Using a Log Splitter For Scrapping Copper Motors!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- One of the most suggested tool upgrades is finally here, so let's see how we do scrapping electric motors for copper with the hydraulic power of my new log splitter!
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I've thought about trying this and I think it will work with some refinements.
1. Taper the blade much farther back. I think the steel core is jamming on the custom 45 degree-ish angle you built because it flares out to quickly and jams/squishes.
2. Your idea of putting a wider, taller push block will help. Something curved to fit the shape of the motor core.
3. I think this unit is actually a little underpowered.
4. Use a little motor oil on the blade.
Hope this helps.
Just like what I thought
Project shop FL lubes his blades...
It took Project Shop FL years to develop his system. Even then he's always talking about improving it. Don't give up yet, this was your first attempt.
Keep thinking outside the box. You’ll get it. I commend you for your effort and documenting it. Even when it doesn’t go the way you want it. Good job Thub!!
Love that you try new stuff. Gets others thinking as well. Collective energies
The fact that you literally did the very thing I thought to do in the next clip well watching this. 👏 it was when you welded the splitter.
I used my log splitter (exact same model) and concluded a much thinner blade works better, now a days I use a machete and small sledge to cut motors in half quickly. The log splitter is 1. under powered 2. needs a better thinner blade 3. a shaped rest for holding the project while being cut. The hydraulic ram in your splitter would be better used in a grapple system to pull the copper from the split motors.
Absolutely use a extension length long enough so that a single pass will cut through the motor, you may have to put a channel in that piece of wood or go to metal. Longer blade to fit in the channel think about what Florida dude did and then turn it 90°. Of course I said that at like the halfway point lol
Thub - Tons of thoughts on this. Ever since your trailer-of-transformers video I've had plans floating around the back of my head of how to to this fast and efficiently. Transformers are easier because they're rectangular and they only have 2 open areas not 20. My design has a clamp that first holds the transformer square so the force is transmitted where you want it.
- Build a clamp onto the pusher end, to stop the motor from flipping.
- For a round motor, you'd want a 90 degree wedge on the pushing end too (any cylinder settles comfortably into 90 degrees).
- For the blade you want a chisel-grind (single profile), not a V-grind. That will at least keep half of the motor still and focus on cutting the other half. Twice as sharp for the same strength.
- Since you're splitting laminations, not cross cutting them, you don't need a lot of strength, you want a slim blade with a narrower cut. The wedge of the blade works against you because it's trying to mechanically separate the halves of the motor, which are still tied together with copper windings. You can see it yanking the windings tighter as it "cuts", until it jams out. Your blade is trying to stretch and rip the wires all at the same time, rather than slice it apart. It's like pulling apart a cable made of 30 strands copper rather than cutting it. 100x as difficult. Your wedge is so shallow it's stretching more than cutting. At least 3x that pitch would give it f'in' hope.
- Marketing wankery, that motor is not "5hp". At absolute most it's 2.5hp, more like 2hp. You can only pull 2.5hp out of a 120v 15a breaker without blowing it. I guess this only matters if you're comparing motor sizes, but, it's a straight up lie.
- Technique-wise, rather than trying to split a motor down the middle, I suggest cutting it far off-center (hence the need for a clamp, so it doesn't just spin away). I suggest lining a chisel blade up with the edge of the motor laminations, so it only clips off the copper windings, no laminations. Then you can either pull it apart, (same old technique you used with the chisel), or cut through the middle, or flip it over and give it a similar shave on the opposite side. Once the "cable" is cut, you're not stretching copper, it can just yank through with far less force. The time savings here are in cutting the copper. You still have to deal with extracting the copper from the core, however clumsy that'll be. Maybe 3 cuts: edge 1, edge 2, down the middle. Should pretty much fall apart after that. Log splitting is too slow and too powerful I figure, I'd rather make more delicate cuts more often to segment it.
If you're givin' up on it for a while, lend it to me for a bit, I'll take a crack at some whacky attachments.
