How much can you make scrapping electric motors? (A lot).

it took me two days to reduce 3060lbs of motors into 2740lbs of steel, 240lbs of #2 copper, and 80lbs of cast aluminum.

[@gregott2011]

I just found your channel and am very impressed at how hard you work to produce some very interesting content! When I was a kid, a long time ago, my friends and I would ride our bikes around and pick up empty pop bottles that people threw out along the road. They had a 2 cent deposit value when returned to a grocery store or gas station. That's not much for one, but we made enough to keep us supplied with Coke or Sun Drop all summer. Your effort and persistence are key to your success. Stay safe and keep up the good work.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks for the kind words! If you know what sundrop is you may not be very far from me haha.

[@gregott2011]

@@AlwaysBored123 I grew up in central PA in a town 40 miles south of Penn State called Orbisonia. I loved my Sundrop. Living near Staunton, VA now.

[@garethmccullough390]

Love this video great detail from start to finish. Love the day turned to night when you were burning the casings off, and damn !! That guillotine !! Amazing ! 😻

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thank you!

[@Letsdoittv67]

I used to just scrap big items like fridges washing machines etc, now I’m watching your channel (and a few others) getting the knowledge down. Appreciate the video very educational!

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks! I definitely recommend anything having to do with copper bearing scrap materials like wire, motors, electrical gear, HVAC, etc. You will make much more money with much less work. The downside being it usually requires some initial investment unlike with ferrous scrap. Good luck!

[@ricardoderobles9494]

I do the same thing cleaning out the electronic motor. But I like you set up. Cool. From Houston Texas.

[@jesseelder8606]

I also just found your channel. Man you do some awesome stuff!!

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thank you glad you like it!

[@lewiemcneely9143]

All I can say is you sure earned it nd more! BLESSINGS!

[@redrum2612]

Awesome video! That's one heck of a piece of machinery you've got there too! 🧲 ♻️ ✌️

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks much!

[@redrum2612]

@@AlwaysBored123 Youre welcome

[@scrapitjc]

Great breakdown video and estimated cost for process and recovery. All around great job.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks glad you liked it.

[@Justicesdad]

You + respirator = 🥇

[@AlanBurnham]

Nice to see you finally over 1k subscribers!

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks I'm excited about it!

[@testy518]

All the electric motors have copper armatures in them. Copper's worth a lot of money!!

[@theEmpireofdirt]

I buy AC motors because they’re all the same size. The compressor windings are mostly the same size 2 I always figured $1000 a day you can buy these motors from AC companies that scrap their own units if you go around and ask most of them sell them whole to the scrap yard so you can buy them for a decent deal. And it’s a fairly steady supply I’m in Florida but I typically pay two dollars for a fan motor and five dollars for a compressor i pay by the piece. Because it’s simpler.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks very much for the info. Having a homogeneous motor supply is a big advantage. I also noticed the air con motors were the easiest to process. Both the fan and compressor motors stripped, cut, and pulled quicker and easier than the others. Although the compressor casings were a challenge for me.

[@bigcountryscrapper6885]

New friend here great work and video

[@scraprodriguez]

AWESOME! 🤙🏼

[@ScrapFatherScrapSon]

Can’t believe you only have 800 subscribers! You’ve got some awesome setup there! How did you get the Birds Eye view at the scrap yard? Drone?

[@AlwaysBored123]

Hey thanks that means a lot! Yes that was shot with a DJI Mini 3 Pro set on 1080p 60fps I believe.

[@katough]

You built the perfect electric motor tear down station and you're 'checking to see if it's worth it"

[@AlwaysBored123]

Idk about perfect but it was worth it.

[@peterforan5982]

Impressive video 👍

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thank you

[@nachostuff]

Who built your splitter/puller? I would love to have something like that. Makes short work of the project.

[@AlwaysBored123]

I did. I showed some details here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmcqnSXrMiKqZo

[@michaelwillcutt2619]

Plasma in scraping is best tool ever I’ve had mine since the early nineties

[@ScorpionMetals]

Good video

[@EconomicBearish]

pretty cool that guillotine for cutting steel and take out the copper.

