That was a big part of the advantage of buying them from the yard, they check and sort them for copper when people bring them in. There was a much bigger pile of aluminium ones there haha
I loved that part too! It’s just interesting to me, seeing incremental changes sped up so you can watch it. Like those high-speed videos of mushrooms or flowers blooming
Soak the thick paper coils in a bucket of cheap paint thinners, I leave them in the thinners for a week, then the paper/glue will just slide off, make sure you hose down the copper with cold water afterwards, thanks for keeping us entertained with your videos 👍
Find a yard that takes it is number two with it on they should there’s plenty of them that well as for me, one of my yards takes it as number three electric motor copper, but the price is higher than most other yards number two by at least 50 Cent
Wow this was satisfying. $1200 is definitely worth your time. That's almost a rent payment, in only 30 hours. For something that takes almost no tools and no skill, that's not a bad side hustle. Hell it's not a bad main hustle. If this was full time, that'd be an $80,000/year job. And, that's with your beginner's methods and tools. You'd get better and faster as time went on. One thing about breaking apart the stacked E-I transformers (versus interlaced), unless you want to re-use the transformer you don't need to use an angle grinder to cut the welds. An old hatchet as a wedge and a 3 lb hammer to smash it will punch right through those welds on the first strike. Also, since you left $400 on the table by selling high-silicon iron as tin shred... that's getting close to the cost of shipping a pallet to the coast. If you're doing quantities like this regularly (you aren't, but...), it's probably worth it to call around and find out just where the closest yard is that *will* pay you high silicon prices. Or, I dunno, if it's Edmonton or Red Deer or somewhere in-province, it'd borderline be worth your gas money and time to trailer it. I know yards in Ontario and BC pay for high-silicon, but, I've never heard of any here in town. I'm wondering if it'd be worth it for you to have/build a small hydraulic press (that's electric or air over hydraulic, so that it's 10x as fast). So much of what you do is hammering lettuce-sized objects, this has got to wear you down and slow you down. A fast-set vice (old impact driver and socket mounted to a vice, with a foot pedal to tighten/loosen) would also be a project worth building. Nothing you couldn't easily build out of scrap, and, I'd bet a project video series like that would be quite popular. Even not as a video series, your efforts are slowed down so much by your simple lack of clamping. You're wasting 90% of your body strength by having everything floating around all loose-like and never getting to apply proper leverage. Selling yourself short. As to peeling paper, my only thought is to maybe get it at a 15 degree angle and smash it into a parallelogram with a hammer. Might sheer the windings and sheer the fiberglass/paper. Fire is another option. Get a $25 weed burner propane torch and roast 'em. Copper soaks up heat magnificently, it'll soften the enamel and glues. Few seconds with a torch then the hammer perhaps? Like anything, you'll get better at it as you do more of it, but, for something you only do a couple times a year you're never climbing over the learning curve.
@@amogusenjoyer - Well, honestly, the scrapyard should be willing to do this, for all they're concerned. They got rid of some transformers, they got back some iron and copper. Both in this case as market rates, so, at worst they should be ambivalent towards it. Meanwhile, he could make $80k/year processing them. Or more if he got more efficient. Though you're right, maybe the entire yard doesn't have enough transformers to justify this. I don't know if he went to Empire or Recon for this load. It was Recon at the end where he sold the iron. Empire's like 5% the size, just a small bay or two in a warehouse strip, but Thub usually takes all his non-ferrous there 'cause their prices are significantly higher. Either one could've sold him transformers. The thing is, none of these yards are anywhere near the size that they're doing actual recycling with it. They're just stepping stones to the actual recyclers. They sell to "someone", so, the "someone" might as well be Thub. These aren't un-askable questions or a charity operation necessarily. Even a tiny premium to them in a very competitive industry has value. If he pays them 10% above transformer value, he'd only lose 10% of his profit, but meanwhile, they'd probably be happy making 10% more on it than they were. It's good money for Thub, but it's literally free money to them to get a 10% premium.
@@MattsAwesomeStuffagreed! And as you said, a hydraulic press would make it even easier and much more steady if the supply is there. Not sure about the very thick transformers but for the smaller ones and the separate coils, would be a huge help for sure
Buying transformers and motors to break down further is really the only way to really make money scrapping. There's a ceiling to how much raw scrap a person can collect and process. Canadian Treasure Hunter works tirelessly at it and makes like $35k a year. He's sitting on probably $100k worth of copper though.
Thub, it would be easier to break these things up if you scored them a little deeper, stored them in an ice chest to get them cold, and then stuck them in a vice before using a chisel and mallet to split them. Basically, make them brittle, stick your chisel in the notch, and whack them. A little prep work can make the physically demanding side of this much, much easier
@@ProjectShopFl abahhahahaha I know it is derek I’ve seen you swinging that thing like is a lollipop! Still haven’t made me a transformer press! I need it! 600 lights rolling in!
