large electric motors - Page 2

your fast mick, you caught my mistake before i could repost and no I'm not sure of the wieght, I'm just quessing and using round numbers to make it easy for me.I'm new to this and the data plate says 150hp and its pretty big

All motors have different amounts of copper in them. Do you even know if they are ac or dc motors? I would think 20 to 25 percent of the total weight should be number one copper and the balance heavy melt steel. Good luck though you are gonna need it everyone sees a motor and thinks they can make a million dollars off it in scrap weight.

Yea I know there is always more to things that first appears.I have been collecting bronze & brass alloys and recovering silver through my job and wanted to gather info on the copper motors before I get into it, thus the questions.I am glad the forum exsist for people like me to gain the insight from people who know what there doing.

yea, my company bought some of the property where the auction will be and I'll see if I can get a look at them today.I am actually going off what a friend told me but I have seen this guys stuff many times before.I quess he's a broker for old lumber mill equipment and its not his first auction but this time he's calling it quits and everything must go.One thing I have noticed,I dont know if its a small town thing but everybody and their brother goes to auctions here and there's not much that goes to waste around here.

I got a look and the motors and the big ones are 100 and 150hp.I dont really know how to read the data plates but the rpms were all under 2000 and 460 or 480v,I cant remember which.There is alot of smaller ones too that I think would be of interest to most people as far as use goes.I'm thinking the scrap yards would have the most interest in the large ones.Anyway it will be interesting to see what they go for and who knows I might even get one.(yea I know,be careful what you wish for)

Hey PWA I would be intro rested in the silver recovery project you have/are doing!?Just noisey sorry!

I am a mechanic in charge of inspection and bearing recondtioning at Anderson Aeromotive where we overhaul large radial aircraft engines.The use of silver in these engines was used on alot of different componets in fairly thick amounts depending on its purpose.Some of the silver is easy to machine off and some is best removed with nitric acid.I have just started using the acid but have been waiting for the weather to warm up.This is best done outside far away from anything painted or that will rust.I took apart a 1/2hp motor today for the heck of it.It went pretty good till I got to what I think is called the stater.Gonna have to do some research on that one,right now I think it should be called the devils seed.I made quite a mess of it.I'm pretty good with radials but when it comes to electrical I'm maxed out at batterys.

Originally Posted by PistoneScrapProcessing

All motors have different amounts of copper in them. Do you even know if they are ac or dc motors? I would think 20 to 25 percent of the total weight should be number one copper and the balance heavy melt steel. Good luck though you are gonna need it everyone sees a motor and thinks they can make a million dollars off it in scrap weight.

Very true statement here. All motors def have a different amount of copper. And due to your description, I see these are AC motors. I my experiences AC's have less copper than DC motors. My guess wouldd be more like 15-20% of the total weight.

After looking at a diagram my trouble was with the armature(rotor) and not the stator,my bad.Even after spliting it to get it off the shaft (which was easy task) there doesnt seem to be any way to pull the windings through.I'm thinking this piece is better left alone or maybe just cut the ends of the windings of and leave it at that.Getting the case off the stator,cutting the windings and pulling through took about 1/2 hr. Very interesting though and who doesnt have fun taking things apart?

Pwa, how about posting a picture of the part you're having problems with.

sorry nto that savy with the computer but I can describe it.After removing the end cap each side has bearing support for the output shaft, this shaft is surrounded with a winding(rotor?) that slides into the (stator?)windings that was attached to the case.I split the case and removed that part then cut the windings on one end and pulled them through the metal ring that retained them.Not wanting to leave any copper behind I tried to get the winding assembly off the output shaft.I had to split that to remove the output shaft but there no way I can see to get the wires pulled through.I dont know if this matters but its a 24v dc from and airplane,perhaps the constuctions is a little different than a standard ac motor?

The problem he is having is with the laquer coating on the stator. Honestly the only way to do it is burn off the coating which is illegal so its a catch 22. You can use a screw driver or something similar and try to beat it out. Good luck though.

sorry if I have my components mixed up but the piece I'm refering to has the fan attached to it on one end

ok, went back to the books(google) it is the armature.The armature is lamanted steel with slots for the wire cute into it and then resealed with what I not sure.

thanks miked, it does'nt seem worth to me either.I did know if there was an easier way to do it or not.I like to think if someone can build it,I can unbuild it.But unless your really curiuos you got to factor time,sweat,blood, and tools.

type O I did'nt know if there was an easier way