[@adamdannenhauer5464]

Would you share your plans for your stator cutter and puller. And everything you need to make it.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Sorry there are no plans to speak of I just kinda built it as I went along. But if you watch this video I discuss it a bit starting at 8:14 kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmcqnSXrMiKqZo

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

I took a bunch of old Motors to a flea market, sold them all in a half a day, people love those old motors for their circular saws and whatever else , drill presses. If they work don't scrap them.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Yeah I recently got another much smaller load of small motors like this. They were all three phase but nearly all of them worked so I sold them for a little over scrap value. Far less work doing that than cutting them up.

[@zube6996]

Just came across your channel. Great content. A couple of questions. Did you have to pay anything to get the motors? And did you take into account the time collecting the motors and time you spent at scrap yard? Again a great video. I have subscribed.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Yes I paid 17 cents/lb for those motors. That was a bit too much but I paid it because I was excited to try this out lol. I only accounted for time spent tearing them down. I think I spent about 6 additional hours getting them (again way too long). And I think that trip to the scrap yard took about an hour and a half in total. Thanks for watching!

[@dansw0rkshop]

@@AlwaysBored123 The scrap yard near me won't sell anything it seems. :(

[@AlwaysBored123]

@@dansw0rkshop Most scrapyards won't sell to the public. You have to hunt around to find one that does. I'm fortune to have two nearby that sell stuff and even luckier that one of them deals largely in salvaged structural steel for cheap.

[@nickimpala8886]

Very safe or terrifying lol sweet man wish i had the time and skill and build something like that

[@AlwaysBored123]

Haha thanks. It's really not as hard as it looks.

[@waseemahmed8489]

Nice thanks

[@cccorvette]

Did you include the initial cost of the motors in you calculations? Very interesting video.

[@AlwaysBored123]

No. The initial price for the motors, and all the other prices, will be different for everyone. I just wanted to give an example of the value increase one could realize in my particular market. I actually paid 17 cents per pound for those motors so I made about 10% less than what I said in the video. The main point is the copper content of an average motor, as that's the only thing that will be more or less constant for everyone.

[@ScrappingwithGrandpa]

Where did you get that machine that you’re cutting the motors in half with or did you build it?

[@ScrappingwithGrandpa]

New sub

[@AlwaysBored123]

I did build it. There's a video about it here, kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmcqnSXrMiKqZo

[@AlwaysBored123]

@@ScrappingwithGrandpa Thanks!

[@WINPHCHANNEL]

I support your channel more learning ...

[@msafilakhani5304]

I want full video of that stator cutting matching...btw loved your video

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks. This video has some more information on it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmcqnSXrMiKqZo

[@msafilakhani5304]

@@AlwaysBored123 thank you ❤️

[@steveciarico9824]

If you scrap ac compressors... The number of pounds of copper by weight is 0.0644744

[@XM202LadyTrucker]

I AM IN L❤VE!!!!! With your guillotine. 🥰😍😘 Springs my dear to stabilize the extra movement? Leaf springs on the bottom, "regular" springs like you see on shocks up top, and please no side to side movements or your poor hydraulic arm will bend and make you 😢.

[@AlwaysBored123]

That's an interesting idea...

[@stjimtemyth995]

thanks interesting gilotine machine, and nice new use for the plasma ,looks like you nedd to make the blade travel deeper either by raising your v base or cutting a slot for the blade to pass into.also can you use the hydralic system to smash the cast iron cases.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks. Yeah either making a slot for the blade to fit into or just getting it closer the the anvil would help it cut completely through every time. You probably could crush through the cast iron cases with the press but those motors were so heavy it was easier to just leave them where they were and smash them with a hammer lol.

[@williamwahlert8414]

nice copper motor puller do you have a video of the build or a materials list?

