@@luketippey8664 Check with your yard... you may do just as good selling them as is, and avoid having to process the aluminum/aluminum ones :-) Thanks for riding shotgun for me.
@samwdavis. If you are out scrapping and collecting everything else, and going to the scrap yard anyways you will end up with a bunch of microwaves. So why not take the copper out of the transformer?
That winding is wrapped up because there is 8000 volts on it! Throw the coils in acetone for a few minutes. All that cardboard will peel easily off. If you soak the whole transformers in acetone before disassembly, they will come apart easier. Keep in mind the flammability of the acetone. Soak outside in a bucket for an hour, pull them out & then drain & disassemble. The acetone will get dirty but will still work.
Sometimes the primary coil(the thicker gage, less wrapped coil) will be aluminum while the secondary is copper. So don't discount the transformer if you only check the primary.
I think it is more about the brand than the time. But yes, the older the better for finding copper. Look for the woodgrain models :-) Thanks for watching.
Still got to enclude the time taking them out of a microwave, and yes you are lucky if you find one transformer out of every 5 microwaves that is copper ( and if it is it will only be the top windings ) and most are aluminium windings
When scrapping any type of a transformer if you want to remove the slack to get a little bit better price slightly Heat over the top of a fire pit for a couple seconds the coding will eventually start to fall off a little slamming it on the concrete every now and then during the heating process doesn't hurt either doesn't always work but works some of the time sometimes it even works on motor coils too
So maybe $45. Then you have to spend your gas to get there. Plus there's the time for getting the transformer out of the microwave itself, hoping there's actually even copper in it. This is a great idea for keeping retirees busy lol
When I was a kid back in the 70's, I remember seeing these strange looking E's and I's all over the creek bed and had zero clue what they were... Lol. It wasn't until years later I found out. Evidently someone was tearing these transformers apart for the copper wiring and tossing the E's and I's in the creek. Funny how some things don't changed, people still stripping for copper.
15 pounds of number 2 copper at 2.77 a pound is $41.55. Now include all the time to collect those microwaves and open them up you might make $20 an hour but you still have to drive to the recycling place. $15 an hour at best.
That's great but I live in Saskatchewan where finding free microwaves is next to impossible. It was ok in BC, I had a house full of stuff to scrap. But here it sucks. Valu Village sells 476,879-year-old microwaves for 20 bucks each. at the weight you showed, at 4 bucks a pound, that's $11.50. I'd be losing $8.50 on every microwave. This province sucks for scrappers and recyclers and repurposers. In BC there were plenty of places you could get microwaves, TVs, appliances, or just about anything. At every landfill there was a shed that you could take stuff OUT of for free. At the bottle/electronics depots you could take anything you wanted as long as it hadn't made it inside yet, and people would drop off electronics by the door and the staff would take it inside. Curbside scrapping was seldom there but it was there, people don't put things curbside in Saskatchewan. Any scrap bin was fair game unless it had a lock and fence, or a no trespassing sign. That was in BC. Saskatchewan SUCKS!!!!
Hhhhmmmmm, i think i have a VERY good source for these at nearly unlimited numbers. Not from microwaves, but from battery back up power supplies. Ill have to see what the windings are, im pretty sure theyre copper though judging by the weight
What about the time it took to tear down a microwave? When you do the math, it's about 39 cents more than just scraping it. All if its copper. Time is money. I do it for the copper but I save it. Going off the first one's weight of 30 ounces. You should have 15 pounds. Not a bad haul.
