Recycling Electric Motors For Clean Copper

[@ToddDunning]

That magnetic separator does an incredible job

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

I want one of them wow that thing is amazing

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

I have a question if you did not break them up and Hammermill and you pulled the copper wire out the way I would have to do it with that metal be considered heavy steel

[@pacodelapena]

Best done by hand. Takes longer but no mix copper and iron.

[@tracysmith9934]

Yes, my thoughts exactly 😊

[@tinamathews3379]

I'm glad to see that these things are getting recycled. The more that we recycle materials, the less raw resources that we are going to be using.

[@johannesdesloper8434]

Those stators are best to be done by hand I think. Cut 1 side of the coils, tick windings out with a hammer and pin or pull the windings out. Much more energy efficient maybe bit more time consuming but perfectly separated in Iron and copper.

[@aredditor4272]

Some large scale recyclers have machines that do this, but removing even one employee saves a lot of money.

[@FishFind3000]

It’s the time savings that’s where the money adds up

[@djmips]

A problem is that if you get iron in the copper or worse copper in the iron it is almost impossible to separate later.

[@ScrapFatherScrapSon]

Smaller scale yes but I’ll save you some time and energy just wack the hammer on the side and they will come straight off in chickens of 5-10 disks. Of course like you said cut one side off flush and this will save you time. Your welcome!

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

I kind of agree but if this guy has enough of them it might be a good idea to do it this way but if you only have a few it’s probably better to do it your way like I have to do I have been removing all my copper motors and I hopefully can be doing a video on that soon me removing the copper

[@prinzeugenvansovoyen732]

you could use a ventilator to seperate light materials from the copper while it falls down from the conveyer

[@ultimatewestyexperience4345]

It'll burn up in the melt anyway, skim the slag off and you're good.

[@xenaguy01]

No reason to do that, you'll still end up with #2 copper, as #1 copper must be 1/16 or larger wire.

[@jimmierturner3597]

Thanks!

[@kimconley4679]

I'm so glad KZbin suggested one of your videos. I've been binge watching and am now subscribed. I love learning and find your content educational. Good job! Looking forward to seeing more from you.

[@Albrecht8000]

Recyling is sooo important!!! 😀 Give you a "thump up". Greetings from germany

[@jdgower1]

Industrial maintenance, service, and engineering guy here - Yeah, you could easily push a 100 HP 480V 3 Phase motor well over 100 amps, especially in the conditions you seem to be in. Excessive heat build up in the windings (stator) of motors is what kills them, and the rated FLA of a motor is determined by how much heat a motor will produce in the windings while operating in worst case scenarios within design parameters. Typically speaking, the Full Load Amp (F.L.A) rating of a motor is what it is rated to run at on a continuous basis ad infinitum - assuming the ambient temp of the motor is at or below the Max Ambient Temp stated on the name plate (usually around 80C, or about 175F). I might be wrong, but it didn't look like you guys, nor the motor, were in 175F temps out there. :) The motor getting a little above that FLA for relatively short periods of time ( a few seconds to a couple minutes) isn't any kind of a big deal at all. Frankly, you could just see how hard you could push it if you wanted to, and if the motor temp started rising, just back off till it gets stable and reasonable. You said you did ~2500 lbs of stuff an hour running the way you did, I bet a whole dollar you could get that to 4000 pounds/hr with no ill consequences to the motor at all. Just make sure the motor stays cool enough not to be uncomfortable to touch with a bare hand, and let it do it's thing.