Really!? I’ve always found those are the best things to pull off circuit boards, generally a large amount of windings on them. Sounds like I missed out!
Your copper skillz are MAD bro! Astounding, incredible, amazing, Randallicious, divine, i-Cream, beautiful, righteous, Bob's-your-Uncle, flash, and crafty! Glad the payout was worth your time. Thanks for sharing.
Reading some of these comments I like the ideas of soaking everything in some sort of solution or finding a yard that will pay number 2 even with the paper. Also a good idea to leave the best looking stuff on the top :P
Motors are very hard work . My suggestion is to find you an old log splitter. If it's gas, do it outside. If you can swap it over to an electric motor then you can probably run the retrofit log splitter indoors in the winter.. But you will definitely have to change the anvil on the log's splitter So you can do the small motors Any type of hydraulic ram with a splitter on it would be helpful And I will encourage you to watch the project shop florida Videos, because he has a pretty good. Set up on how to get those things knocked quickly
Always a pleasure watching your videos ,your a well spoken ,intelligent and very interesting scrapper ,keep up the good work . Always look forward to your informative videos
We are 73 and we are glad that there are young people like you in the world. You have done more for the environment than the windbags, Gore, Kerry and Thunberg combined.
If I recall correctly project shop nfl once said he stopped cleaning them up and still got the same price. Not sure which video he mentioned it in but I often go to his channel for information on transformers.
I need to find some scrappers near me. I’d pay more for copper!! Unrelated, but very cool edits unloading-I especially liked watching the truck rise as it was unloaded. 😂 Lastly, carry a rake on your rig bro.
Always the hardest part is cleaning the paper off the copper. Luckily for me my yard takes # 2 copper cleaned up, burnt,with paint on it or covered in paper insulation and they give the same price per kg
This was so great! You have inspired me finally to deal with the transformers I have stored up. It's two orders of magnitude less, but it needs to be done.
Awesome this did look fun, if I were to do this I'd get only the transformers with welded plates. In my opinion more fun to Crack open and requires the least amount of tools. As you mentioned though it takes its physical toll. Great fun thank you!
A big sludge hame and a solid piece of iorn it takes 3 to 5 hit to brake open the transformer core you can be really fast at it i filled a hole bucket in about 25 minutes
great work, couple of things, an anvil/rail track on that stump would help heaps, the vice on a sturdy bench with the little jaw bits screwed in tight as any bit of crud that gets under a loose jaw becomes a potential break point when its tightened so keep em snug. i also endorse the hatchet/hammer method to split them, quicker and quieter with the anvil/rail. But a cool video Dude, thanks for showing us
To keep your hammer head tight keep it soaked in water. I'm a Faller and keep my axe in water once in awhile in summer. Also copper usually goes up in price in spring.
Thank you so much!! I genuinely really appreciate it, I know my videos aren’t for everyone but I try to make stuff I like and it means a lot to know there are people like you who like it too 💚
Superlative hammer work. Your videos have been so helpful to a newbie and now that pile of transformers I have looks a little less intimidating. Thanks mate 😎
i like this, dude!! copper looks so cool. red metal. you should make a video on making a powerful magnet or motor with looonnnggg amounts of copper wire. would be cool. f = bil.
One of your best videos yet and that's saying a bunch because you have awesome content. Great job on staying after the goal and bringing that profit home.
That was so awesome!! I love the copper toroids though, they take seconds to breakdown with a 🔨 and actually have 2 layers of copper, yum! I'd kill my back hammering at that low angle, how the heck do you do that 😬 but yes awesome, astounding and I can't remember the words you said lol. The level of effort and work you put in was formidable, great job as ever 👌😄
@ 10:05 Your technique was inspiring, no doubt.... I'm intrigued by your comments about the price of Copper.... Copper is a commodity... People do need it.... And, let me say, I am not a Financial Advisor. This comment is for entertainment only. I am a knucklehead commenter. Okay?? Good. If you found the price of copper was way down, Go buy more transformers for LESS money.... Clean those up... If the price is down again, buy more transformers, clean them up.... When the price rebounds, take your bounty & sell it at a high price.... It doesn't matter that much if you're looking to buy gold, silver, copper, platinum, pork bellies, soybeans, wheat, cattle, whatever.... although, taking delivery of cattle can present some serious storage problems.... Heh heh heh! My point is, If you believe in any commodity market, STUDY it... With the tools available today for free, look at your 50 day moving averages, your 200 day moving averages.... When the market drops DOWN, that's a buying opportunity. That's the thing you wanna buy, ON SALE. It's the same "thing". Except the price is down. When the price is running strong, that's your SELLING opportunity... Unload. Take your profits. Drag your money off the table. Book that profit in your notebook, reset, and start watching for the next buying opportunity..... Look, when I watch these videos, I see a guy with ambition... With energy... A guy willing to put in the work... And that is all very admirable... So, be SMART. If the price drops, buy more. When the price is up, sell it off.... Keep pounding. Get rewarded for your work.