It only takes one minute when you have the transformer allready out of the microwave, the microwave out of the scrapyard, you need to add the time to get the microwaves, the time to extract the transformer, extract the copper, the time to clean all the garbage you made, the time to bring the copper to sell it and come back. Ah and you need to substract the gas you need to move arround. Here in my country copper scraps are bought 4 euro/kg . So you a faaaaaaaar from 360$/H very far. But if you do a video about it, I guess at a certain point you make 360/h
No one is making 360 dollars an hour scrapping copper unless it’s being done with automation rather then hand labor also the dollar figure is entirely dependent on current scrap metal prices
Totally Agree... the point of the video is to show how easy it is to liberate the copper from transformers. The hourly rate is just a hypothetical example. thanks for checking out my channel :-)
That is NOT the fair assessment on hourly. You have prep, disassemble, clean, transit, fuel, etc. More like, you make about $12 per microwave, and if you really hustle and find a lot of microwaves, you might make $100 in a day
How much did you pay to get rid of the rest of the microwave? How much time did it take you to get the coils out of each microwave? Spare change but not even close to 360 an hour.
$360 is not realistic by a far stretch. You left out the time extracting the transformer from the microwave and setting up to separate the copper out of the transformer. Time spent retrieving the microwaves and the time to dispose of the remaining unused parts of the microwave.
Just FYI : . The magnetron, which generates the microwave energy, has a sintered ceramic insulator that is made from beryllium oxide . During use it is inert and harmless but if it is crushed and the dust is inhaled you can get berylliosis, an incurable disease of the lungs.
Yes, you are correct when it comes to older one. That have sense stopped using beryllium. But one don't know which are witch. So don't crush any of them.
@@thescrapmeister Thank you for this information. Because of beryllium I've been terrified of exploring the insides of microwaves for years, really! It's been frustrating because I always knew there was lots of good stuff inside of them! I want that copper wire to use on electronics projects. There's a wealth of it!
The secondary windings are wrapped with more insulating material because those wires carry more than 10 times the voltage of the primary and the engineers didn't want that to arc to the transformers core.
Are used to work in the scrapping business most of the newer microwaves. Nowadays are not copper they are actually aluminum wire with copper coating. Only old microwaves and I’m talking from the early 2000s it’s just like a Lincoln 250 amp arc welder is not copper inside. It is aluminum wire inside which are crappy welders. You have to get the early model welders like that that have the copper wire in them. It’s very easy to tell the weight the true copper ones are really heavy. The aluminum ones are a lot lighter. Same thing with microwave ovens the older ones heavier because they’re copper, newer microwaves, are aluminum coated with copper
I have not seen a microwave Transform that was 100% copper since the early 1970s. It's all copper-clad nowadays! I have 5 or 6 different microwave Transformers I keep for electronic experiment purposes in the back room. I can only dream to find a 100% copper Transformer!👍
I have done hundreds over the last 20 years, and you are right 90% was aluminum copper-clad wire. the magnetron tube it self has more copper, but can contain beryllium also, so be careful.
Wow, stumbled onto your video by accident. You solved (for me) a lifelong question. At 54 now and grew up in a housing project in Pennsylvania. Behind the place was a fairly large, wooded area that was once home to coal mines. During the first 10 years you couldn't walk anywhere without seeing lots of rusted E's of various sizes all over the place and nobody knew where they came from, or what their purpose was. So, seeing them as holding the copper together gave me an answer, I never thought I'd find.
@@bartholomewceremony6981 yes I guess if that is what one was into :-) yes, they were lost likely good. I sold two on eBay and both sales the buyer said not as described and it cost me money for the return shipping. So l just scrap them. If someone wants some, it is easy to find microwaves:-) thanks for watching.
Cardboard is an excellent heat insulator. It prevents heat transfer to the iron core which would melt all the windings by contributing to the heat generated by magnetic eddy currents within the soft iron core. These eddy currents are created by rapidly increasing and decreasing magnetic fields, which induce electrical fields within the iron as well.
I love how people clickbait 😂 they don’t even try to get close to the truth lol😂 dude I could earn $360 per hour I’d be working 23 hours a day 7 days a week
This video does not address all the other time and effort that needs to be spent like removing the transformers from the old microwave ovens and hunting down the old microwave ovens in the first place.