Paused halfway through. I am laughing watching this. I like how you show it all. I have had to go through such a process in some of my projects in the past. Trial and error. Repeat.
8:12 its still a good log splitter.
Transfer of power, yes. You are spending some of the energy smashing up wood. Use metal. With a form to hold the motor in place better instead of moving around. I would like to see updates.
The idea is sound, don't give up! Thank you for sharing the idea, and the initial failures with us. Can't wait to see where this goes.
This is crazy, I've been planning this exact process for months and here it is 😆 glad to know i was right!!!😅
Love your prospective. If I was forming a think-tank on how to take over the world, you'd be my first pick.....
always trying something different and good Lordy lord, we appreciate it
G'day Thub, Project Shop FL was using a V-Block to help stop the motor from collapsing. Maybe this would be useful to you too. His blade was also a pointed one. However, I don't think you need a pointed blade, rather a sloping blade (like the French guillotine). Obviously, you would need for the slope to be downwards into the wood splitter base (otherwise the engine would fly up). I agree that you need to do something about that rounded push plate. How many metres of steel pipe do you scrap in a year? It should not be a problem acquiring some. I'm thinking that the pipe will collapse under the pressure. Try filling it up with lead or copper to boost it's structural integrity (cast iron would be better if you can generate the heat).
Ooo, lots of good ideas! I really didn’t want to abandon the idea completely, the tool obvs has enough power to do the job. I just ran out of time and needed to hit my weekly schedule lol. I hadn’t thought about the pipe insert failing, but reinforcing one would be a relatively simple fix. The pointed blade actually seems like a good idea to me though, it would probably help avoid rolling the plates over on themselves as much as possible
I always love trying new ways to make scrapping more efficient. I love it even more when others do the work and share the results 😂 Very cool.
Are you taking notes ??
@@jr-a-cat 😉
I am
😂😂
I already had a plasma cutter that paid its self off ten fold 10 years ago but this thing is beast I see u scrap a lot from ya vids yes I watch a lot of them helping another scrappy out anyone can watch this video $$$$$$$$$$
Your efforts to improve a difficult process is encouraging. Keep attempting new ideas.😊
Another idea is that your hydraulic press looks like it is doing some compression of the metal shims. I think the problem is that your blade is not getting exactly between two shims hence if you took a knife in hammered in and pre-opened up the gap and then placed it on the hydraulic press that that might work better
had the same idea... with the same result. greatings from Germany
Well done at least you tried it will work will a few different adjustments good job thanks
Merry Christmas and another Happy New Years. Thank you very much for Entertaining us in our TIME of boredom. From a Aitutaki Cook Islander
I have a ton of small transformers that i wanted to try the sds drill with and as soon as i saw this i was like why has no one ever thought about this… keep up the good work and im sure you’ll get all the kinds worked out soon
I think it's definately the rounded part that's causing most of the problems. You should keep working at it. I watched a video a while back of someone doing this with a log splitter. It worked great.
Dude I've been thinking about this for months Awesome
Le bonjour de la France
Enfin je comprends tes vidéos grâce au traducteur
Tu es au top, ne change rien 🤙🤙
Looked like fun lol. Awesome video my friend! Stay warm!
I had the idea back in 2017 when the scap yard I was working at had a semi truck load of electric motors just sitting. I bought a new champion 34 ton log splitter just to design an electric motor splitter and windings remover. I welded up a 10" tall slicer blade but couldn't get it hard enough to slice thru the motors cleanly. I was basing my design off of the bigger industrial ones. Then life got busy and the project was put on the shelf. If I ever had the chance to tinker with it again, I would use a straight/flat plow disk for the slicing blade. The design for pulling the copper windings out of the motor halves was the easy part.
I was thinking a machete for the blade as it’s thinner.
Great idea but you're blaid should be thiner
Neat. Thanks for the effort. I just got a stationary band saw. Canadian treasure hunter cuts the crown off one side of the motor with a milwaukee portaband in his latest videos and then proceeds from there. It is a surprisingly fast tool.