the easiest method to separate copper is to put the entire thing in the forge inside a cubicle and in copper melting point remove steel and pour the clean copper in a cast
Nice like the vids.I get a good supply of electric motors I tear down when time allows. i use a portable 110v band saw on alot of my scrapping adventures. Another aluminum laden motor I've come across is a grundfos water pump was not worth the teardown for 40 cents of windings haha
I love you dude. Keep the info coming. I started watching your videos half a year ago. I have a pension and got bored. So I started scrapping and a slow week takes in 300$
I use a chunk of I-beam to break the steel, I don't precut the transformers. Also suggested to use a 4# cross peen hammer but smaller will work. I have all my steel and copper stored in 55 gallon drums waiting for a rainy day.
The best way I've seen those done is by TH-camr Project shop FL. I have done those interlocking ones with a machete. The opposite direction of the interlocking pieces.
Oh yeah he does a brilliant job of them. He was just saying at the start of his most recent video how he used to make a large amount of his income on transformers alone, so he’s definitely got the technique figured out
To make best score using a minimal hand forcé you Need : 1 - sorting of transforms for type of similar core and model 2- use the grinder to cut the solder joints. 3 - see TH-cam for learn another technic of dissambling trafo .
@thubprint invest a framing hammer! Sure they were originally made to drive in 3 inch nails while building the bones of a house, but it works like a hot damn on these plus you won’t get tired swinging it
Great pay for 30hrs and profit of $1.1k+. Now add and 2 hours of clean up, about $36-40/hr you made. No replace gloves, vice grip, extension cord, circular cutting wheel. Still not bad for a scrapper. Now if that was consistent, you are making what people with degrees make. Love it!
I've never done this kind of work but just by watching I'm wondering if it would make sense to get a hydraulic press and press the outer steel and inner plastic off of the copper? Maybe even make different jigs for the press head to fit common transformer sizes? Keep up the great videos! Love em!
I've broken many a transformer weld with a hammer. I take the stubborn ones to my makeshift anvil, a section of train track on the ground. You need an anvil or at least a section of train track on a larger stump. Meanwhile I experimented with my first fridge compressor today. I happened upon one already removed from fridge, so, game on. I watched your compressor video beforehand. Very little oil in mine and all clear. I would much rather have transformers than compressors and of course don't want to deal with the atmosphere killing gas in those. Scrap on! Hammer solves most problems, sometimes larger ones are required.
Project Farm uses a salt water mixture he uses for oxidation on metal and it takes just a few days if I recall correctly. Might be worth reaching out to him and asking about it if you really are serious about rusting them before you process them
I'm sorry this reads like an email but I don't have your Direct contact information. I lov3 how in this video you're both explaining and asking for input throughout. So here goes Personally I use a cold chisel to break the welded seams. Also something I recently started using is a hatchet that you don't care about, to handle the tranfoemers (of any size) with interlocked shims. Originally I wanted to use the machete method, but I didn't have the money for a machete or the patience to wait for one from the universe, and I had been using large Meat cleaving knives from the second hand store. However, they tended to chip and completely break very quickly and seeing how I didn't want an expensive machete to break just as easily when I learned of the hatchet method it was a no-brainer. To save on time and hastle, once I have the transformers halved, I fill 2 buckets. One bucket with the clean windings that will be taken as #2 no question. The other with the resin coated exterior, and overly covered in tape or tape adhesive bits. Once this second bucket is full (and it fills much slower) I intend to melt in a furnace, pour into long mildly thin bars, and then Hammer flat, so I can mix them in with all the number one pipe that I have flattened to save space while I store it. One of the things I greatly enjoy about your channel is the amount of knowledge I gain about the various types of metal and Metal scrap, and their chemistry, for example this video taught me about high silica Steel. Lastly, I'm curious to where has your adult co-captain disappeared? Is it that she no longer wants to be a part of the channel and its content, or is it more sadly that she's no longer in your life?
I don’t mind the long comments! The hatchet is probably the right move a lot of the time, and I like the “waiting for one from the universe” phrase. I think of things the same way, I could buy it now or I could just wait for it to show up (because eventually it does). The separating windings into two buckets makes sense, I’ve seen a number of comments from people who get #2 regardless of tape and glue but my yard was pretty clear they would have to give me a lower price if I hadn’t cleaned them up. Melting the poor quality ones down sounds like a lot of work to me but all the power to ya! And unfortunately yes, my partner decided to remove herself from my world permanently. It’s caused me a great deal of distress over the past two years and continues to now.
