Electric motors

Hi have a question about electric motors the strings on the motors in sealed units come off easily with one snip then I can pull it off. The strings on other motors not in oil and exposed to the elements and age they have a resin that makes them not fun to get off. I would like to know how other people get the strings off? I was thinking of using a torch but not sure on that one. I have a ocilator and a sawzall. Thanks. I have 124lbs of fractional motors to do 72lbs of small fan motors and not sure on the 9lb motors maybe 30 or more of those. I only get .15 for electric motors so im looking to get copper price and I have to remove the strings.

Hey Mike,

I hope you and everyone had a good holiday. I've been doing generator stators & rotors lately. They're all dipped in a bucket of varnish and then baked in an oven when they're first made. The idea is to keep all the windings in place when the machine is running. Basically the same idea with electric motors that are varnished. It helps protect the windings.

Got 11 lbs of copper out of an 8 KW home standby generator a couple of days ago. Had one that was 24 lbs once. Most portables are about 7 lbs .... though i'm seeing more & more wound with aluminum these days.

You don't have to worry about the string if it's going as #2 copper. A fussy scale guy might complain about the insulated wires that are held in place by the string. It's easy enough break varnished string by pounding the motor winding with a hammer.

Look at the way that the winding is bent over on the end of the motor. Hit it sideways and bend it up straight. The windings pull out easier if they've been pounded on and loosened up some.

Originally Posted by hills

Hey Mike,

I hope you and everyone had a good holiday. I've been doing generator stators & rotors lately. They're all dipped in a bucket of varnish and then baked in an oven when they're first made. The idea is to keep all the windings in place when the machine is running. Basically the same idea with electric motors that are varnished. It helps protect the windings.

Got 11 lbs of copper out of an 8 KW home standby generator a couple of days ago. Had one that was 24 lbs once. Most portables are about 7 lbs .... though i'm seeing more & more wound with aluminum these days.

You don't have to worry about the string if it's going as #2 copper. A fussy scale guy might complain about the insulated wires that are held in place by the string. It's easy enough break varnished string by pounding the motor winding with a hammer.

Look at the way that the winding is bent over on the end of the motor. Hit it sideways and bend it up straight. The windings pull out easier if they've been pounded on and loosened up some.

Yes good Christmas had ham.generator has a dc motor yea? Those have a higher copper content I read I think then fractionals then regular ac motors dc motors suck. I have two that are 1/10th HP and are wound like a ceiling fan motor but are from a furnace motor so that's different.

All of the motors on the furnace gun ... that i've seen so far ... are aluminum wound. The blower motors on a hot air furnace are quite often aluminum. The DC motors are pretty difficult because of the way the copper is wound on the rotor. Was watching a Russian scrapper on youtube. He threw his rotors in the wood stove once it was nice and hot. He heated em' up and then dropped them into a bucket of water. They were much more cooperative after getting " The Treatment " !

I was banging away on those strings that hold the copper windings together this evening. The hammer worked well enough but then it dawned on me to use the hatchet. The hatchet worked even better. It cut those strings and broke up the varnish like nobody's business.

Originally Posted by hills

All of the motors on the furnace gun ... that i've seen so far ... are aluminum wound. The blower motors on a hot air furnace are quite often aluminum. The DC motors are pretty difficult because of the way the copper is wound on the rotor. Was watching a Russian scrapper on youtube. He threw his rotors in the wood stove once it was nice and hot. He heated em' up and then dropped them into a bucket of water. They were much more cooperative after getting " The Treatment " !

I was banging away on those strings that hold the copper windings together this evening. The hammer worked well enough but then it dawned on me to use the hatchet. The hatchet worked even better. It cut those strings and broke up the varnish like nobody's business.

Hm I have a hatchet thing someone. Made out of a tire iron lol. I sharpened it sort of lol. I mite try that. Or heat them up haha I will keep you posted on the results.

Originally Posted by mike1

Hm I have a hatchet thing someone. Made out of a tire iron lol. I sharpened it sort of lol. I mite try that. Or heat them up haha I will keep you posted on the results.

I'm going the slow route used ocilator to cut strings pull string off take plastic inserts out the ones you can pound down I mean then just pull the copper out unless it doesn't cooperate couple or them didn't I got 8 done so far of the fractional ones I got 12lbs of copper so far. Doing more tomorrow.got a torch in case I need to use it tho. And a bucket of water lol.