I saw a video on something like this there blade was at a point like a spear and it had no trouble splitting it
great experiment!
What if the blade was shaved a LOT thinner to easily slip between the metal sheets, it’s crushing them rather then getting between them like the machete or axe does
I really like that you show us real attempts no matter the outcome. Maybe a bigger splitter would work better? Seems like it needs more speed in order to cut it open instead of smash it. Keep at it
Air hammer works really good
LOL You are on to something!! Here are some pointers!! You need a FLATE push plate and a THINNER cutting blade. Get ya a piece of T450 or even T500 HIGH carbon steel 3/16" thick. Grind one edge. Then on your push plate you want to grind a notch in the plate so the edge of the cutting blade does NOT touch the plate so you need to close up the travel of the splitter and it will WORK and work really NICE. Fello scrapper here I made something similar!! GOOD LUCK
Pretty cool idea to make it like that, hope you will have some ideas to make it work. Maybe a steel cylinder pipe for pressing it on? Would love to make one for you on the lathe but unfortunately I live on the other side of the world 😄 And maybe you could thin out the blade behind the cutting area a little more, that could maybe help.
Great video!
Thanks Thub. ❤️💙
Had a log splitter for a while to attempt this, thanks for taking the learning curve down a notch, I picked up an industrial wood chipper blade which I think will work, plenty of ideas in the comments to think about. Thanks for sharing
Good video..keep up the good work
It is interesting seeing your testing. Would separating the steel plates with finer hand tools first to expose the copper be helpful, then let the log splitter push through, avoiding the steel mangle. Cheers thub!
wow, that worked really well haha. So surprising! Good job!!!!!
Awesome video! Let's hear it for doing things the "easy way"!
Electric motor shops use a chopsaw on a vertical shaft with the horizontal blade. They cut the loops of copper off one end of the stater then they bake the epoxy off the windings in the oven then pull out the copper windings from the loop on the other end, good luck.
I was thinking you were going to put your welded blade on the other side. Having two blades from opposite directions could be the way to go. Thank you for the video!
thats not a bad idea!
Canadian treasure hunter has got a band saw most efficient way I've seen yet also tested it literally less than a minute per unit
My fist tought on improve are that you could start by splitting a couple of blows with hand so it is easier for your heavy duty blade to get into the grove between the plates.
Keep working on making the splitter more accurate and then you will succeed! WTG Thub. Always a pleasure watching you. ❤
omg! Thats genius! Now I have to do this too.
If you get a chance I would love to see or hear if the splitter would work for sterling silver handled knives and weighted handles. I use a pair of limb cutters going up the handle, but was thinking one of these splitters might work if hitting it with the blade on the long flat part of a handle standing upright.
Happy Holidays and all the best in the New Year Drake! :)
Love the channel thub watch how cth does it 👍
Sharper angle on the wedge will help a lot.
I think if you took two long 3/8 thick rod and threaded one side, weld a chain on the other side(so you can loop into through the windings on either side) and then attach a flat bar underneath the splitter putting a rod on each end using the splitter to clamp to. Or use a chain come along on the bottom and just hook both windings.
Wow ! The price isn't bad for that ! Im gonna look into that ..
There are other videos about this but it is a good idea, and it does work there will have to be more fabrication that needs to be done the welds look good and I think all you need to do is grind them down and clean them up and I definitely think you can buy motors from the scrapyards or other scrappers and make a very good profit 👍
Nice... I'm building something with a thinner blade :-) Great video as always.
I wanted to do the same thing but they are about a grand down here. I guess because it never gets that cold - they are not as much in demand so the volume of extras is down. After watching you struggle with this - I guess I am kind of glad I didnt just go for it. I do think that if you cut the end and used the hydro as a puller you could brace the motor and make pulling the windings out easier. Who knows - thats why I have a pile of motors not scrapped yet LOL
Canadian Treasure Hunter has been using a hand-held bandsaw from milwaukee and it seems to work great.