@thubprint my heart goes out to you on the loss of a good partner, that's never easy. As to the phrase "the universe provides" I've been using that for years, and it resonates with the mentality of TH-camr Ian Matthews who says "A scrapper never wants, he Waits!" Love that. And true story the day I bought a soldering gun off Amazon, I found one at the thriftshop at 1 tenth the cost haha.
@thubprint I get some of the best Ideas, like the hatchet, from @scrapitall 🥰 he recently did one about how to get the copper out of the spindle centers of motors, something that's been on my mind a while. I thought I'd have to wait until I could melt them off (still will for the aluminum centers).
I'm SO GLAD I got a good education and learned computer programming and electronics engineering. So the only times I ever did what you are doing is occasionally for a home project. At work, I was in a nice air conditioned office or lab. Except for the bad days!
I mentioned this in a previous comment section when you had done these before since I use to make those things and weld them by hand. Set them on something flat and hard, hit the top of it with a hammer to break the weld, pull the side off or hit them off with a hammer. Or even better use a chisel to do that. Occasionally you do need to slightly grind the weld off. The rusty ones are the ones that were not fully completed, they are suppose to be vanished to seal them so you can soak them for days but you'd end up with a wet transformer. The ones that are square with an "I" on top you can grind one side and use a chisel to pry them apart.
Great info and a great turorial! Youve been doing this for enough time you should think of investing in some lights. After all, the real product is the video. Love ya man!
I use a small gas oven I salvaged from an RV to melt off the plastic/paper/resin. I used galv. chimney pipe to exhaust the fumes thru a steel wool filter . I use steel sheet metal pans in the bottom of the oven to catch the p/p/r melt off , it pops out with a rubber mallet after it cools.
Damn you are lucky, every time i seem to crack a large transformer open all i get is steel and copper coated aluminium. GRRR!
That was a big part of the advantage of buying them from the yard, they check and sort them for copper when people bring them in. There was a much bigger pile of aluminium ones there haha
I thought it was neat watching you unload truck and noticing the rise of bumper as weight came off
I loved that part too! It’s just interesting to me, seeing incremental changes sped up so you can watch it. Like those high-speed videos of mushrooms or flowers blooming
totally a cool shot
The truck came up like 6 inches
30hours of hard grafting for a jaw dropping $2300 cnd is awesome am glad you felt proud driving to the scrapyard with all that #2 copper
its a great feeling!
Soak the thick paper coils in a bucket of cheap paint thinners, I leave them in the thinners for a week, then the paper/glue will just slide off, make sure you hose down the copper with cold water afterwards, thanks for keeping us entertained with your videos 👍
Find a yard that takes it is number two with it on they should there’s plenty of them that well as for me, one of my yards takes it as number three electric motor copper, but the price is higher than most other yards number two by at least 50 Cent
Thanks for this tip. I've got some transformers that are fairly hard to remove the glue and paper.
@@ScrapFatherScrapSonyea I just have to cut the rubber or plastic wire off
All you need is a hammer
And then follow up with a pressure washer
Wow this was satisfying. $1200 is definitely worth your time. That's almost a rent payment, in only 30 hours. For something that takes almost no tools and no skill, that's not a bad side hustle. Hell it's not a bad main hustle. If this was full time, that'd be an $80,000/year job. And, that's with your beginner's methods and tools. You'd get better and faster as time went on. One thing about breaking apart the stacked E-I transformers (versus interlaced), unless you want to re-use the transformer you don't need to use an angle grinder to cut the welds. An old hatchet as a wedge and a 3 lb hammer to smash it will punch right through those welds on the first strike. Also, since you left $400 on the table by selling high-silicon iron as tin shred... that's getting close to the cost of shipping a pallet to the coast. If you're doing quantities like this regularly (you aren't, but...), it's probably worth it to call around and find out just where the closest yard is that *will* pay you high silicon prices. Or, I dunno, if it's Edmonton or Red Deer or somewhere in-province, it'd borderline be worth your gas money and time to trailer it. I know yards in Ontario and BC pay for high-silicon, but, I've never heard of any here in town.
I'm wondering if it'd be worth it for you to have/build a small hydraulic press (that's electric or air over hydraulic, so that it's 10x as fast). So much of what you do is hammering lettuce-sized objects, this has got to wear you down and slow you down. A fast-set vice (old impact driver and socket mounted to a vice, with a foot pedal to tighten/loosen) would also be a project worth building. Nothing you couldn't easily build out of scrap, and, I'd bet a project video series like that would be quite popular. Even not as a video series, your efforts are slowed down so much by your simple lack of clamping. You're wasting 90% of your body strength by having everything floating around all loose-like and never getting to apply proper leverage. Selling yourself short.
