that matters, thickness? none of my copper (wire, pipes, sheets) has any other metal on it, no solder, etc, but some is oxidized slightly. Does that change anything? Thanks again in advance.

Also, #1 copper allows for green/oxidised copper. Barebright does not.

Originally Posted by Filthy

yes, when the storm hit here and a branch knocked out my power, i was tempted to scrap the power line, but it was only Al, and i decided i should just leave it alone. my house runs power from an Al line.

Normally, as Ali isn't very strong, theres a steel wire in the center of the Ali cable.

Someone said there are tin coated copper wires. Do you leave these separate from the copper wires? Also is there a difference in price between the two? Thanks!!!

Originally Posted by leightim83

Someone said there are tin coated copper wires. Do you leave these separate from the copper wires? Also is there a difference in price between the two? Thanks!!!

yes, there is a minor price difference. at my yard tin copper is bought seperate

Originally Posted by ScrapperStoke

On the subject of wire...the flat ribbon wire in servers...are they still made out of silver? Not the drive ribbon wire...the other ones that are silver in color. Do I but them in a silver bucket?

Idk if this was answerd..
Was also wondering

For questions regarding specs I highly suggest you google "ISRI Specifications". Most yards will base their buying specs on this, because like I tell people every day: "We have to buy everything like we sell it, or clean it in-house". There are subtle differences in buying from yard to yard and region to region, but all are based on the industry-wide ISRI specs.

As far as grading wire...do like we do at my yard. Save all the wire you sample and write the % recovery on it with a sharpie. We now have 100's of samples to compare to, saving a ton of time and having a frame of reference on how to sort it.

Originally Posted by bluemeate

so this is what im thinking

THHN: the wire that circuit breakers and other heavy duty stuff is connected with

THHN is actually the type of insulation on the wire. It consists of two layers of insulation, a clear hard plastic coating on the outside, with a softer rubber-like coat under that. It usually contains a single wire (solid or stranded) and it is the most common type used in construction.

Originally Posted by bluemeate

romex wire: the wire found inside appliances and things like that

Romex is another type of insulation. Romex is actually a brand name that often is used as a generic term for the same type of wire manufactured by other companies. It is most common as a three or four wire cable and is used almost exclusively in residential dwellings for recepticles and lighting fixtures throughout the house.

Originally Posted by bluemeate

should powercords be seperated from extension cords? how about computer power cords?

I am currently separating my wires into three basic categories at the current time. I have bare bright in one box, insulated "bright" copper in another box, and tinned copper in the last box. Because I'm mainly scrapping things like monitors, TVs, small appliances and the like, most of my copper is too small to strip. So I just distinguish whether the copper is tinned or not and separate accordingly. Anything like extension cords, computer/appliace power cords, and such gets stripped and goes into my bare bright box. Yeah it's a bit of a pain, but my intention is to get the most out of my copper scrap and to make the bulk of my money from it.

Originally Posted by bluemeate

ALSO ive been cutting off all the transformers and throwing them in a box

I'm assuming you mean the small transformers found inside computers, monitors, and the like.

Some of you may laugh, but if I can break them down and pull out the copper, I will. This has actually been a good source of bare bright copper for me. If the copper doesn't come out clean, it goes in the box with my insulated wire that is too small for me to strip. I generally toss the transformers aside until I have nothing else to do and then attack them in my spare time. Only if I can't figure out how to take them apart do they go into a separate box by themselves.