Not so new of a Idea

I know our yards ships the electric motors off as is.

Originally Posted by tjlock

I know our yards ships the electric motors off as is.

Yes, you're right they do. I think Kris Kringle's point is that instead of the yard paying to have the motors shipped off, you could separate them and sell the materials.

I feel as though this would not be worth it. Simply because it is almost not worth breaking apart motors when you get them for free. You need to think of it like this:

You will be paying at least $.40-$.50 per pound for these motors. The yard will not sell them to you for less than they can sell them elsewhere, and $.40 sounds about right. So 10 pounds of motors costs $4.50. you break them into components; 3lbs of cast, 1 pound of copper, 6 lbs of steel.

So you make $3.00 from copper, $1.50 from cast, and $.60 from steel = $5.10. So for every 10 pounds of motors you are making 60 cents. If it takes you 5 minutes to break the motor apart, then your making ~$7 dollars per hour, or minimum wage.

Now that is assuming all motors have cast and a whole pound of copper. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Also, it would most likely take you over 5 minutes to break a motor like that apart.

I definitely like the idea! I just don't know how practical it is. If I were to do it, I would save all of my stuff; I'd save the copper, aluminum, and steel, and sell them directly to the refinery myself. This would make me about 25% more (I'm guessing).

It would be good if you could find some of the more copper rich motors. But I doubt the yard would let you pull all of their "good" motors out of their pile.

I have a few motors sitting around that appear they would crush fairly easy under a hydraulic ram. I got 2 log splitters a few weeks ago that the engines have seized on. When the weather warms up I'll put an engine on to see what it can crush.

As for asking yards if I can buy motors, I have not done so, but I did ask about buying insulated wire, and they said it would be $3.50 a lb.

At the time I asked they were paying $1.80/lb stripped.

Paying $3.50 to get $1.80 is what the government would do, not me.

I wonder what my scrap yard would sell me the insulated wire for. They only buy it for .40, so if they sold it for .80, might not be to bad, but most of the weight would be in the insulation, for a good wire. I would guess what, 60% insulation, so if that is the case, 10 pounds of wire costing $8. If that be the case, 6 pounds would be nothing and get 4 lbs of copper..then you make $12. Eh, if I had nothing better to do maybe, but only looking at a $4 profit doesn't do it for me if I have to spend money to get it.

I should weigh my insulation, but I don't think it would be that high of a percentage. This was back when I scrapped over 1,000 pounds of copper and wanted to find more to strip. Since then I've found it's a real ***** to find any copper worth stripping. I happened upon a gov auction of some MCM 444.4 wire which is about an inch thick, and about 1.82 lbs per foot. Doubt I'll ever happen upon a find like that again.

Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

I should weigh my insulation, but I don't think it would be that high of a percentage. This was back when I scrapped over 1,000 pounds of copper and wanted to find more to strip. Since then I've found it's a real ***** to find any copper worth stripping. I happened upon a gov auction of some MCM 444.4 wire which is about an inch thick, and about 1.82 lbs per foot. Doubt I'll ever happen upon a find like that again.

My yard's prices are great from the sound of what you guys are paying. I'm getting $2.00/lbs for my high grade wire, and that pretty much makes stripping it a complete waste of time, because they buy the stripped copper at $3.25/lbs. so for every pound of wire I strip I make maybe $.30. I just feel like my time could be better invested in other things.

For the most part, that is my take. If I have nothing to do, I will go work on small items that won't yield a whole lot of stuff. I have a bucket with parts in it that wires hook into that have brass and copper connectors. They are small and would take a lot to make a pound, but with it being cold and not a lot to do in this town, I will do a few here and there. Mainly though, I stick to stripping wire. Alone time, music, and a pile of wire is sorta peaceful after a day at work where I have to deal with way to much BS.

Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

Well I for one don't scrap and think of it as how much I would be making a Hour. If I wanted to think of how much I was making Hourly I would go get a Regular job Again. So therefore I will continue Buying starters and removing 4 Bolts and removing the copper and seperating the metals to me it is worth it.

But thats just my Take on it. To each their own

You can do whatever you want, I don't judge. I was just giving an honest answer. You did post this in the "Let's talk business" sub forum, and the difference between a scrap metal business and a scrap metal hobby is finding the best way to spend your time.

Granted, I don't always base my decision on what will make me the most money per hour, I usually base it on what would make me the most money. But because time is a very valuable resource, dollars per hour is a **** good indicator.

Have you tried to work out how much money you make per starter? What do you pay for them? What quantities of metal do you pull out of them? Maybe it is a great way to make money!

My scrap yard does this thing where you weigh your empty truck coming in, take anything you want out of the mixed scrap pile, then you weigh out, and pay x-amount per 100lbs. Last time I asked, it was $25per 100lbs to remove scrap.

Sweet deal Mick.

the manager at my yard said that electric motors were about (or maybe up to) 30% copper.

I don't worry too much about what I'm a making hourly, because I'm making more than I would sitting there waiting for the phone to ring, and as long as I'm making more money off of something I already had I consider that a positive.

Originally Posted by tjlock

I wonder what my scrap yard would sell me the insulated wire for. They only buy it for .40, so if they sold it for .80, might not be to bad, but most of the weight would be in the insulation, for a good wire. I would guess what, 60% insulation, so if that is the case, 10 pounds of wire costing $8. If that be the case, 6 pounds would be nothing and get 4 lbs of copper..then you make $12. Eh, if I had nothing better to do maybe, but only looking at a $4 profit doesn't do it for me if I have to spend money to get it.

Spend $8 and make $12?? Helluva deal! That's 50% profit on every dollar you spend. If you bought $200 worth of wire and processed it and resold it, you'd take home $300.

I've been eyeing these lately:


( the strippers..err machines)

Originally Posted by Focker

Yeah but how much does that machine cost i bet its alot.Also will scrap places buy #1 granulated copper?

The granulators are between 50 and 60 thousand dollars.They can process up to 500lbs per hour..If u have granulated copper you can go direct to a foundry...Its worth much more! I have seen a granulator that process`s 3 to 4 thousand lbs per hour and it was several million.