inspectorgadget
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- Jul 14, 2012
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- Location
- Indianapolis
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- Whites MXT with 10"DD coil, Sun Ray probe
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Thread Owner
I've found easy to harvest & sell copper in humidifiers & paper shredders
Like the title says I've found easy to remove copper from modern humidifiers & paper shredders that I get for free all the time. Anything that has an electric motor has copper but some are near impossible to get the copper out of or at least not worth the time & effort for the payoff.
But recently I've found some artists will buy this string like copper wire if you can remove it without damaging it which is easy with the shredder motors. The humidifiers have a good amount of this wound up wire that can be removed pretty simply without damaging it if you're careful. I can get $2.50 out of about 1/4 lb (112 grams not weighed in troy) of it which is $10 a pound & of course way above scrap price. I have 1.5 Lbs of it I'm getting ready to take to one of these guys soon. The thinner the copper wire the better they don't want the thicker stuff in the bigger motors that is in any way difficult to bend.
Anyway just something to think about if you're ever scrapping electric motors & you see that the copper or at least some of the copper would be easy to get out it then it can be worth your wild in doing so. This is the stuff I'm talking about.. There are some larger or thicker pieces in there of the type they don't want but I put all my copper in one container till I do something with it.
BTW I get these items free because these scrappers cut the cords off anything electrical that gets near the dumpsters at my favorite auction & if we have room I grab these items to scrap the motors that have way more copper in em than the cords they cut off them have. I've never understood the thinking of a true scrapper type mentality. They will cut the cord off of a $200 antique item for 7 cents of scrap, it's pure madness I tell ya.
Like the title says I've found easy to remove copper from modern humidifiers & paper shredders that I get for free all the time. Anything that has an electric motor has copper but some are near impossible to get the copper out of or at least not worth the time & effort for the payoff.
But recently I've found some artists will buy this string like copper wire if you can remove it without damaging it which is easy with the shredder motors. The humidifiers have a good amount of this wound up wire that can be removed pretty simply without damaging it if you're careful. I can get $2.50 out of about 1/4 lb (112 grams not weighed in troy) of it which is $10 a pound & of course way above scrap price. I have 1.5 Lbs of it I'm getting ready to take to one of these guys soon. The thinner the copper wire the better they don't want the thicker stuff in the bigger motors that is in any way difficult to bend.
Anyway just something to think about if you're ever scrapping electric motors & you see that the copper or at least some of the copper would be easy to get out it then it can be worth your wild in doing so. This is the stuff I'm talking about.. There are some larger or thicker pieces in there of the type they don't want but I put all my copper in one container till I do something with it.
BTW I get these items free because these scrappers cut the cords off anything electrical that gets near the dumpsters at my favorite auction & if we have room I grab these items to scrap the motors that have way more copper in em than the cords they cut off them have. I've never understood the thinking of a true scrapper type mentality. They will cut the cord off of a $200 antique item for 7 cents of scrap, it's pure madness I tell ya.
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