[@AlwaysBored123]

Yes you can see more info on it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmcqnSXrMiKqZo

[@watahyahknow]

for getting the cores out of the cast iron casings , might need to use the hudraulic ram and push the core out through one of the ends after getting the end casings off , probably the fastest way to do it though those motors are pretty heavy , maibe mount a ram sideways on the table so you can roll the motor in between the ram and anvil set at an universal height (use blocks to make the ram put force across the centerpiece of the motor as for cutting the cores in half : it might help if you have a slit in the anvil for the knife in the hydraulic press to pass through should make it eazier to cut all the way through the tin pack friend of mine was taking apart smaller motors cutting them in half with a grinder and used a piece of roundbar to hammer the copper out one groove at a time , did some time calculations and basicly he wouldve made more money for the time and materials spend if he took on a paper route , that pulling device to get the copper out is a huge time saver youre calculation (and percentage) should make it viable to buy the complete motors from other (lazy) scrappers and have them delivered to you , and take them apart for the profit , make it interesting for them by paying a little over the price the yard pays them yes the margin is smaller but you make up for that in saving fuel running aroun d picking those motors up where you can find them theres someone i know that buys central heating stuff (often demo the central heating in place and clean the space up as part of the deal) he makes a pretty good living of it , doesnt pay a lot of taxes as most of the income from scrap cannot be traced too well (even though the taxman and the unimployment agency both are known to check the licence plates on cars bringing scrap to the yard ) he has a few people working for him doing the heavy lifting and stuff getting payed under the table he going to get caught one of these days but untill then hes fat and happy

[@AlwaysBored123]

The issue I have found with pressing the stators out of the housings is that it's very easy to deform them in the process and then they won't cut worth a darn in the guillotine. To do it right you would really need to make custom tooling for the particular motor you want to scrap and that's not feasible unless they're all the exact same. A lot of those motors actually came from a scrapper friend of mine. I should hit him up and see if he has any more saved up. There's good money in HVAC scrap for sure. That's funny about your friend. Tell him if he starts grossing enough to file a return but just claim everything he spends money on as a business expense and then he won't have to pay hardly anything in taxes. That's how big businesses do it!

[@ilikechamp3086]

hello I've been collecting a lot of motors. Plasma work efficiency is good

[@Utubeisazzho]

Try a log splitter for the cast ones rather than beating them with a hammer

[@frerecampbell9291]

I've subscribed, I was hoping to see you extract the copper wire after cutting the stator in half. Thanks for sharing.

[@sodatab_]

An air hammer with chisel end makes quick work of this part

[@nightscrapperuk13]

the plasma cutter is ok for sealed units i.e fridge or ac compressors. I would of used a 9inch grinder to cut through all the outer casings would of saved you time ,great machine you have to split the stators in half and I liked the winding puller ,how did you get the camera angle looking down at you that was great and great video very educational and informative, new subscriber here from England and I hope you get some more electric moters ,awesome payout for your time and effort 👍

[@AlwaysBored123]

I just set the camera on top of a step ladder lol. Yeah next time I'll try using a bigger better grinder on some cases and see how it compares to the plasma. Thanks for watching!

[@BobTheBreaker9]

That is good money but the gas money to aquire all that is probably a killer

[@AlwaysBored123]

I figure I probably spent about $50-$70 in fuel going to get them. Most of them came from one place.

[@philipromeo8028]

Nice job

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks.

[@grog2534]

Do you but the motors off the scrapyard and then sell the scrap back to the same yard or do you sorce them some other way.

[@AlwaysBored123]

I have not bought any from the scrapyard I doubt that would be very profitable. I just get them here and there from random people who have them saved up usually.

[@danieldecoteau8879]

Yo nice press,cut some some slots in the holding plates for the blade to pass all the way threw,but yo nice

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thanks.

[@CanadianTreasureHunter]

Big cast motors are mostly iron & If you buy the steel motors out of HVAC or small cast motors have the best yield for copper, Your copper weight was low, They might of docked you for all the plastic with your copper & you lost at least 40 pounds from the big scale

[@AlwaysBored123]

Very interesting. It did seem like the smaller motors had a higher percentage of copper but that was just intuition. I didn't actually measure anything individually. And yeah they got one over on me when I let them weigh it on the truck scale. I actually was about to unload the copper at the small scale and the guy gave me some bs about it only being good to like 100lbs. Next time I'll get a more accurate weight. They didn't say anything about the plastic though.

[@BoostedMooseGarage]

how has the ar400 plate been working have you changed it or broke it yet how many more motors have you ripped apart not part of the video?

[@AlwaysBored123]

I actually have not processed any more since making that video. I did get a small load in but nearly all of them worked so I just sold them complete to people. If/when I do another batch I will make an update video.