[@geoffc1694]

Years ago i used to burn them to remove the shelac coating, use a sthilsaw to cut one end off the motors or transformer copper then just bang the motor and the wire pops out. Did it all by hand, made 1500-2grand a month JUST on these motors. Itd take me friday to sunday one weekend of the month to do that. I think now foundries where i live pay such a high price for these kind motors its not really worth separating them. But weight for weight you get a better return on smaller motors, the CU to iron ratio is higher. Gotta watch out for copper coated ali wire in more modern motors too nowadays

[@frankz1125]

Copper and steel are both up right now where I am. Would be perfect for the times. Looks like it does a great job

[@bobbys405]

This is why you always tip your weighmaster because you can turn #2 into #1 pretty easily! ;)

[@ethanwilson1001]

Project Shop FL would love to have any of that, Jason! He has a method to mechanically separate the copper from the steel, and also is working on a Copper Granulator. Look him up!

[@KevinHarvey-qw5mj]

He has it down now like watching him then see what they get

[@karlbe8414]

Couldn't you grind your Cu finer and do a shaker table separation from the Aluminum? My California yard would downgrade that below #2 Cu. I am very small scale and do all those by hand, so appreciate a mechanized process. Thanks!

[@rjgoniea]

I've scrapped many stators, and sometimes the wiring is copper coated aluminum (or what looks like a copper coating anyway). Some have both copper and aluminum wire, with the smaller copper wire used to assist at startup in a second set of windings. If you didn't inspect the stators in that first bin you could have a significant amount of aluminum in the shredded output. Overall you have a very efficient process there though. Sure beats doing them by hand like I do.

[@redlobster968]

Man that stuff is annoying

[@damianstasek8946]

Doing motors by hand is a chore.

[@susanvaughn741]

I would use a band saw to cut the ends off transformers, or a shire to get a better grade while you are waiting for the hammer to clear .. I think of a wood splitter with a knife blade to Sheri the ends off

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

I was thinking the same thing I want a wood splitters for this operation right here

[@walter2990]

It wouldn't qualify as #2 at my recycling center. But the steel is going to get you a pretty good price.

[@frantiseklaluch6605]

Hi Jason, nice machinery recycling metals looks like nice little bussiness now, and bigger in the future... :-)

[@TrevorsBench]

I think my neighbors would be pissed if I ran that mill

[@jeffarto8340]

It has to be in an area where you are a mile or two away so the sound is muffled. Or build sound barriers or walls. Or you get a noise ordinance warning or fine, which you can beat in court.

[@6Diego1Diego9]

@@jeffarto8340 the point is not to be an asshole to your neighbors

[@robertscrimger6044]

My neighbor is a bit annoying- can you rent one for the weekend?

[@HellBent069]

@BigstackD Casting you need one of these separators!

[@joewoodchuck3824]

Is there actually enough financial return to make the time spent worth it though?

[@Brainmalfuction]

how do you get hooked up with that grade of scrap? thats sweet !

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

I wish I had that kind of steel or copper that’s a hook up right there

[@UnderDuress]

You are always doing cool stuff on your job I'm envious 😂

[@nepriandries]

Hello my friend thank sharing video👍🤝🔔👈🇮🇩🙏🏻

[@jackmclane1826]

Use a blower under the discharge drop to remove light stuff.

[@DavidGS66]

I wish you would compare with a technique where motors are cut in half flush & windings are pryed out, such as using an hydraulic chisel press. Less messy.

[@jorgegabrielconteburrell8575]

The cooper will need to pass by an a smaller screen, like in the copper wire granulators to get an even cuality of the N2 copper wire.

[@rif6876]

Honest question - why not use a diesel motor to run it?

[@aredditor4272]

A lot of transformers have aluminum coils on one side. You can't tell at first glance, because they're coated with copper colored enamel.

[@heathstott]

I always thought it was just copper coated aluminium wire, thanks for the info👍

[@aredditor4272]

@@heathstott also motors, especially vacuum and garbage disposer motors. The guage of aluminum wire is larger than it would be if it were copper, since it's less conductive to electricity than copper.

[@DavidGS66]

I also wonder how you handle security because even small scrappers like me have had problems with thieves.

[@shaneyork300]

You should set a camera up on the tower of "clean" copper and set up a time lapse! I think it would look very cool. Have a Great Day My Friend!!