Problems with that is cutting motor in half loosens windings much better than cutting Cu ends off & he's wasting Cu.
i seen that. it did work great! but what happens with one that are to big? I'm making a jackhammer attachment to split mine.
I tried it. An just crushed it. I made a blade outs stainless An still bent up Jack hammer with a wood shaving blade works best for me so far. My winding puller works great tho 💪🏼
We cut the top layer of looped copper off and then beat the rest out with a pick tool we made that fit perfectly….it takes a bit of time but not too bad
Another good Thub video to watch
Pre start your cut with a very SHARP chisel and hammer ( to make a starting point for your splitter blade )to avoid catching many different layers of the sheet metal and I think you will have it ......
Great video as always thanks thub😁😁
We tried the same thing using a hydraulic press and an axe. Big problem getting the wire out of the slots, especially the epoxy filled windings.
I think the blade needs a curve in it so that when the motor pushes up on the blade, it has resistance from the blade extending around it to keep it in place and cutting through it.
not sure how this would work on electric motors but on transformers i make one cut through the copper to loosen everything up the i use a jackhammer to pound the metal off. work like a dream the hardest part is holding the thing steady on the ground. i put a piece of plywood down and screwed a few boards to brace against and it helped a lot. next time i get a bunch to do i think im going to weld a vice to a metal sheet and really go to town. but back to my main point, jackhammer is my new favorite scraping tool and the trick is to take the metal off and leave the copper alone on transformers
The blade needs to be thinner and stronger. That's why I think a flat plow disc cut in half would be perfect. On the piston side of your log splitter you need to make a tiered saddle. On the one I was making, I had the slicing blade attached to the end of the log splitter rod and the saddle on the other end. Maybe weld a machete blade on as the slicer. Check out how the industrial electric motor processors work and base yours off of that. That's what I was attempting to do.
You're onto something there. I think the application of force is the main issue. Once you build a more symmetrical pusher instead of the point that is to help split the log, you'll have a more successful run. Maybe make it more like a sled that pushes the core onto the blade as you may want to change the holder based on the size of core you're working on. Also i agree with others that the blade will need to have a finer taper to allow the steel to separate slower. Can't wait to see rev. 2.
PSF has his blade at a diamond point on his stator wrecker, so it starts penetrating at that point, then the blade cuts it. I still think a band saw is the way to go, to cut them in half.
If you welded 2 horizontal rails to the the face of the rammer thing, you could negate that rounded part and it would stabilize the stator instead of using a piece of wood(table leg).
I have that exact type of 4 ton log splitter. When you're doing actual firewood logs, that morOnic rounded front of the pushing piston often gets the log to wander out of the way. I can't for the life of me fathom why someone designed that.
When I get some time I'm going to weld a few short spikes on that pusher to "grab" the log.
Great video. Good to see you.
Not a bad idea on the log splitter. I got a suggestion, save up and buy the long floor bandsaw at Harbor freights. The one works with gravity and shuts off when it cuts thru.
There isn’t a Harbour Freight here .
@SHERRY0010 oh rats! That sucks!
@@SHERRY0010harbor freight is in Canada, it just goes by another name. Thub has gone there before.
@@scrapping4shiba Princess Auto is Canadas version of Harbor Freight
@steveherr450 I couldn't think of it, but you did Broski. Cool.
Great video mate , hope you and family had a great Christmas , need a thinner blade so it goes between the metal plates easier and not trying to separate them , plus if put blade on other part to it’ll cut through both sides at same time ,
@10:38 cheers! hope this thing works out quickly
Adjustable Side rails to keep the motor from being spit out the side? Oscillating blade would be interesting too.
haha at least you got a log splitter. that sucker will let you rack up neighborhood wood much faster than having to chop it. I hunt my neighborhood for wood and the big rounds are everywhere. Chopping that unseasoned is a pain. I gotta get myself of those.
add a perpendicular sled with angle iron tacked on that can hold the motor square to the blade, could be an extended U shaped so it could be pushed along with the motor past the blade. The base of the U would be behind the blade
Try cutting the copper on 1 end as usual. Then build a mount or strap your motor down very securely and use the stroke of the piston to pull the copper wire out using a claw or something with a grip or vice you can lock down on the copper.
