Scrapping out an old Electric Arc Welder for Copper, Scrap Metal, Parts + Recycling Options

hi guys Chris and the ultimate recycling welcome back to the channel my quest continues to empty my storage shed and the clutter in this shed I said in a recent video that I'd probably do the first thing I trip over I did trip over this world the other night in the dark and took some skin off my leg it's got to go it's an old welder that I've had for many years I've got two others and I don't do much welding anymore it did work but I've considered taking it to the shop and selling it they they don't sell on eBay I've seen them for thirty dollars and still not sell I've seen them at clearing sales and only get a ten dollar bid probably for scrap metal so they're not that salable the other thing is I can't actually lift this thing I had some help to put it on my bench here because my shoulder's still recovering and this weighs a lot so we're going to scrap it out I've got to make a decision that's part of my cleaning up process is that I'm not going to allow myself to move one box to another spot I'm gonna deal with it make decisions I think there's a secret in that for cleaning up we're going to scrap it out so with welders even though it's a fairly old one it's probably not in 60s I believe they often have aluminum windings which would be a bit of a disappointment because I'm hoping to get some good copper out of it assuming it's worth as a welder if we find someone to buy it it might be worth 30 40 dollars if it is a copper one we might get that sort of value out of copper and I can use the wheels off it and we've got the the actual leads as well they'll be copper so we're going to scrap it out we're going to see what value we get ultimately if it turns out to be an aluminum one and it's disappointing it doesn't matter I've still dealt with it it will still be all scrap metal and recycled I will still use the wheels so there's nothing going to landfill in this but we'll see what value we get out of scrapping out this old Peerless welder now I don't know what this thing weighs but it's sure a heavy brute I would estimate about 60 kilos maybe I don't know maybe we can weigh up the sum of all the parts at the end and get an idea because I I can't lift it to weigh it now and I can't find the scales the little platform scales I had so we'll start scrapping it out for a start we're going to I think I'll actually not scrap the the actual what do they call it the handpiece um the electrode holder even though it's a bit tight and it will have some brass or copper in there but it's probably still a usable piece so we might just chop the cord off that and that can go in the shop we might get five dollars back on that so there's some value straight up uh I'll cut the cords off I'm pretty sure there'll be copper in the cords and the power cord is actually a very heavy gauge one so as you can see there and it's got and the wiring needs attention anyway so it's certainly not worth trying to sell even just the effort for me to clean it up and get it to the shop really outweighs what I would get back for it plus I've got to find somewhere in the shop for it so it'll make a good scrapping video fingers crossed we get some good copper out of it but even if it is an aluminum Transformer we do have some options about selling and I'll go through the prices as we pull it apart all right let's chop the chords off first these knobs may be handy though we might be able to sell those it's amazing what people have a use for when you present things for sale in the shop even if we run off the top and the terminals off the end of these wires will actually be copper and the wire it's a fine braid wire but it's definitely copper there so there's another knob on the front here [Music] which should unscrew from there and we're going to make some sensible scrapping decisions as we go I don't think that Earth clamp is much good it's pretty average Condition it's had lots of welds on it and the clamp here is very dodgy so we'll cut that off and I think they can just go in our shred steel pile and it's definitely copper here it's fine braided wire but it is copper and little terminal I think we'll find us copper as well these ones usually are so we take the tape off that and snip that one off and even though that's got some solder in it it'll still go as number two copper and we're not going to strip this wire it can go as insulated copper wire now I just tried to undo this in the Vise and it wouldn't come off I had a feeling that would Smash If I kept trying so they could just go with the other knobs and we'll make a bulk lot to go in the shop there now I'm just coming up to another decision I was about to cut this hand piece here off but I thought the actual cable is pretty good it's a nice long length I don't think the cable is going to be worth enough to Warrant cutting it off and just selling this for five dollars whereas as a lead with a handpiece we could possibly get twenty dollars for it so I might just try and weigh it up and just see how much I think the cable will be worth and then we'll know which way to jump so if I kind of take the weight of the handpiece off it just sort of a bit of guesswork here but it looks like we've got around about one kilo of insulated wire so to sell that as scrap we're only looking at about three dollars three dollars fifty so even if I just put ten dollars on this handpiece and cable I think it's much more salable that way and will get better value than scrap so quite often parting out things as much better value than just scrapping you've got to always keep in mind that scrapping is the lowest value if we're not going to sell the machine as a welder we can sell parts and get quite a lot of values if we get ten dollars for that maybe five dollars for the Vintage knobs here the wheels I have a use for but we could possibly get five dollars a pair if we wanted to sell them and suddenly you've got more than what you could get for the whole welder and we've still got hopefully copper inside so to get into the casing it looks like it's actually got rivets pop rivets so I'm going to have to drill those out and then I think the actual case will lift right off the top and we'll be able to see what the internals look like foreign okay the panel at the back here looks like it might be probably to access whoops where the mains cord goes in yes um oh there's big chunky Transformers in there we'll get in there in a minute there's probably some big chunky spiders as well let's just cut the wires for now okay the heavy Mains chord can go in our insulated