[@Handle_number_7]

Wouldn't pass at my yard. They're picky picky picky lol They're also very cheap. Constantly well under the national average prices. Really not that far from a port either. Funny that you post this video, and I'm about to begin tearing apart about 30 of these things lol

[@RoeMantic]

A safe measurement for stators will be 18-22 percent safe weight. But even at 29 percent recovery it's a good bet to clean them. I do on my channel! Thanks buddy for the video!

[@joewalker5153]

Where did you buy your motors? I would love to find a source of unprocessed material.

[@StirlingLighthouse]

Thank you 👍

[@shubbz87]

Great show 👍

[@KevinHarvey-qw5mj]

Very interesting you got your shit together make that money be back to watch some more thanks for the video

[@DanBowkley]

Wouldn't be too difficult to have a conveyor feeding the mill with the motor controlled by an ammeter on the mill's motor. Set it so the conveyor stops when it hits ~80A and starts again at ~40A. Then it's a totally hands off system, just dump stuff on the belt and let it do its thing.

[@okiedoke6373]

So after that job run what did the Hammers look like

[@UtmostOutdoors]

You're a legend Jason! I do small scale placer mining of fine gold on my channel... Would be cool too see you do a video for us placer miners to melt down our gold with borax in a potato crucible or something. Or your thoughts on how to find our golds purity at home. Cheers!

[@StevenHanover]

He already has bro, he turns the black sands you throw away into yellow gold with Bismuth, all the benefits of a collector metal without the toxicity.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

@@StevenHanover thanks for the heads up, I'll do more searching!

[@ScarboroughSt]

Water displacement and weight with a corresponding chart would be a good start. They’ve shown examples of that on this channel before. Hope that helps 👍

[@bond1j89]

Why not pass a current through the steel, heating it to the point where the copper melts out?

[@davidmccleary5540]

What % of copper gets trapped in the steel?

[@ScrapRushUK]

Lovely to watch all that lovely copper being separated from the steel plates and what ever cast aluminium is attached to them. That machine is amazing maybe not as affective as stripping by hand but certainly saves a lot of time. Probably can process more motors in a day than I can do in 6 months manually.

[@joecat916]

I often wondered how maybe they did that. I just wonder how much it would grind before needing worked on. I know alot of that stuff has copper coated aluminum. I suppose it would pass as #2 as long as the smelter can separate the aluminums. I'd love to see it in person!

[@zamistro]

Ever consider adding a window to the hammer mill?

[@aaronreash814]

Would be cool but it would be trashed in 20min, glass would break and plexi is so soft it scratches easy

[@zamistro]

Yeah, but some kind of quick release to hold it and could just keep replacing. Just a one off, I think. Can't imagine a use for it other than cool video.

[@damianstasek8946]

That would be awesome.

[@TwoHunnid200]

Great work 👍👍

[@eastcoyote7355]

I thought #2 copper is clean with no insulation or anything else with it. I took some stripped wires in and received a lower price because they weren't shiny red copper. They had some discoloration of brown and green.

[@wantafastz28]

How is it #2 if it is coated wire?

[@cranki6316]

How does the steel come OFF the magnet?

[@wesleykamerer6154]

I think the magnet just sits over the conveyor. And as the steel gets picked up by the magnet the little conveyor carries it to the side away from the conveyor carrying the copper. The magnet does not extend that far over and therfore the steel falls off. Thats my guess. Could be wrong though.

[@joneastman5627]

What you need is a furnace to turn all that number two into number one boss

[@nomadsteve5297]

That’s exactly what I was thinking, 👍

[@BillMcSwain]

Could you imagine what bigstackd would do with,?

[@Search4TruthReality]

Cool video. Thank you for sharing.

[@mbmmllc]

Thanks for watching!

[@mauriciovarela8928]

Como hacen para q el cobre quede limpio sin papel

[@vuo2594]

Hello. Can you show me the potion grinding gear?

