Dismantling electric motors - GIFs

Dismantling electric motors.

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Previously:

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...657#post174472
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...913#post190957
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...096#post195320
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...890#post186972
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...983#post171817

1st one no play.

But there’s no copper in that armature, so I do not understand the purpose of cutting it in half - except to show that it can be done!

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Originally Posted by Philip Davies

But there’s no copper in that armature, so I do not understand the purpose of cutting it in half - except to show that it can be done!

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There is a little copper in some rotors, but hardly worth the effort in smaller rotors. In a large 20 to 50 hp motor there could be 2 to 5 lbs of copper so, what maybe at most 5 bucks worth? it hardly seems worth the effort or cost to remove it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Frank S

There is a little copper in some rotors, but hardly worth the effort in smaller rotors. In a large 20 to 50 hp motor there could be 2 to 5 lbs of copper so, what maybe at most 5 bucks worth? it hardly seems worth the effort or cost to remove it

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When labor costs are low, you can get away with more laborious methods for little return. IOW, if you're broke, you may be able to afford to recover material that otherwise wasn't worth recovering. Reminds me of the days when I was collecting aluminum cans to melt down... Broke and recovering from multiple surgeries in one year, crushing the cans was serious effort for me, but I couldn't afford to buy even scrap metal. By the time I had enough cans to be worth trying, I'd discovered a bunch of other folks who found it too little metal for too much effort, and wound up selling my cans. Bought groceries with that money, or maybe my Atlas MF milling machine...

Bill

I only get the little motors. The rotors get about £1.50 per kg. greasy copper though is now over £5 per kg, so the armatures are generally worth cutting

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Frank S

There is a little copper in some rotors, but hardly worth the effort in smaller rotors. In a large 20 to 50 hp motor there could be 2 to 5 lbs of copper so, what maybe at most 5 bucks worth? it hardly seems worth the effort or cost to remove it

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It is worth it to some. Over in India they dismantle old ships manually with torches.

Scrapper here,yes the stator does not need to be cut once copper is removed,some asian company is making large wide impact bits,that can cut 4 1/2 inch wide stator in half to make it easy to remove copper.(demo vid?).only small motors like vacuum cleaner and blender have copper wire in rotor...larger motors are induction, and have NO copper in rotor..only stator has copper,,cutting it in half parallel to plates and them removing copper wire by prying it out,is the easiest way to remove copper,or cutting off one end with cutoff wheel in angle grinder, and then prying out copper winding,is the way most home scrappers do it..most motors have 10% copper and its all in the stator....a 10 -15 hp motor that weighs 100 pounds has about 10 pounds of copper here in USA, thats 3.45 a pound,so 34.50$,out of one motor is good money,even if it takes 2 hours,a AC fan motor out of a central heat and air unit weighs 15-17 pounds,1.7 pounds @3.45 is $5.86 for 20 minutes work,,,do 3 in a hour thats,$17.59 a hour good money if u ask me..and the leftover steel it gettin .06 cents a pound..most HVAC motors have Aluminum end caps, stripped thats 1 pound @ .60 cents a pound,,so there is money to be made scrapping motors ,u just need time and tools..and most ship breaking is done with 60 pound sledge hammers, they get a large piece of steel and weld a 4 ft long handle to it,,,torches are for large plates too heavy for 12 guys to carry.

madokie, assuming by your screen name you might be somewhere in Oklahoma if you weren't too far away from me, I'd almost load my scrap and haul it up t0 where those prices are, except I heard today that steel around here has gone crazy. I have never seen even bright copper bring more than $2.50 but been a while since went to the scrap yard, too far to go without at least a 3 ton load of steel

yes here in OKC #1 copper is 3.85, and #2 copper is 3.55 today..#1 doesnt have to be bright, just thick or tubing, with no solder or varnish,,which makes it #2 .not sure what steel is going for..3 months ago it was .06cents...if u dont have a electricians or HVAC license cut all your copper up 1 ft lenghts or shorter..plenty of copper theft going on...some scrap yards did have a 34 pound limit without a license,.some scrap yards wont take anyone walking in or bicyling in, must drive a vehicle into yard..dont know if u can bring copper out of state call before u drive up here..