I would have liked to have seen the micowave units that still have Cu windings. I guarantee that your vise won't last very long..don't ask me how I know. Nice hammer for weld cracking.
Thanks for stopping by the channel... I've found Avanti Brand, Double copper and Sanyo Brand, Copper/Alum. As for the vice... it has a life time guarantee :-)
It didn't take a "minute" to capture two pounds of copper. It takes AT LEAST a minute JUST to take the MOT out of the microwave alone. Lets be real. The MOTs make Excellent little spot welders, and from there you can make all sorts of things.
I pull the transformer out of all of em, even if they're aluminum wound I still make em worth my time. My local yard has a loyalty program, I stash n em n take a lot in for 5cents more than normal irony aluminum
@@skynet2966 yes, I am just saying to rip the copper out of the transformers. It's more of a hypothetical... because my arm would fall off if I did 60 in an hour :-) thanks for watching!
Very interesting regardless of copper or aluminum it’s still worth money some cases I don’t even break my transformers down. I just take them out of the microwaves and I take them straight to the scrapyard where I’m at. They considered to quote a motor price so I still get two dollars a pound for it, but in my case it’s better to do it. That way to spend a whole day scrapping transformers. I might lose 100 bucks but whatever I’m still getting pretty good money for doing nothing but scrapping transformers some of the Maggotron. I also scrap I don’t deal with anything with wire, just not worth it and then the metal of the cabinet of the microwave itself is worth a little bit of money, not much and then streetlight the old cobra heads talking about money because of the old aluminum cobra street lights are worth money. I cleared out a Kmart one time that closed and I picked up over $5000 in a period of 24 hours scrapping out the cobra heads take all the transformers out take out the aluminum shields they don’t take the lightbulbs they don’t take the ceramic sockets at the bulbs fit in, but they will take the transformers, the aluminum shields and of course the overhead housing itself is aluminum when you gotta take out the glass and the cell is not worth it either so that’s another thing you should check into check out the old parking lots that are no longer can find out who owns it if there wasn’t let you take it down in case I got lucky so people bought out the store. They were changing out the lights and they gave me the cobra heads.
quite a few around me don't pickup microwaves because the yards charge for them unless you take them apart. so I get quite a few of them because I am 1 of the very few that actually tears their scrap apart for more money. I also get lot of fridges and air conditioners because they charge for those too if you take them in whole. I cut them up, I even take the copper out of the condensers on fridge and a.cs.
@@ScrapperSam wisconsin. Microwaves are a $10 charge whole but if you take them apart and remove the megatron(?) or whatever that part that has the brillion in then you can get paid. i take them apart to take the copper out anyways so no problem to me. but someone throwing out a bad micrwave won't do that. fridge,freezers a.c. dehunidifiers or anything else with refridgerant in is a $20 charge no matter on size. if you remove it than you can get paid but you also need to have the dnr license to remove the freon which most scrappers don't have around here. don't show up with the condensers cut out without having that license, they will not take them from you. so it is easy to find these items dumped on back roads all the time. i always take different routes justin case, you never know what you will find getting off the main drag.s
Also you cannot just buy that license and think you are good. they will come out and make sure you are equipped to pull the freon out correctly. they were surprised i had 3 of those vacuum pumps here. when they heard i also work part time for a couple of heating and a.c. guys they knew i was aware on how to use the stuff correctly and signed off.
I can easily find 2 dozen microwave ovens in a months period, driving around Philadelphia areas on trash days. Any Metro area really if you know the trash day routes and get out early. Keep on Scrapping👍
Yeah, if you had an endless supply, you can make that much an hour, but no one‘s ever gonna be able to do that not even close to making that much money an hour, man!
