Is it even worth it breaking most stuff down?

Read 12 hours on here over the weekend and spent some time checking youtube vids as well for ewaste info.

It seems a lot of people are wasting time breaking stuff down for little to no reward?!

Time is money, right?

Everybody seems to agree that stripping wire is a waste of time. making maybe 2 bucks an hour vs just selling the insulated stuff as well.



An example I saw was breaking down transformer and motors for the copper.

It seems the numbers don't make sense.

Take a motor that weighs say 10 lbs. How much copper is in it?
I get 15 cents for electric motors. And around $1,50 for clean copper.

So even if it takes me 10 minutes and I get 2 (?) lbs of copper I barely made any extra money.

I would get $1.50 for the motor as is.

Now I get $3.00 for the copper, assuming it is 2 lbs, and my metal just dropped to shred which is 2.5 cents = $0.20

So I made an extra $1.70 for 10 minutes of work. Best case scenario. Now that does equal $10.20 an hour and that might be a lot in some parts of the country. Unless your local prices are way different that seems to make no sense to me, especially if I could hit the road for that hour and pick up WAYYYYY more stuff I can make money on by simply flipping it.

Not worth it to me! That's for sure.

Being a really small time E=waste, copper and al U minium 75 yr old scrapper, I strip everything, even when I take a shower

Breaking down scrap is not always about the money. Sometimes items can be salvaged for other projects and it is a great way to learn how things work. That being said, I try to break down one of everything to learn. Very little is broken down after the first time because it is not worth the time and effort.

When prices are good, separating non ferrous from ferrous is not always worth the time for me. The lower the prices, the more that is broken down waiting for prices to rebound.

When I first started scrapping ewaste I broke down everything, even printers, cd rom and floppy drives. I do this part time and because of the amount of scrap I'm getting, things have changed. With printers I pull the board that has the Ethernet plug and any memory and the same with cd roms. 4 screws and pull the board. I don't even bother with the floppy drives. Yeah I know, the floppys have a gold pin connector that some people break off but I don't.
The bigger transformers I get are cut with my band saw. I can make 2 to 3 hundred in a day from the copper I get and I can deal with that.
Business phones are a different story. I get $1.50 a pound for the circuit boards and depending on the phone and the size of the boards it might take 3 boards to make a pound or it might take 12.

Originally Posted by jimicrk

The bigger transformers I get are cut with my band saw. I can make 2 to 3 hundred in a day from the copper I get and I can deal with that.

Would love to know how one goes about acquiring/processing 2 to 3 hundred a day in copper.

I'm still new and still wasting a lot of time breaking things down that don't seem to pay very well. I have found that the few things I have sold on eBay is where I am making the most $$.

Originally Posted by jimicrk

When I first started scrapping ewaste I broke down everything, even printers, cd rom and floppy drives. I do this part time and because of the amount of scrap I'm getting, things have changed. With printers I pull the board that has the Ethernet plug and any memory and the same with cd roms. 4 screws and pull the board. I don't even bother with the floppy drives. Yeah I know, the floppys have a gold pin connector that some people break off but I don't.
The bigger transformers I get are cut with my band saw. I can make 2 to 3 hundred in a day from the copper I get and I can deal with that.
Business phones are a different story. I get $1.50 a pound for the circuit boards and depending on the phone and the size of the boards it might take 3 boards to make a pound or it might take 12.

Check with your yard about floppys, most of them have a copper coil inside and my yard takes them as motors.

Originally Posted by RevenantDusk

Check with your yard about floppys, most of them have a copper coil inside and my yard takes them as motors.

All of the yards around here pay .10 a pound for motors. I check prices several times a week.

I am more a believer in space vs. time on these issues because 24hrs in a day is a lot of time to break things down so theres plenty of time. well take the example of printer for break down since people fringe not cringe fringe as in their skirts (no offense to the ladys) fringe gets all balled up when they think of time breaking down vs. shred pile and there all business plans are all exposed.
printers I could make a living off alone. the space for most is the issue because of plastic and glass for the scanners/ all in ones. that is were breakdown vs. shred comes in and its fine if you don't have the space to break down to make money but check you local area because others do and will offer you much more than shred.
printers are full of goodies.
boards memory and gold pieces of course are there but that's not all and can be the least of all value in the mix.
steel bars and so forth which can be #2 or shred depending on yards. on ebay I sell large flat rate boxes usually get 100-150 in there before it weights out for $30 plus they pay for shipping and I pays fees sure but its fine.

printer heads working also sell well for current or high end models but people use all these for what ever as well which I don't sell a lot non working.
ink of course can be a gold mine but even at 10cents each I get for my overflow is fine. I have a network I use for staples so I do that first but all the rest I sell.

motors, gears, pulleys and belts. all these are gold mines on ebay and for me in a college town with an amazing robotics department its fast sales but even on ebay they sell with in a few days. I sell in various lots and shipping is cheap in lots but people will buy single motors and pay more for shipping than the item at times.

wires, ribbons and connector ends all add up as well. then there is plastic and glass which is the space issue but can be worth as much or more than steel depending on your lower prices right now. glass can be easy to save but plastic needs sort shredded or bailed and it takes a lot to add up but its still money and everywhere as well.
so breaking down really is not about time its space because time can always be utilized by employees who are making you money while you do so as well.