Is this copper wire? (Photos attached to post)

Okay, I have been saving these darn things up.. not too fond of pulling out the copper from them, but today ended up as the day to get'er done. I sawed opened one end of each so I could pull the wire out, and I noticed that about all of them had silver looking insides in the wires. Does that mean these are not made with copper wire? The outsides of the wires look like copper, but the insides are silver. Is this aluminum wire? Here are my photos:

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...psxd8w6iv9.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...pscsg1umnk.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...psva8z9gsq.jpg

Thanks for advice!

Those are copper
the outside is tarnished or has a varnish on it.
the fresh cut is the true color but sometimes reflects light to look silver, sometimes it's hard to tell on those smaller wires.
here is an example of AL next to copper
[IMG]http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/...psc4562d25.jpg[/IMG]
If I ever run into this I scratch / scuff on the side of the wire..a little more surface area to tell what color it is.

The cut copper colored windings are copper and the aluminum colored windings are aluminum. Separate and organize.

Its pretty rare to find a mix of Coipper and Ali wire in one motor.

Yep the redder wires Copper and the silver coloured wire is Aluminium.

If you cut the loops of wire flush with the end of the Iron core it makes it easyer to pull out.
You can use a largish angle grinder or a carpenters chisel to cut the end of the loops off.

You will mostly find Aluminium wired motors in clothes driers. It turns up in microwave transformers, CRT Tv degaussing cables and like you found, electric motors (I tthink the one you have is from a fridge compressor)

These parts you have are a great source of Copper wire. About two pounds of wire, maybe 1Kg.'

Okay well thank you all for your help. I'll start cutting these like NHscrapman showed. I think most of these are aluminum wiring after some side scratch tests (being color blind doesnt make it easy to tell between a copper shine and a silver shine!), which is making me less excited to take them apart, but I'll do it anyway. In the past, I've traded this wire in at my yard as #2 Cu.. opps! lol. Oh well, I figure he is supposed to catch that stuff.

Thanks for the advice.. bummer that this is mostly aluminum.. and microwave transformers are mostly aluminum, too? Wow. This newbie is quickly learning all that's golden is not copper! I trade those heavy transformers at my yard with motors. I get 0.10/lb for motors, and only 0.08/lb for ceiling fan motors. Is it hard to dissect one of those microwave transformers? Am I better off just tossing my transformers in with my motors for 0.10/lb? They are heavy sob's, that's for sure.

Okay, check this out: I filled a graduated cylinder with 110 mL of room temperature tap water. I added enough of the wire, pulled from the top right motor in my uppermost photo, to the water in the graduated cylinder until it had risen 10 mL. I dried the wire, and found the wire's mass. The mass was 67.11 grams (used a Scout Pro digital scale suitable up to 400 grams). Using the formula for density D=M/V, this means the density of this unknown wire is 6.71 g/mL... Copper's density is 8.96, so this cant be copper. Aluminum's density is 2.70g/mL. Neither one of these is close to what I measured from the unknown wire .. so what really IS this wire made up of? Zinc has a density of 7.13g/mL, so according to my measures this wire could be zinc. Or an alloy of some sort?

Okay, I know this is too technical, but now that I know this wire is not aluminum and it's not copper, it's got me hooked.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FLScrapperGuy1

Okay, check this out: I filled a graduated cylinder with 110 mL of room temperature tap water. I added enough of the wire, pulled from the top right motor in my uppermost photo, to the water in the graduated cylinder until it had risen 10 mL. I dried the wire, and found the wire's mass. The mass was 67.11 grams (used a Scout Pro digital scale suitable up to 400 grams). Using the formula for density D=M/V, this means the density of this unknown wire is 6.71 g/mL... Copper's density is 8.96, so this cant be copper. Aluminum's density is 2.70g/mL. Neither one of these is close to what I measured from the unknown wire .. so what really IS this wire made up of? Zinc has a density of 7.13g/mL, so according to my measures this wire could be zinc. Or an alloy of some sort?

Okay, I know this is too technical, but now that I know this wire is not aluminum and it's not copper, it's got me hooked.

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I will give you an "A" for effort, but how did you subtract the weight and volume of the varnish and air trapped in the coil windings? Is it possible that could have resulted in a lower density value that would have been computed from a solid block of copper?

Good point.. more work is needed.. I didn't have any air trapped, I don't think, but the varnish - well how do I remove that from 66grams worth of wire? Lol, that's a half days work of sanding. I also have to admit, the wire strands, which were all coiled up, were not completely dry at the time of measure. I think just now the mass dropped to 66.14g. More work is needed for sure. I need a smaller sample size to easily remove varnish, and a way to measure super small changes in water displacement, such as 0.5mL. Or, I could just call this stuff either copper or aluminum and move on with my day!! lol

Also, copper is copper no matter what form, it should have the same density whether solid block or pulled wire.

Your weights are off because it actually is a mix of aluminum and copper, though not enough copper that you'll get anything more than aluminum price for it.

Not sure why people call it varnish, but this might help you.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper...aluminium_wire

As for microwave transformers, I've come across a few where one set of windings is aluminum and the other is copper.

I use a cutoff and score where the weld is, then finish popping it loose with an air chisel. Then set it on the vise and use the air chisel to drive the steel out. I really should make a video of this but I doubt I have enough ambition.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

Your weights are off because it actually is a mix of aluminum and copper, though not enough copper that you'll get anything more than aluminum price for it.

Not sure why people call it varnish, but this might help you.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper...aluminium_wire

As for microwave transformers, I've come across a few where one set of windings is aluminum and the other is copper.

I use a cutoff and score where the weld is, then finish popping it loose with an air chisel. Then set it on the vise and use the air chisel to drive the steel out. I really should make a video of this but I doubt I have enough ambition.

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it's not the wire itself
when making a motor dipping the unit in a vat of varnish is pretty common industry practice
at 3:00
https://youtu.be/bCwu5KPVv54

The one in the upper right of your picture looks like it may be AL
AL windings tend to be thicker, really thin AL wire cannot hold amperage and heat needed for a motor

Interesting.. I don't have air tools or a vice or even a cut off wheel.. just my arms and a really good set of hand tools, and a hack saw. That's my main way to cut metal. I know I should invest. What I have works, just at a much slower pace - and I get a workout!

I sell motors whole $.15 -$.19 lb

Found several aluminum windings in dishwashers too...