microwave transformers!!

So I have searched and seen no mention of this... Yesterday I broke down my second microwave..the first time I sold the transformer as a whole and at .15 a pound it kinda hurt to set down for a day or two!!

Yesterday I cut the copper loops and used a punch to remove the wire..



My question thought is has any one ever experienced copper coated aluminum wire in newer microwaves?

The smaller wire was solid copper, but the bigger seems to be copper over aluminum, if so how do you sell it?

ANy transformer or electric motor has a chance of being alluminum wire. Always scratch the wire firs tto see if its copper or now. If its not throw it in your motor bucket.

defiantly sell it with the motors

if you do want to strip them you can make a bin of MLC (mixed low copper) but i have had a guy at the scrap yard not know what to do with the wire so now i make sure i put a lot of mixed aluminum in the bin.

and do not cut the wire out of a transformer it takes too long. trying not to sound like a link spammer but i have a video where i bust open a microwave transformer with a hatchet (my favorite tool)



it is the fastest way i found to getting the copper out

Thanks I will have to check that link. out...

Time wise it wasn't bad maybe 10 mis total to clean the wife out, until I realised the larger wire was aluminum!!! Oh well guess ill just consider that my scrappin lesson for the week!

I love that video

I tried breaking the transformer your way today, I won't go back to the way I did it before. Many thanks for that Jack, it has saved me a lot of time and more so in the future.

Most are copper windings, the few I have found aluminium windings in were the real cheap sort made in the last 3 years & 'combination ovens' where they were a microwave & grill/oven at the same time.

To get the winding off, put it in a vise, loosely, with the W shape pointed upwards & the copper windings sitting on the vise jaws.
Then, with ear muffs & glasses use a hammer & a steel punch (you can use a electric motor shaft) punch the middle of the E with the punch & drive the laminations down & out.
Most of the time you try & get most of them down before just punching a peice the width of the punch, after that the rest of the E's fall out.

Theres 2 little metal laminations & a red fiber covered copper wire loop too.
Don't try & burn that off, it won't burn.

Now you have the 2 copper coils, use a pair of pliers & peel off one connector tab & pull the wire out, unwind that & it will cut thru the insulation & tear the varnish covered cardboard off.
Snip the clip off & break & rip the rest of the insulation off, use glasses here as the stuff will get in your eyes all the time.
Don't break the coil apart, just get rid of the loose stuff & chip the varnish off.

sell them with motors and be done!

$5 Copper & you get a nice chunk of iron with it? I'd scrap it for all the copper its worth.
(wire & magnatron & fan motor = 150gms+)

holy crap I need a hatchet...

Originally Posted by injunjoe

Clean the wife out? Oh I see you meant wire. Had me thinking there!

LOL, yeah my phone thinks it is smarter than I am some times, always tryin to correct my spelling!

I dont use my hatchet nearly enough!! now I cant wait to find another microwave lol

Originally Posted by GeorgeB

I know the next purchased item at walmart or home depot will be, a hatchet. I saw another video on youtube a few weeks back, but that guy made the process of cutting the copper from the transformer, so hard.

Was it Flip Flop? That's Dee's name for the kid.

If they were ALL that easy it'd be nice......but all transformers are not created equal....

Yeah, there's Flip Flop and Redneck Flip Flop.....examples of how NOT to dismantle microwaves and AC's and how NOT to dress while doing it. No humor here though....these guys are so serious it makes you want to cry. (sorry, I'm not more computer savy, or I'd tack on the web site for those who haven't seen them yet...flip flop has been listed several times.)

I gotcha covered Dee. Here's Flip Flop.