Name that stuff

Here are a couple random pictures of stuff I mostly haven't labeled.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14197504@N06/5508017051/



This first picture has a couple items i have questions on. There are a number of the infamous blobs. Silvery and heavy. Also pictured are weights i assume are lead. There is a rectangle near the right of the picture. It looks like an old rag. Its actually some metal i can easily bend or cut. More lead I suppose? The wheel is probably cast aluminium. The small bind of wire at the top is for soldiering. What's that stuff made out of? Next slide please

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14197504@N06/5508616718/

This picture has the fuse box housings. Not sure what it is made of. heavy, non-magnetic... another kind of lead or zinc?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14197504@N06/5508018439/

This flex metal wire... i call it conduit cable... i know can be sold as is... is it worth cutting out the copper wire and if so... how? I have miles of this junk.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14197504@N06/5508618172/

Wire.... the black stuff has thick copper wire in it. thick enough to barely be cuttable with pliers. the black insulation has the consistancy of old electircal type mixed with tar, but i figure it would be worth removing. The white wire in the picture is like heavy duty triple insulated old school electrical line. it would be a pain to cut open and strip completely, but do places buy that stuff without thinking I robbed some utility pole? its all old and beat up, but i have about 30 yards of it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14197504@N06/5508019843/

This last pic is just an old radio, but it brings up a question when it comes to these things. Speakers are heavy. often stuff like this has large amounts of copper and heavy duty magnets. Anything particular to look for? Are the magnets worth anything special? What about motors? Worth cracking open for copper or do they fetch a fair sale by themselves?

Just a few pictures and questions. I'm not trying to sound like a complete idiot, but anyone starting out needs to know this stuff.

First pic does look to have a bunch of lead in it.
2nd non magnetic? Maybe a rare earth material. I am not sure.
3rd if you can pull the copper out if the flex tubing then absolutely yes pull it out. Hopefully you can just bend back the ends and pull the wires.
4th Looks and sounds like degausing cable. That is the stuff that is in the back of a TV stretched over the back side of the picture tube. As far as the "thinking "it is stolen, take several pictures as you have like this showing it all together and being spread around for years. Typically my yard does a buy now ask questions later. They do not worry unless there is a report of something in the area stolen. In which case they now have your fingerprint and driver's license on file.

last. I am not sure on the magnets. There is much talk right now about rare earth materials and I think magnets fall into that category, but that is just a guess. I am going to start researching that a bit better.

I pull a lot of rare earth magnets out of hard drives and I started saving them...we asked the scrap yard and they did a little digging and found that they are not very valuable at all, about the same as tin or steel when being recycled. I did some searching on Ebay and they sell them brand new for like $2.00 so I just started throwing them into my steel pile and moving on.

Yes, but China has a monopoly on rare earth metals and threatens to shut off all exports.

I agree....They are trying to shut off the materials....I have been searching and have yet to find a buyer for the materials as yet though....However, there may be someone out there that is doing so.

Talk to your local schools. Many science teachers use magnets for class room experiments and such. Maybe they would like a cheaper alternative? It might be a way to get in with your school district too. I'd imagine they do a fare amount in data cable, electrical, plumbing, and hvac.

Originally Posted by Saroro

Talk to your local schools. Many science teachers use magnets for class room experiments and such. Maybe they would like a cheaper alternative? It might be a way to get in with your school district too. I'd imagine they do a fare amount in data cable, electrical, plumbing, and hvac.

That is a great suggestion.

Not sure on the fuse box housing, but those bigger fuses themselves, the connectors are copper, and the 2 side caps are brass.

New Life for old scrap

Apparently the neodymium in those rare-earth magnets cant be simply remelted and cast into new magnets, according to this article there are stockpiles all over, of rare-earth magnet waste waiting for someone to figure out something to do with it. The metal is also used in magnesium casting, and accounts for a large % of the castings value. Two smart people figured out u can leach the neodymium from the iron in the magnet scrap directly into molten magnesium, giving what they say the casting industry already wants. So maybe if this process is picked up by companies and made viable, this stuff will have value not just as iron scrap...

Originally Posted by evolx10

New Life for old scrap

Apparently the neodymium in those rare-earth magnets cant be simply remelted and cast into new magnets, according to this article there are stockpiles all over, of rare-earth magnet waste waiting for someone to figure out something to do with it. The metal is also used in magnesium casting, and accounts for a large % of the castings value. Two smart people figured out u can leach the neodymium from the iron in the magnet scrap directly into molten magnesium, giving what they say the casting industry already wants. So maybe if this process is picked up by companies and made viable, this stuff will have value not just as iron scrap...

That article is 10 years old. The japanese already started working on a commercial refining process, because the chinese have cut them off, and it is working for them. They are recycling rare earths out of hybrid cars and hard drives.