As to peeling paper, my only thought is to maybe get it at a 15 degree angle and smash it into a parallelogram with a hammer. Might sheer the windings and sheer the fiberglass/paper. Fire is another option. Get a $25 weed burner propane torch and roast 'em. Copper soaks up heat magnificently, it'll soften the enamel and glues. Few seconds with a torch then the hammer perhaps? Like anything, you'll get better at it as you do more of it, but, for something you only do a couple times a year you're never climbing over the learning curve.
I think the hard part would be to find truck loads of copper transformers 😅. Consistently I mean
@@amogusenjoyer - Well, honestly, the scrapyard should be willing to do this, for all they're concerned. They got rid of some transformers, they got back some iron and copper. Both in this case as market rates, so, at worst they should be ambivalent towards it. Meanwhile, he could make $80k/year processing them. Or more if he got more efficient. Though you're right, maybe the entire yard doesn't have enough transformers to justify this. I don't know if he went to Empire or Recon for this load. It was Recon at the end where he sold the iron. Empire's like 5% the size, just a small bay or two in a warehouse strip, but Thub usually takes all his non-ferrous there 'cause their prices are significantly higher. Either one could've sold him transformers. The thing is, none of these yards are anywhere near the size that they're doing actual recycling with it. They're just stepping stones to the actual recyclers. They sell to "someone", so, the "someone" might as well be Thub. These aren't un-askable questions or a charity operation necessarily. Even a tiny premium to them in a very competitive industry has value. If he pays them 10% above transformer value, he'd only lose 10% of his profit, but meanwhile, they'd probably be happy making 10% more on it than they were. It's good money for Thub, but it's literally free money to them to get a 10% premium.
@@MattsAwesomeStuffagreed! And as you said, a hydraulic press would make it even easier and much more steady if the supply is there. Not sure about the very thick transformers but for the smaller ones and the separate coils, would be a huge help for sure
i bet you would need a couple of rest days after that
@@MattsAwesomeStuffgreat info mate thanks
Buying transformers and motors to break down further is really the only way to really make money scrapping. There's a ceiling to how much raw scrap a person can collect and process. Canadian Treasure Hunter works tirelessly at it and makes like $35k a year. He's sitting on probably $100k worth of copper though.
There is alot more money than that in scrapping. You just gotta pay for your scrap metal.
Thub, it would be easier to break these things up if you scored them a little deeper, stored them in an ice chest to get them cold, and then stuck them in a vice before using a chisel and mallet to split them.
Basically, make them brittle, stick your chisel in the notch, and whack them.
A little prep work can make the physically demanding side of this much, much easier
Also need to watch for the aluminum wire ones if no copper loose money fast them square washing machine motors are aluminum wired in that box
Project shop FL is the expert on breaking transformers
He is with the machine. Stop by mine and watch how ibreak them down by hand!
@@ScrapFatherScrapSon
Ok cheers
@@ScrapFatherScrapSon Don't let the machine fool you, My hammer game is still on point. lol
@@ProjectShopFl abahhahahaha I know it is derek I’ve seen you swinging that thing like is a lollipop! Still haven’t made me a transformer press! I need it! 600 lights rolling in!
So much inspiration to start this in the UK! 😜🙏💯🔥
Blood sweat and tears won't describe the difficulty you'll encounter the 1st time you get the copper from these. 😂
That round one w plastic you passed on is awesome. I get them off Uninterruptible power supplies. 16lbs of copper
Really!? I’ve always found those are the best things to pull off circuit boards, generally a large amount of windings on them. Sounds like I missed out!
Your copper skillz are MAD bro! Astounding, incredible, amazing, Randallicious, divine, i-Cream, beautiful, righteous, Bob's-your-Uncle, flash, and crafty! Glad the payout was worth your time. Thanks for sharing.
Going above and beyond Mr. Z! I’m gonna screenshot those and try work them all into sentences haha 👍 thanks for being a part of it!
Reading some of these comments I like the ideas of soaking everything in some sort of solution or finding a yard that will pay number 2 even with the paper. Also a good idea to leave the best looking stuff on the top :P
I like how your vice is bolted to a tree stump… very Canadian.
Motors are very hard work . My suggestion is to find you an old log splitter. If it's gas, do it outside. If you can swap it over to an electric motor then you can probably run the retrofit log splitter indoors in the winter.. But you will definitely have to change the anvil on the log's splitter So you can do the small motors Any type of hydraulic ram with a splitter on it would be helpful And I will encourage you to watch the project shop florida Videos, because he has a pretty good. Set up on how to get those things knocked quickly
Amazing! Riveting techniques! Superb rhythm! Good eye and steadfast determination. 5 stars!
I can dig it dude, just spent 2 hours pulling apart a car alternator with a 20oz estwing hammer and hand tools.loved it
Always a pleasure watching your videos ,your a well spoken ,intelligent and very interesting scrapper ,keep up the good work . Always look forward to your informative videos
Thank you!
it's great that your yard was willing to work with you of the project.