[@donaldlewis9734]

Great video. Thanks

[@rubywarrior1]

sound sound sound, i wanna hear the crusher...i love hearing the destruction of man made items.

[@cylejohnson356]

Where do you find scrap like that?

[@ededward5448]

Nice separation...

[@LoveShaysloco]

your smelting vids i also watch codys lab and he did a metal recovery with other metals and other chemicals that he keeps reuseing just a thought for you to try to see the cost efficiency of it

[@tinamathews3379]

I take it that you sell the steel separately, then. Hopefully, it brings you some good income, as well.

[@josephcormier5974]

Some yards will deduct for the paper and fluff nice job nice payday two thumbs

[@Skorpychan]

Yeah, but it can be cleanred up fairly easily.

[@jeffflanagan2814]

@mbmmllc What is the electric bill typically?

[@scohen88]

Hi Jason! Love it! Would you use an eddy current separator to remove the aluminum after the mag belt? Also, how about your zig zag vac for removal of the fluff and paper.

[@johncochran8497]

Doubt that eddy current separators would work to separate aluminum and copper from each other. They rely upon generating an electric current in a conductor due to a changing magnetic field. This in turn causes the conductor to generate a magnetic field of its own, opposing the original magnetic field and getting pushed. Both aluminum and copper are conductive, so ....

[@TheBussaca]

Also if you could come up with a consumer level hammer mill for small scale under $1k.. you'd be the only one in the market.

[@damianstasek8946]

Im trying to find one, might have to make my own.

[@coppercasttechnology]

Aluminium is big problem in copper refining

[@benleysen]

I do not know what number 2 copper means, I do work in the lab of a copper recycling factory. Those copper wires are all coated though, What weight % that is, I do not know.

[@adamtahirpianist]

Anyone know how much a machine like this is?

[@petepete2284]

Hi Jason. Hey do you make those hammer mills?

[@westcoast8562]

yea clik his link to website

[@curbyourshi1056]

Looks like a LOT of non-copper going in the copper hopper. Aluminium?

[@aredditor4272]

Insulation

[@curbyourshi1056]

@@aredditor4272 That makes sense, thanks.

[@andymanaus1077]

Some of the stators had aluminium parts still attached. Frankly, it's sometimes nearly impossible to remove it all by hand because a lot of aluminium is press fitted into motors and a real nuisance to remove. I'd like to see an eddy current separator pulling out the aluminium from the copper section and an air current separator for the paper.

[@aredditor4272]

@@andymanaus1077 very often a motor rotor goes into a mold and molten aluminum is poured into it. This isn't a huge problem to refine, because aluminum melts at a significantly lower temperature than steel.

[@guestuser6168]

When are we going to see you mine out those pillars left in that gold mine?

[@stevetreloar6602]

I've seen people who go back and decide to extract pillars. They are usually newbies, don't put in props or stulls and they are usually collapsed cave holes after a year or two; essentially sterilizing that section of the ore body to everyone in the future. There is a good reason why cut and cement fill stoping is popular.

[@ScrappingwithGrandpa]

Wish I had a machine like that

[@epicbomb2]

Imagine buying one of these and not just saving your own transformers and motors from regular recycling but also buy them from your local yard

[@aaronreash814]

If you can get them at standard 25-30c a pound for motor and did everything yourself you could prob pay off the machinery decently quick

[@ryangetz5473]

Hey so how do I get ahold of you I live in Bellingham and I have been collecting gold mother boards would you be interested

[@LilMilely]

No it will goes at #3 copper

[@Graeme408]

Can you smelt your #2 copper and cast it into #1 ingots?

[@damianstasek8946]

Ingots never sell higher than #2 at yards because they domt know is its alloyed.

[@aaronreash814]

First bin with aluminum would not go for #2 at any of my places, they want clean #2 it would prob end up getting money knocked off at the one and at the other would just get rad price cause they're a bad yard, the second bin is #2 all day if its just paper, a smelter wouldn't care it just burns off and doesn't make bronze and can make 99% electrical grade again.

