Annybody wanna go to the scrap yard?

[digger242j]

Ok, how would you guys handle this? It's a good sized electric motor I just happened to dig up. Would you try and take it apart to salvage the copper and iron seperately, or just dump it in the truck and see what they'll pay for it as is? Your guess is as good as mine as to how much it weighs in total, and I don't have a clue as to what portion would be copper and what would be iron. If you think it's worth trying to get it apart, how would you go about it?

The Pepsi can was put in the picture just to give an idea of how big it is.

[PAYTON]

2 words

plazma cutter

or

torch



cut it apart

[Steve Frazier]

Several years ago I took a good sized motor to the scrap yard thinking it would be worth something. The guy at the scale just laughed at me (funny how often they do that:confused: ) and said the copper wasn't worth him paying a guy to seperate it. I don't know if market prices have changed much since then, but I don't think I'd put a lot of effort in it.

[mert0714]

Maybe a call to a local electric motor company can give some information towards the actual weight (dimensions described might get them to give you a close total weight) and possible weights of copper/steel. Would be nice if you could find a stamped ID of some sort but it looks a little rough to find that. That could help to find out some info. Also a quick call to the scrap yard might get you their prices. From that you might be able to guess whether it is worth even pursuing any further. My guess is 3/4 of it is steel and at most 1/4 copper. My guess is that it is not worth taking apart, but I have no first hand knowledge. Good luck!

[donlang]

only an operator would worry about a piece of junk like that old motor...........or the blue bottle or old broken milk bottle.....

I resemble that remark! ***

[PAYTON]

looking closer at the pic it appears the motors been in a fire.. if thats the case id probally say scrap it.. copper will burn pretty easy and wouldnt it suck to get iot all tore apart to find the copper burnt..

[BRL]

I wouldn't waste another thought about it, you will get the same response that Steve got when you get it to the scrap yard separated. Not worth the effort for a buck or 2 IMO. I used to work for an electrical contractor & would save scrap copper for a few extra bucks. Took a whole lot of copper to make a few bucks, and I certainly didn't put any kind of effort into it like you are considering. I have heard prices are even lower than when I used to that. Maybe that's not the case though??

[Dusty]

just trash:(

[digger242j]

Well, it sat around until this afternoon. I put a chain on it and used the backhoe to put it in the pickup truck. I still don't know whether it would have been worth trying to get it apart to sell the copper and iron seperately, but just as it looks in the picture it weighed in at 860 lbs.

The yard slip lists it as "scrap iron".

[BKrois]

Did you get any money for it?

[digger242j]

Did you get any money for it?

Just about enough for breakfast with 3 of my kids, and the gas it cost me to go meet them there. (Get an ex-wife someday, and you'll understand...)

[BRL]

We recently discussed the quickly & steeply rising prices for steel at another forum, and the consequent rise in scrap prices. When you first started this thread you probably wouldn't have gotten enough for the gas too ;)

There was a story in our news yesterday about a sudden noticible rise in guard rail thefts from NJ highways. Seems the scrap price for the aluminum has gotten high enough to make that worth the effort. :yup