copper wire pile I'm going to take the plug off foreign these rivets through and we should be able to lift the cover off [Music] I have the rivets out but it's really not wanting to budge I think the whole cover lifts up off the top [Music] foreign there we go and you wonder this thing's heavy have a look at the size of that Transformer and all the framework is really heavy gauge steel they certainly didn't make it with uh weight being a consideration now I need to find out if they're copper or not so let's try and get the top cover off we have some nice brass posts here where the terminals went to so it looks like the transformer has actually clamped each end so we might have to get a little bit of spray lube on those nuts and try and undo those and the whole top will come off and then we'll be able to lift the Transformer clear I wonder if we can leave the wheels on this little trolley thing it might be handy although the top cover's got to come off and the handles actually separate all right we better get our sockets set out and start dismantling a little bit of spray on the threads first let's hope we don't wake the spiders up the threads are a bit long for my sockets it won't reach well at least it will but I won't get the drive on the top so it looks like we're going to do a ring spanner this Bolt's undid surprisingly well considering how Rusty they were looking so that's good it didn't take long to get them off at all so I'm thinking the entire top now will lift off let's have a look so will it lift off and know what's holding it oh of course the big wires and there's such heavy gauge wires that really anchored the top so we're going to have to cut through those and then we should be able to access the Transformer much better oh they are thick wires I certainly hope they're copper let's have a look bins like copper yeah solid piece of copper excellent foreign not quite there's a cross piece going under some wires we're going to have to cut more wires use those wires were hanging on I had to use some tin snips to get through them but I think we're right to go now it's caught on the front there we go wow all right we're going to rescue a bit of copper off the back of this and the top panel doesn't appear to be steel it's like a plastic and it looks like we'll check the windings but it looks like a Transformer is solid copper solid copper wire so they're really heavy wires and we sneak into that that's a definite pink and this side yep that's copper as well that's really good now they've got a lot of insulation on them and I'm not sure how we're going to go getting that off I'm not sure what the best way to dismantle it is we could sell it as one large Transformer we might take it off the frame and see what it weighs first let's clean up this top piece first I want these brass bolts out of here and I think the handle assembly we might save for a future project so we'll undo the uh the handle nuts which are pretty tight so we're making pretty good progress at this stage the frame here is clean uh as in I've got everything off it that I want to it could probably go as heavy steel because it's quite thick and it's relatively small the top cover is actually like a hard plastic and I might even hang on to that because if I'm making a project box or something it might be a good front panel so not wasted you'll use that uh the handles as I said I'll keep them or the handle assembly it'll be handy for something handy handle yep something like that uh now the Transformer we should be able to lift off that frame now because I don't think there's anything holding it there so that's the next stage and then we're going to work out exactly what we're going to do with the Transformer so I think I'll get it off there and I'll weigh it and see what it weighs all right this Center piece I think which adjusted the current we'll just lift out I don't know exactly how that works but I think that's just heavy steel doesn't appear to be any copper or brass on that Let's test it with a magnet It's All Steel so they can certainly just go in the heavy steel bin okay let's see if we can get this boost off here it's um extremely heavy and I'm thinking that it should just fall off so there we go one big welding Transformer I haven't seen any spiders as yet so hopefully they're not in there uh it's actually a piece of wood foreign top and bottom with its clamps and then big coils of copper let's brush it off a bit and have a look okay before I go any further I'm actually going to try and weigh it I'll have to find some other scales I might sneak inside and grab the bathroom scales I would like to know what it weighs we need to make a decision on whether we're going to try and get the copper out of it which means we've got to pull the laminations apart or cut them with a grinder maybe we could cut through the loops of copper and pull them all out the center it's a fair bit of work and then we've got to get the insulation off them now it's got some sort of hard paper type card Fabrics something or other it's like a fabric it's like a waxed fabric that's gone dry but inside that it looks like paper as well hang on I'll go and get my knife so here's a thinner piece that we chopped off earlier and it's got an outer sleeve which in a short piece will come off so that's not going to strip very well and the only way to get it off I guess would be to cut it into short lengths and slide it off but underneath it looks like it's got like a cotton maybe paper insulation as well so it takes a bit to get down to the Copper the other thing on these old ones is that you never know if they use some sort of asbestos coating I don't think they do but sometimes you better be safe than sorry so even though it would be some really nice copper I could see this representing a lot of work to rescue the copper I mean it's super thick let's have a look at this piece this piece is like probably almost 3 16 of an inch thick but the insulation is also very thick so look it's beautiful copper so it would certainly pay well if you could be bothered to clean it a lot but I don't know if I've got the time or the inclination to do it so let's just weigh this Transformer and see what it would work out as it is great news guys I found my old rusty bathroom scales I think they're still reasonably accurate and it saves me getting into trouble being caught with our good ones out here so I've got the Transformer on there I couldn't lift it I've just lent it to one side and kind of worked it on it weighs by the looks of that it weighs pretty all exactly 30 kilos so 30 kilograms in that Transformer now