We are 73 and we are glad that there are young people like you in the world. You have done more for the environment than the windbags, Gore, Kerry and Thunberg combined.
Good day from Ontario. Interesting video.
Yesterday my bro. crushed pop cans but we used shovel to scoop up goes alot quicker.
Thanks Interesting!
If I recall correctly project shop nfl once said he stopped cleaning them up and still got the same price. Not sure which video he mentioned it in but I often go to his channel for information on transformers.
Yeah, most yards should take it as number two with the paper on if they complain, find another yard!
Your doing great Thub. Keep pushing yourself and all will be well. Love all your videos 👍
🥲 ty!
I need to find some scrappers near me. I’d pay more for copper!! Unrelated, but very cool edits unloading-I especially liked watching the truck rise as it was unloaded. 😂 Lastly, carry a rake on your rig bro.
Amazing videos like these I absolutely love and wish you did them more often
Always the hardest part is cleaning the paper off the copper. Luckily for me my yard takes # 2 copper cleaned up, burnt,with paint on it or covered in paper insulation and they give the same price per kg
Very nice video! Love the humor in it!! Great pay day too !! Love it
Well done Drake! Your technique is second to none 😂!
Happy days, if you had fun making that amount an hour, got to be a bonus. Keep posting and I'll keep watching
You need a shop press, you put the transformer in it diagonally corner to corner and crush it till cracks and falls apart.
He should be thanking u but... of course not 😂😂
This was so great! You have inspired me finally to deal with the transformers I have stored up. It's two orders of magnitude less, but it needs to be done.
Excellent result, simply super, it’s always a pleasure to work with copper, especially in small quantities.👍
During most of the core disassembly I kept thinking this is a job for a log splitter. Thanks for sharing.
I was thinking a machine press from Harbor freight with the big bottle jack in it. Give each one a smoosh.
Yep, we use a wood splitter it's the fastest easiest way.
Really nice camera work 👍🏼
Love your content 👍🏼🐼
Thank you! Used most of the lenses I own haha
Awesome this did look fun, if I were to do this I'd get only the transformers with welded plates. In my opinion more fun to Crack open and requires the least amount of tools. As you mentioned though it takes its physical toll. Great fun thank you!
Love these further away shots, great focusing!
I admire your patience. I work 2 jobs I don't have the time or patience to go to these lengths. I just turn it as is.
A big sludge hame and a solid piece of iorn it takes 3 to 5 hit to brake open the transformer core you can be really fast at it i filled a hole bucket in about 25 minutes
I don't understand why Project Shop FL doesn't buy them from scrap yards. You are a madman cleaning them up.
Listen to the vid. Scrapyards are not in the biz of selling transformers at cost. So this vid is fantasy.
great work, couple of things, an anvil/rail track on that stump would help heaps, the vice on a sturdy bench with the little jaw bits screwed in tight as any bit of crud that gets under a loose jaw becomes a potential break point when its tightened so keep em snug. i also endorse the hatchet/hammer method to split them, quicker and quieter with the anvil/rail. But a cool video Dude, thanks for showing us
To keep your hammer head tight keep it soaked in water. I'm a Faller and keep my axe in water once in awhile in summer. Also copper usually goes up in price in spring.
Great work man! Keep grinding. I found torch takes the sticky paper off, much faster.
For real I’m such a big fan of yours I’ve literally watched and liked every single video I’ve watched them more than once too❤
Thank you so much!! I genuinely really appreciate it, I know my videos aren’t for everyone but I try to make stuff I like and it means a lot to know there are people like you who like it too 💚
Superlative hammer work. Your videos have been so helpful to a newbie and now that pile of transformers I have looks a little less intimidating. Thanks mate 😎
A very good job was done and the result was superb 👍
Nice job my friend👍👍
Great job, love your channel. That vise needs to be higher so you don't hunch your back. Workflow, man.
Awesome work.... well done. You inspire!!!
i like this, dude!! copper looks so cool. red metal. you should make a video on making a powerful magnet or motor with looonnnggg amounts of copper wire. would be cool. f = bil.
One of your best videos yet and that's saying a bunch because you have awesome content. Great job on staying after the goal and bringing that profit home.
Wow! Your hammer skills are astounding, impressive and inspiring. Your technique is remarkable in how you peel those hairy little meatballs.
Fascinating. Intriguing. Excruciating. 😄
That was so awesome!! I love the copper toroids though, they take seconds to breakdown with a 🔨 and actually have 2 layers of copper, yum! I'd kill my back hammering at that low angle, how the heck do you do that 😬 but yes awesome, astounding and I can't remember the words you said lol. The level of effort and work you put in was formidable, great job as ever 👌😄
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@ 10:05 Your technique was inspiring, no doubt....