[@joesask857]

thanks man

[@AlwaysBored123]

Thank you.

[@moondog4313]

Just wondering but did you calculate the gas for the plasma and electricity?

[@AlwaysBored123]

No I didn't. I used compressed air for the plasma.

[@HayNillesen-no3ig]

Plasma comes with electricity

[@bigcountryscrapper6885]

I really would like to build that copper winding puller would make my life so much easyer lol

[@AlwaysBored123]

The puller was honestly super easy to make. Only thing I would do different is use roller chain to keep the chains from tangling up which is a slight problem I have with it. One thing that helps quite a bit is warming the stater halves up with something to soften the coating on the windings. I did this on about the coldest day of winter so that was definitely working against me lol.

[@bigcountryscrapper6885]

@@AlwaysBored123 thanks for the info

[@thesheff79]

Really love your setup. I scrap also, just started. My scrap channel is ( copper eye joe)

[@wesley00042]

Can you make that blade hotswappable with a large essentially nut splitter tool?

[@AlwaysBored123]

I'm not sure. That AR400 is definitely not hard enough to cut a steel nut.

[@wesley00042]

@@AlwaysBored123 I was thinking for cracking those cast iron motor cases

[@AlwaysBored123]

@@wesley00042 Oh yeah I'm sure something could be rigged up like that. I'll definitely try it if I get more cast iron ones.

[@sk31370n]

my local scrappies in euroland currently pay 2.1 times more for electric motors and copper 2 is a bit cheaper which means here its almost 0 profit to do what you did.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Yeah you would be better off selling them whole in that case.

[@user-xy7go3lt7f]

Where do you obtain these items ?

[@AlwaysBored123]

Facebook marketplace the vast majority of the time.

[@raymondmoore6049]

You said if you ran across a good deal on more of the motors? How much did it cost you to grab those motors in this video and what does that make your hourly rate after you include the cost of the motors?

[@AlwaysBored123]

I honestly do not remember. My hourly rate came out to a little bit less than I said it did I think. The important part is the breakdown by weight. Call around to some scrapyards to see what they're paying and you can get a good idea of what you could make per hour doing this.

[@raymondmoore6049]

@@AlwaysBored123 appreciate it, I’ve been trying to find places to buy bulk motors/compressors on the cheap cheap so I can do this. Is there a percentage I should shoot for? Say if my scrap price is .30 cents/lb for scrap motors, maybe offer them 10-15% of that?

[@AlwaysBored123]

@@raymondmoore6049 I'd be very surprised if anyone with scrap motors would sell them for 10-15% of what they're worth but if you can get them that cheap go for it lol. It's more likely you will have to pay scrap price, or a little less, and make your money by tearing them down like I did in the vid. HVAC repair, electric motor shops, and industrial maintenance contractors are where I'd start if I was looking for a steady supply of motors. You can also offer to buy motors from other scrapers that otherwise turn them in whole. Good luck!

[@raymondmoore6049]

@@AlwaysBored123 really do appreciate the information

[@Just_Chuck_It]

How much did the motors cost to acquire? I am assuming you bought them from the scrap yard as motors. So, once you subtract the cost of the raw motors what is your true net profit? The way I have found to best profit from motors is to collect them via the scrap pickup process. Every appliance has a motor some of them can be quite large. I scrap everything out when I process my scrap load. If I pickup 6 washer dryer combos I dismantle them and separate out the steel, wire, aluminum, and motors. Motors go into a bin. When the bin is full I process. Through the process of scrapping I find I can make about $800 - $1000 per week (depending on my level of commitment and availability of scrap) with a once a month cash in of copper windings and insulated copper wire. But, there is no way I would pay for scrap to break down. Because if you paid $600 for that like if motors, there went your profit. You basically broke even with your time and use of resources (fuel, electricity, cutting discs, ECT. ).

[@AlwaysBored123]

I want to say I paid about $350 for those motors but I cannot remember tbh. I'm sure the real number is buried here in the comments somewhere. The vast majority of them came from a defunct bowling alley. They were the motors used to run the pinsetters and ball returns. I didn't buy any from the scrapyard. That would probably cost too much to make this worthwhile. In my experience appliance motors usually have aluminum windings which aren't worth processing at all. But not always. I used to be totally against paying for scrap too. But once you see the profit you can make on copper-bearing materials I bet you'll change your mind. Just don't pay more than a scrapyard would and you'll be fine.