the scrap yards used to pay a dollar a kilo when I was selling my Transformers they've dropped a little bit at the moment but I think if we work on a dollar a kilo that's thirty dollars one thirty dollar Transformer which is probably all we would have got for this entire welder trying to sell it anyway uh and I mentioned if it was aluminum at the start well fortunate that it's copper because it weighs more if it was an aluminum Transformer the scrap yards do buy Transformers just as Transformers now they must be building in an allowance for the fact that there's a lot of aluminum windings in them these days especially in microwaves and obviously welders so you could still sell it as a Transformer as just if the windings were aluminum the whole thing would weigh a lot less uh now that brings me to another little point of discussion should we get the copper out of it well there would be a lot of work we would have to work out how to get the insulation off as I've just discussed before what's an estimate of how much percentage of copper would get out of our 30 kilos I reckon we would only be talking say in percentage-wise say 20 of the weight would be copper just an estimate but we've got a lot of laminations here we've also got two big chunks of wood which are still attached if we had 20 copper that would be 20 of 30 would be about six kilos of nice clean copper and even if it was 10 kilos even if it was 30 percent 10 kilos of nice clean copper would perhaps be worth about a hundred dollars with a lot of work we're going to get thirty dollars just as it is I can get it Off the Bench I can tick it off my list I think I'm just going to do that I don't think I'm going to scrap it out I don't have a use for the copper it's not like I do melting copper videos and and poor things from copper some of the guys that do collect copper for melting that's fine um I'm not going to I'm going to sell that purely as a Transformer and cash in my 30 odd dollars when I eventually do another load to Melbourne and if I was a bit undecided well I'm really decided now I just stripped the insulation off these pieces I cut out to get the frame apart and yes it's a lovely thick copper it's beautiful copper actually but have a look at all the insulation there's lots of fibrous powder floating around I don't like that I don't really want to wear a respirator or something but I wouldn't want to breathe all that dust in while I would trying to strip this and as I said earlier you don't really know what chemicals and compounds they use in these things to insulate it back in the day so much better leaving it as is in my view I'm going to put these in a pile with um as number two copper we've got a couple of other bits somewhere there's another terminal there so we'll weigh up everything now we'll work out what this welder is worth to me in parts and we'll finish up the video okay guys the wash up on this welder scrap out of course we've got the notepad uh and we've got everything separated here on the table let's run through it we have the heavy steel which I have priced out we have the pressing steel or the shred which I'm just going to send out to the transfer station uh the Transformer is still sitting on the scales a pair of Wheels which are pretty good solid Wheels they're solid rubber the knobs which may be useful to someone a little bit of number two copper a little bit of Hardware which includes the heavy brass nuts and bolts there and a connector and a few other bits and pieces the insulated copper wire nice heavy stuff and the actual handpiece plus the quite a long lead in good condition which I'm going to try and sell and that sheet of vintage plastic I'm going to keep because it may be handy I'm not writing down any value for that the plague I chopped off the cord uh we'll just go on my E-Waste bin I don't pull the pins out of those so our figures at current scrap prices October 2022 was the last prices I got um you can see the price of Transformers is down a little while you was getting a dollar so but look that's what we worked out at there 34.70 worth of scrap metal in this welder with really it only probably took me an hour maybe even a bit less because I've been mucking around to the camera and everything so not hard to get that sort of scrap value if you did want to trace the copper out of the transform Transformer for sure you would get much better value but it would take you a lot longer and I'm not enthused to do that at all a few extras here if I was to sell the wheels I'd probably ask five dollars to pay the knobs maybe three the actual handpiece and the lead I could probably get more than that but 10 would be a quick sell Hardware I just wrote down a dollar because I do add all that to jars and I sell that but if you weren't doing any of this well the certainly the lead could have gone in with the insulated wire to increase that value there was some brass in the handpiece as well of course the hardware those brass bolts and nuts would add to your scrap value too so pretty good value my total figure comes down to just over 53 dollars and I wouldn't I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to sell the welder for that so I'm pretty happy with that uh and the only rubbish the only landfill is some sweepings off the table a little bit of electrical tape and that stuff that I stripped off those little bits of copper that fibrous stuff so virtually nothing going to the tip everything's going to be recycled or used uh I did include this handle in the heavy steel even though I won't actually send that for scrap I'll keep that because it might be handy one day you know the old saying uh but all the other stuff is either useful or going for scrap metal so thanks for coming along on this little journey with me guys um if before you go if one of you could just pop in and help me lift this Transformer Off the Bench it's very heavy and I don't want to hurt my shoulder um I'm happy with that we got some good value I've got something out of my other shed which I tripped over so really good it's um it's continuing the quest to clean up which is going to go for a long long time so I hope you guys are with me for the Long Haul uh I'm going to take these few items to the shop that I'm going to sell the rest of them are going in my scrap bins here so yeah another thing ticked off the list thanks for watching we'll see you in the next video bye for now

Channel: The Ultimate Recycler

Views: 12,618

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Id: QsPnKQ9PIvw

Length: 22min 25sec (1345 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 08 2022