I'm intrigued by your comments about the price of Copper....
Copper is a commodity... People do need it....
And, let me say, I am not a Financial Advisor. This comment is for entertainment only. I am a knucklehead commenter. Okay?? Good.
If you found the price of copper was way down, Go buy more transformers for LESS money.... Clean those up... If the price is down again, buy more transformers, clean them up.... When the price rebounds, take your bounty & sell it at a high price....
It doesn't matter that much if you're looking to buy gold, silver, copper, platinum, pork bellies, soybeans, wheat, cattle, whatever.... although, taking delivery of cattle can present some serious storage problems.... Heh heh heh!
My point is, If you believe in any commodity market, STUDY it... With the tools available today for free, look at your 50 day moving averages, your 200 day moving averages.... When the market drops DOWN, that's a buying opportunity. That's the thing you wanna buy, ON SALE. It's the same "thing". Except the price is down. When the price is running strong, that's your SELLING opportunity... Unload. Take your profits. Drag your money off the table. Book that profit in your notebook, reset, and start watching for the next buying opportunity.....
Look, when I watch these videos, I see a guy with ambition... With energy... A guy willing to put in the work... And that is all very admirable... So, be SMART. If the price drops, buy more. When the price is up, sell it off.... Keep pounding. Get rewarded for your work.
I have a hard of my own. Your vid has been most helpful my boy. 😊
Wow. Those paper stripping skills were a thing of beauty
YES! I cannot wait to see how this unfolds!
Good job, Thub. Awesome work.
Beautiful hammering technique!
the easiest method to separate copper is to put the entire thing in the forge inside a cubicle and in copper melting point remove steel and pour the clean copper in a cast
Air chisel might be more efficient for the ones with the joins/seams.
Nice like the vids.I get a good supply of electric motors I tear down when time allows. i use a portable 110v band saw on alot of my scrapping adventures. Another aluminum laden motor I've come across is a grundfos water pump was not worth the teardown for 40 cents of windings haha
I love you dude. Keep the info coming. I started watching your videos half a year ago. I have a pension and got bored. So I started scrapping and a slow week takes in 300$
Remarkable technique handling the meatballs 😳
I use a chunk of I-beam to break the steel, I don't precut the transformers. Also suggested to use a 4# cross peen hammer but smaller will work. I have all my steel and copper stored in 55 gallon drums waiting for a rainy day.
Great video Man! And those were some "Thor" like hammering skills!!
Nice load mate .Next step a furnace
Maybe find yourself a slab of thick steel to use as an anvil, or an old piece of rail track, easier than smacking that vice all day
The best way I've seen those done is by TH-camr Project shop FL. I have done those interlocking ones with a machete. The opposite direction of the interlocking pieces.
Oh yeah he does a brilliant job of them. He was just saying at the start of his most recent video how he used to make a large amount of his income on transformers alone, so he’s definitely got the technique figured out
To make best score using a minimal hand forcé you Need :
1 - sorting of transforms for type of similar core and model
2- use the grinder to cut the solder joints.
3 - see TH-cam for learn another technic of dissambling trafo .
Great video my friend
Duuuude. Be proud. You earned that 💯
@thubprint invest a framing hammer! Sure they were originally made to drive in 3 inch nails while building the bones of a house, but it works like a hot damn on these plus you won’t get tired swinging it
Always learn something new watching your videos, thanks bro!
Great video dude the voice over was relaxing
Great pay for 30hrs and profit of $1.1k+. Now add and 2 hours of clean up, about $36-40/hr you made. No replace gloves, vice grip, extension cord, circular cutting wheel. Still not bad for a scrapper. Now if that was consistent, you are making what people with degrees make. Love it!
The round ones are a good source of copper wire, yes there’s a bit of paper but they are still worth breaking up.
That was an awesome video my friend!!
Those hammer skills were Olympic qualifying like
You have excellent hairy meatball skills!
This is a process wow 😳 very impressive technique 😅😅
thank you for your cool video, scrap metal people are everywhere :)cheers from Russia
Enjoyed the video, keep them coming
Love the videos. I work at a scrap yard in the states as a shear/excavator operator. Never even thought about this as a hobby, but i see the appeal.
Wow, that was great.
That was and awesome video. Pretty cool return
Phenomenal, stupendous! Loved this
I've never done this kind of work but just by watching I'm wondering if it would make sense to get a hydraulic press and press the outer steel and inner plastic off of the copper? Maybe even make different jigs for the press head to fit common transformer sizes? Keep up the great videos! Love em!
Hmm I must have missed this video. Impressive, aspiring, awesome hammering job. Great video as always
Another great video!