[@garrettlee4293]

i need that chopper to show my daughters dates what will happen if they hurt her feelings but damn it i would love to have a few of those motors

[@AlwaysBored123]

Gotta love copper-bearing scrap. Just have to keep looking and you'll find it before long.

[@Metalscrapm]

Hello, what is the price of el motors? Lb/kg and car generators scrap? Maybe you know trusted whosale?

[@bradleyshimels3253]

I see a greener planet !

[@strydyrhellzrydyr1345]

I think copper.. is like 3.60 a pound where I am.. an aluminum.. just went down from .45 a pound.. to .40. What was your aluminum

[@AlwaysBored123]

Don't remember exactly but I think cast aluminum was 40 cents/lb and irony aluminum was 15 cents/lb.

[@chrisbullen4340]

I’d love to build the splitter and puller any chance you could sell me and other subscribers plans to build them Kind regards Chris

[@AlwaysBored123]

Sorry but I really don't have any plans and honestly wouldn't know how to make them. I'd be happy to answer any specific questions you have about them though.

[@PatNosack]

Just have to say when you have that many, you could just take them in as is and you'd make out.

[@ratrod-oj9ji]

Next time save them you can make other things with them if they still work and sell them for more money than what you would get for scraping them

[@AlwaysBored123]

You would think that but the guy I got them from tried to sell them for months with no success. Most of them were fractional horsepower and/or three phase making them kinda useless. I did save a few that looked good though.

[@ScrappingWithDave]

This is the kind of guy you simply don't f*ck with...

[@michaelwillcutt2619]

I wouldn’t get number two because all the plastic pieces in your scrap

[@AlwaysBored123]

Yeah some yards will complain about that. I just go to ones that don't.

[@D4m4g3d]

i wouldnt even know where to get junk electric motors.

[@AlwaysBored123]

They're not the easiest things to find in large quantities.

[@sidschwan8031]

Hi im looking at the barrel and it was 95 percent full that should have been at least 380 lbs you got ripped off and the big unit you got in Copper, i scraped 3 motors and had 40 lbs of copper #2

[@frerecampbell9291]

I even slowed the playback speed down to minimum, but still too fast.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Check out this video it shows that part in more detail. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmcqnSXrMiKqZo

[@monicakritner8577]

So in reality you actually did it the hard way also because I watched the entire show I never saw you use the plasma cutter again

[@AlwaysBored123]

Huh? I used the plasma on any motor that had a sheet metal casing. The cast iron cases I cut with a grinder and/or smashed off with a hammer. It's not very obvious on the timelapse though.

[@papermaker85]

Noone has that many motors laying around

[@shaggiedog1]

wow got to buy a $3000 press to do a £$100 lot of motors

[@ryaj2356]

Plasma cutter, $200. Grinder and cut off wheels, $30. Hammer, $2. Finding the source, time and or money to buy all that weight, unknown. Hydro press, $1000. Storage, and the time to break down all this…it would take forever to finally make any money. Dont quit your day jobs. You don’t make very much

[@rngn2010]

maybe next time you can negotiate a cheaper cost for the motors.

[@AlwaysBored123]

Yeah I definitely overpaid a bit there but I still made money so it's all good.

[@cecilveley5722]

Learn how to rebuild them cheap resale for cash strapped people

[@renanjacob6791]

So much waste, those motors could be easily repared to sell, with great profity

[@AlwaysBored123]

The previous owner tried to sell them for months but no one wanted them. It's hard to sell a use electric motor just because of how specialized they have to be to fit a particular application.

[@renanjacob6791]

@@AlwaysBored123 ah yeah, I understend, there in USA its not worth, but here in Brazil, any one of those motors Will be easy to sell, the New ones are valued in dólar, so buy from a store its too expensive. Lucky country

[@AlwaysBored123]

@@renanjacob6791 Yes the US is very wasteful unfortunately.

[@wesleystephenson7396]

.15 that is awful

[@Why-mc8vd]

How much you paid for the 3000lb of motors and where you bought them at recycling center?