[@exegetor]

what do you mean by "number two copper", i mean, it doesn't look that s**t ;) (but really what's that mean?)

[@StevenHanover]

It's not bullion or smelted back to purity.

[@davidmoore657]

it's not CLEAN copper. it's coated with lacquer for insulation and there's solder and other impurities

[@desiboys5584]

Hi sir Good morning How to buy this

[@michaelwillcutt2619]

Seems like a windy day would blow away the fine copper

[@barrytipton1179]

Impressive what happens to plastic

[@sennasilverpro9219]

Good job

[@mkksuperslote]

Sir can we made gold from copper

[@scottcook9165]

Love the videos.👌

[@uecridzan]

Have another simple machine to extract copper from motors and you make copper number 1.

[@chinalocaltravel]

Nice video

[@paulconlon6068]

I would get number 2 for that easy

[@edwardnava2353]

Allot of cooper, halo from Aruba🌴

[@rifatrianna2615]

Location pls

[@TheBussaca]

1st bin.. NO. would not take as #2. 2nd bin #2 all day. For all those who say melt into bars for #1.. I haven't found a yard that will take bars. You might be the most honest person ever, but the last 100 people who cut their copper with something else ruined it. IF and i mean IF you find a yard that will take ingots. they will XRF gun them, and if they drop below 98% quality on the 1st scan they will reject the entire shipment. just my experience.

[@Skorpychan]

The outputs look like they could use some work with a shovel.

[@DieterSoegemeier]

I want one of these

[@6Diego1Diego9]

I've realized these are just advertisement videos for the hammer mill

[@justinreel5546]

So many that’s what she said moments 😂

[@SilverScorpion]

I need one of those

[@jsEMCsquared]

this is farking cool! how much does a pounder cost? copper price in ten years will be quadrupled!

[@FunDumb]

I'm guessing you probably welded just about every piece of operational steel on the facility.

[@SuperRashead]

I would love to seperate the cobber from the aluminium :) Love to relaxe with this.

[@robbuechner3647]

Most of what your seeing is the paper/tape from the windings.

[@SuperRashead]

@@robbuechner3647 OK it will burn :-) But why is it #2 copper then?

[@robbuechner3647]

@@SuperRashead size of the wire, and probably because of the varnish. To be number 1 is needs to be as big around as a pencil lead.

[@davidmoore657]

@@SuperRashead it's not CLEAN copper. it's coated with lacquer for insulation and there's solder and other impurities

[@TheWolfster001]

For some things those large machines are good, but wow, I see lots of waste and loss.. I can clean them by hand and make them much cleaner end results with ZERO loss and almost no overhead costs, just a few power tools, like an angle grinder and thin cut off disks.. I can clean over 100 pounds of copper in a few hours.. I like watching this, still there is got to be a better way to stop all the loss waste this process does...

[@Battosai87]

it's for people who need to process thousand pounds and more an hour because they have the material. To employ 10 people to do this job manually makes only sense in countries with very low labor costs. It's not a solution for a garage operation.

[@TheWolfster001]

@@Battosai87 I do get, that on a huge scale when you have to process hundreds to thousands of pound fast, it is worth it, I was more referring to a small scale where it's mostly just you.. It is sad that the larger scale has lots of loss and small scale, like I have done for many years have almost zero loss and my end results have almost no trash in it, just pure product, Also I found melting down some metals like copper, brass & aluminum into bricks makes you more money per pound, with only costing pennies to do it.. 100 pounds of copper bricks pays almost 5 times then you would get for 100 pounds of number 2 copper... I find the more you can process your own scrap, the more money you will make per pound...

[@torchandhammer]

What was lost?

[@musabaporiya3317]

I want to buy

[@tylerdavis9820]

Amazing!