Its all about the speed when splitting those motors, the pressure will just crush them as you found.
Might I suggest in investing in a bandsaw that is like like chop saw. Just cut it in half. No fuss no must
@0:55 you can create all kinds of fun attachments for this, i am sure.
Great video my friend
I recently got into scrapping (thanks for the inspiration!) and told my family that I was doing so. They're very supportive, going so far as to collect their own steel coffee cans to deposit whenever they see me. However, several dozen hollow cylinders of steel takes up a ton of space, both in my workspace and in my transport, so I was wondering if you had any advice regarding such generous gifts?
Id try with a much thinner blade. You only need to cut through the copper so something that will slide easier through the metal slats since with the log pusher the motor is not clamped in place. Think about the people that cut them in half with a hammer and machete. And an extended metal push bar is a must the wood looks like it gives too much to be effective.
good idea! I'm trying to use a jackhammer
@@MerchantMetalswonder if you could use a flat garden spade on the end of the jack hammer
weld on the axe blade instead. On the pushing side, weld on a partical cup or V shape angle iron for better gripping onto the circular shape motor winding
you have given me an idea. I noticed that when trying to cut the motor would roll. so what if you use a combo of the log splitter with a grinder/ban saw/bench saw. as the log splitter pushes the motor rolls allowing the cutting blades to do their job. say you have 3 blades each sitting at increasing steps? could even turn it into a process line by creating an adjustable arm that could sit in the holes of the motors, holding them in place while they are pushed up the line. could even control the turn of the motors to slow the spin and allowing blades to cut more.
Happy Christmas buddy! I've seen a few use this method before, I think a thinner blade works best? Wishing you all the best for 2025🙂
Nice work, my northern neighbor
So, i have seen a similar machine on a video clip from Asia. You only need a slight modification in your thinking. Instead of splitting through the middle, split either end separating the copper from the metal . This cuts like BUTTER. I have seen 2 or 3 of these videos. The motor is laid in a Vee shaped thing, then the splitter moves down, VOILA, separation is achieved. I saved the video somewhere. I will try to find it.
Thanks for trying!
Sharpen it with a grinder or Hit it with an axe first to give it a starting point. Maybe even use the home made splitter on the cylinder, cut from both sides. lord, now i got ideas when i get home.
Cut the top part of the copper windings with a angle grinder, fashion an adjustable clamp to hold the motor down, weld a chain to the piston face weld the ends to a clamp pliers. And pull.
However you split them, spray the windings with soapy water before you pull them. It makes it a LOT easier.
I found that using a Sawzall with blade made to cut metal works just clamp motor in vice or something to hold an cut in half
Having 2 wedges one on each side would make it work like a giganic diagonal cutter and keep the motor in place.
All else fails mate,cut your losses and cut some logs up for your heater.👍
I think the welded fixture should be double sided bypass guillotine blades, basically a giant cigar cutter.
I'm making a jackhammer attachment that kinda looks like a cigar cutter! lol I'm hoping this will split my stators
Put a knife horizontaly . 4 cm high. Also add half circle on to pushing part with cutt to pass a knife.
I reckon you might have success with a splitting axe in a vice and a trolley jack
5:13
And that kids, is why we wear PPE.
Try a piece of square steel stock instead of wood. Also if u know how to weld. Lay down a shit ton of metal on the tip, grind it to a longer thinner point that the blunt wood splitting edge. You'll have better luck. I use a wood splitter and after modding it, have had zero issues. One last keynote, u may need a little more hp than 5. But modded, 5hp should work on a small scale.
I use a kitchen knife and a hammer so the only difference is that angle of that blade that you manufactured. I wonder if it also had a very thin angle or thinner blade if it would work better. Obviously I think the knife was hardened but that probably makes sense to make sure your blade is hardened