I've broken many a transformer weld with a hammer. I take the stubborn ones to my makeshift anvil, a section of train track on the ground. You need an anvil or at least a section of train track on a larger stump. Meanwhile I experimented with my first fridge compressor today. I happened upon one already removed from fridge, so, game on. I watched your compressor video beforehand. Very little oil in mine and all clear. I would much rather have transformers than compressors and of course don't want to deal with the atmosphere killing gas in those. Scrap on! Hammer solves most problems, sometimes larger ones are required.
Project Farm uses a salt water mixture he uses for oxidation on metal and it takes just a few days if I recall correctly. Might be worth reaching out to him and asking about it if you really are serious about rusting them before you process them
I'm sorry this reads like an email but I don't have your Direct contact information. I lov3 how in this video you're both explaining and asking for input throughout. So here goes
Personally I use a cold chisel to break the welded seams. Also something I recently started using is a hatchet that you don't care about, to handle the tranfoemers (of any size) with interlocked shims. Originally I wanted to use the machete method, but I didn't have the money for a machete or the patience to wait for one from the universe, and I had been using large Meat cleaving knives from the second hand store. However, they tended to chip and completely break very quickly and seeing how I didn't want an expensive machete to break just as easily when I learned of the hatchet method it was a no-brainer. To save on time and hastle, once I have the transformers halved, I fill 2 buckets. One bucket with the clean windings that will be taken as #2 no question. The other with the resin coated exterior, and overly covered in tape or tape adhesive bits. Once this second bucket is full (and it fills much slower) I intend to melt in a furnace, pour into long mildly thin bars, and then Hammer flat, so I can mix them in with all the number one pipe that I have flattened to save space while I store it.
One of the things I greatly enjoy about your channel is the amount of knowledge I gain about the various types of metal and Metal scrap, and their chemistry, for example this video taught me about high silica Steel.
Lastly, I'm curious to where has your adult co-captain disappeared? Is it that she no longer wants to be a part of the channel and its content, or is it more sadly that she's no longer in your life?
I don’t mind the long comments! The hatchet is probably the right move a lot of the time, and I like the “waiting for one from the universe” phrase. I think of things the same way, I could buy it now or I could just wait for it to show up (because eventually it does). The separating windings into two buckets makes sense, I’ve seen a number of comments from people who get #2 regardless of tape and glue but my yard was pretty clear they would have to give me a lower price if I hadn’t cleaned them up. Melting the poor quality ones down sounds like a lot of work to me but all the power to ya! And unfortunately yes, my partner decided to remove herself from my world permanently. It’s caused me a great deal of distress over the past two years and continues to now.
@thubprint my heart goes out to you on the loss of a good partner, that's never easy. As to the phrase "the universe provides" I've been using that for years, and it resonates with the mentality of TH-camr Ian Matthews who says "A scrapper never wants, he Waits!" Love that. And true story the day I bought a soldering gun off Amazon, I found one at the thriftshop at 1 tenth the cost haha.
@thubprint I get some of the best Ideas, like the hatchet, from @scrapitall 🥰 he recently did one about how to get the copper out of the spindle centers of motors, something that's been on my mind a while. I thought I'd have to wait until I could melt them off (still will for the aluminum centers).
@@bentleyalder5492 oh I like his ideas too! I’ll have to check that one out, I still just throw that bit into mixed motors
Awesome job
Not sure if it would be cost effective but sulfuric acid(drain cleaner) works amazing at removing the resin and paper
What I do is wire wheel the paper off. Works quite well
Ooooo, can’t believe I didn’t think of that!! That would have been much much easier 😭
@@thubprint next time🤣 also thanks for the idea of using a machete to split motors works awesome!
I do streetlights and parking lot fixtures and such and I get loads of these transformers every week. But never thought it be worth the trouble.
I'm SO GLAD I got a good education and learned computer programming and electronics engineering. So the only times I ever did what you are doing is occasionally for a home project. At work, I was in a nice air conditioned office or lab. Except for the bad days!
I mentioned this in a previous comment section when you had done these before since I use to make those things and weld them by hand. Set them on something flat and hard, hit the top of it with a hammer to break the weld, pull the side off or hit them off with a hammer. Or even better use a chisel to do that. Occasionally you do need to slightly grind the weld off.
The rusty ones are the ones that were not fully completed, they are suppose to be vanished to seal them so you can soak them for days but you'd end up with a wet transformer.
The ones that are square with an "I" on top you can grind one side and use a chisel to pry them apart.
That was inspiring hammering there I must say
Great video! Some really nice shots and your voice-over is golden.
Thank you!
Great info and a great turorial! Youve been doing this for enough time you should think of investing in some lights. After all, the real product is the video. Love ya man!
I use a small gas oven I salvaged from an RV to melt off the plastic/paper/resin. I used galv. chimney pipe to exhaust the fumes thru a steel wool filter . I use steel sheet metal pans in the bottom of the oven to catch the p/p/r melt off , it pops out with a rubber mallet after it cools.