1000 lb aluminum porch lift, noob needs advice

so my mom has this 1000 pound aluminum porch lift that was used for wheelchairs to get on the porch. It hasn't been used in years and she wants it gone and she said I could have the money for scrap. Now I have never done anything like this before and I tried calling the local scrap yard for what i should do and the guy wasn't that friendly.

He said if i bring the whole thing in its 10 cents a pound, so about 100 bucks. If i dismantle it its 40 cents a pound for the aluminum and then I would get copper prices for the electric motor.

Ive never scrapped before but im real broke and need the money so should i take my sawz all and tear it down or just be happy to make a 100 bucks[IMG][/IMG]? The guy also said the copper price was 2.40 a pound and i noticed on websites it was at 3.50? whats up with that? If anyone could get back to me i would greatly appreciate it
thanks
sean-

here is a picture to get that im talking about
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=porch...ALRg6xN&zoom=1

Yes, tear it down. The $3.50 for copper you see is what's called the London Metal Exchange and is the high end price for "end user". Think of it this way - If you buy copper for resale to the scrap yard, you'd expect to make a profit. If the scrap yard paid you $3 a pound, you might pay $1.50 a pound. Same with them. They sell to somebody who in turn sells to somebody else.

On the porch lift, look i5t over and plan how and where to cut so as to make as few cuts as possible yet separate the different types of metal. Make separate piles or containers of each. Keep it separated when you haul it in.

You would deff. Make more by breaking it down, BUT here are the problems I see with the rest of your post...

I highly doubt you will get copper price for the electric motor, last time I went to my yard # clean ( free from all insulation ) was some where around $3.00, I got .10 a pound for my motors.

Also I have no idea where your from or about your yard, but imo .40 for clean aluminum ( free from other types of metal..only aluminum) seems just a little low, so does the .10 a pound if you were to take it as is. But like I said I have nothin to base that opinion on other than the prices I get at my yard.

But IMO it would def. Be worth the time to break down.

Also, make sure you have a magnet handy. Use it to make sure you have no steel on your aluminum pieces. If you bring in a hunk of metal and it has something hanging off of it that attracts a magnet, the scrapyard guys will probably catch it and then you will get .10/lb for that piece instead of .50 or whatever.

Also, to get good prices for the copper, it has to be taken off the motor. This is sometimes a pain in the butt, but otherwise if you take the motor in whole you will get .25 a lb for it. Copper prices are falling quickly, as in by the day, so you might want to tear down that motor and go sell the copper first thing if you don't plan on getting the whole thing done quickly.

welcome clip. If a lot of the above advice sounds foreign, then you would really benefit from just scrolling through the threads and reading all you can before you even start. Some won't apply at all to this project of course, but you'll still be learning for future ones, and a LOT of it will apply. Best of luck with it and please keep us posted.

Hey dude welcome to the board, Sorry to say but it's all in the timing.

If at all possible hold out, you have more then scrap there!

It would serve us all if the links you submitted lead us somewhere! All I get is a 401...

Yeah I would put that thing on craigslist and sell it.

If it works(I don't think you said for sure) sell it for it's intended purpose or for parts.

Yeah even if it doesnt work call around to a couple of lift companies and see if they want it for parts. From your description I would think totaly scrapped out youd be looking in the $400 to $600 dollar range for it totaly scrapped out. So if you can get that from a company and only have to use the phone why not.

Are you sure it weights 1000pnds or is that how much it can lift. 1000 pnds of alum is alot.

Good luck

so i did the magnet thing and it turns out its steel, not aluminum. I called the manufacture and they were the ones that said it was made of aluminum, and it was 1000 pounds.

so now my problem is wayyyy compounded now cause i dont think ill get any money.

I live in racine WI, someone was asking about where i was from.

sorry if the link doesnt work, it was just google image for porch wheelchair lift, if you google it yourself you will see what im talking about.

so what do i do guys? is it still worth the trouble considering its steel and not aluminum like i thought? how much per pound is steel?
thanks again for all the help!
sean-

If you scrap it I'd still pull the motor and break it down, plus the wiring, and aluminum if there is any. Being steel you won't get as much, the prices vary from state to state and yard to yard. I think I'd list it on Craigslist and you'll probably get more than scrap price if it still works.

Steel averaging around .10 -.12 a lb. right now.

don't feel bad, clip...we've all been there (and sometimes back again). Can't wait to find out if the dam thing works though. And sure, you'll make some money...just not as much....but you are learning how to make a LOT !!

Please do not post about how you cheated the scrap yard. If we (Buyers and Sellers) work together, everybody can make money. I don't think you'd appreciate reading a post from a yard owner how to rig the scales to cheat the guy with a pickup load of tin or a barrel of copper pipe.

^^????? where did anyone say they cheated a yard?

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Originally Posted by newattitude

^^????? where did anyone say they cheated a yard?

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In the first deleted post and another deleted thread by the same member.

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Originally Posted by newattitude

^^????? where did anyone say they cheated a yard?

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Im going to take a guess and say that he deleted that particular post, and then posted a general message for everyone.

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Originally Posted by newattitude

^^????? where did anyone say they cheated a yard?

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There was some wiseguy on here yesterday that was bragging about cheatin yards...Dee took him out back and his posts were zapped so unless you saw them it would not make sense now.

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Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Im going to take a guess and say that he deleted that particular post, and then posted a general message for everyone.

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Yes, sorry that I didn't know, but apparently my screen shows that posts have been deleted yours doesn't. I keep learning how this moderating works as I go along. In this instance, a new member said he hid wooden doors in metal loads to increase the weight. Then there were several replies to him by other members, basically calling him a cheat. Then the same new member made a new thread about different ways to cheat the scrap yard - one way was to fill appliances with water. I deleted that tread and the posts he made plus the replies. In this thread it says "this post has been deleted by Mick". Now that I know that doesn't show to anyone else I won't be making posts like I did - it was intended as a message to that member. Usually, I send them by Private Message which is what I should have here.