Idk anything about scrapping, though I was hoping it would tell me how to disassemble one of these so that I could re-wind it myself. Anyway, One of the coils, the primary, takes about 120 Volts AC. The transformer turns that into around 2000 Volts AC, output by the secondary. The coil that's wrapped up is the dangerous secondary coil, in case there is some kind of stored energy somewhere you do NOT want to touch that coil
Only desperate crack + heads do this in my neighborhood. . However I'm not saying you are one The only reason I say that is the last crapper scopper copper I knew was found under a house dead for 2 weeks after he tried to rip the copper wire out from underneath it. I was actually one of the people out looking for him for his fiance. We generally try to refurbish the microwaves and give them back to the poor here or they're made into something useful that transformer for its creation. Transformers should be reused not abused. This is kind of like the chuckleheads who turn in perfectly normal thermostats just because their HVAC person tells then it's dangerous and the EPA of course is in on it. Just one big money making scam . The HVAC technicians get a kickback almost thermostats or they can turn around and harvest the Mercury themselves and make good money off of it. Young people in turn are stupid enough to go and buy a snap thermostat with $300 worth of electronic BS and wonder why they keep having to call everybody back for thier HVAC systems are breaking down or sweating to death because their Wi-Fi just went on the fritz m
I hear you... a lot of things are like that now days. Like the CRT monitors, can't be put in a landfill, but was fine to sit in front of it for 10 years. LOL Thanks for watching.
your telling me... that you make $360 dollars a hour by collecting around 4 bucks in copper every 10 minutes not including the time it took to take apart the microwave.... thats the stupidest thing i ever heard in my life buddy, dont get me wrong, i loike stripping things for copper but that is total bullshit, this pays around 8 - 10 bucks a hour at best
15 pounds... what did you get? 'nother hour older and deeper in debt... st Peter don't you call me cos' I can't go! I owe my soul to copper sacraping fun!
your maths and your video just arent really congruent. For your 'advertisement' to be correct, a person needs source, transport and store 60 microwave ovens for every hour they plan to work. You have at most $15-20 on your desk, and its not accounting for any of the other costs.
The point of the video is to show how easy it is to liberate the copper... The dollar amount is a hypothetical example. Thanks for checking out my channel hope you'll ride shotgun in the future
Less than a minute to smash it apart, but 2 hours to take the microwave apart. Another thing, CLEAN copper pays better. Your math on time v. money is way off, you have to add all the time from start to finish to determine the real time
i think your math is off. should be 16 oz per pound not ten. even if it was five dollars a pound (its not), it doesn't add up. the time and gas to drive around and get them, time taking apart and cleaning, driving and waiting at scrap yard. i dont see how you woud even break even.
You cannot make 360.00 a hour scrapping out 8 copper wire transformers not inlets you had 100s of them that was copper then you need to burn the wire or sell it as insulation copper
That was a waste of my time and intelligence. Then had to been a very old microwave and if it was why didn't you just turned into a split welder and make more money..
@@thescrapmeister I love the idea of scrapping copper. I melt copper and cast for fun! But I’m also an electronics hobbyist and hate to see a transformer destroyed. If nothing else, be extra kind to the laminated iron sheets holding everything together. Those can be rewound to a new transformer. Still, I loved seeing the innards. lol!
Very informative but I have to hit you up on your maths. You didn't incorporate how long it took to extract each transformer from each microwave... that's not really accurate unless you magically find a pile of transformers. P.S. please pay no mind to my mild autism, I'm compelled to say it, sorry.
Thanks for watching... yes, it take 7 minutes to rip a microwave, and you also get 2 small motors, and some wire. So that covers the time to take it apart :-)
I repair appliances for a living what a joke the new microwaves are i need help removing over the range units if they are old the new ones i can install myself they weigh nothing meaning they are junk
So the manager at the scrap yard I sell to told me not to tear apart microwaves for that box because it's copper colored aluminum and not copper at all. Now I'm confused!
The transformers, the real heavy part can have Copper/Copper windings, Aluminum/Copper, or Alum/Alum it is getting harder and harder to find the Copper/Copper ones. I have found the copper/copper ones in older microwaves. Keep an eye on woodgrain ones. I also found many Avanti Brand have Copper/Copper. Their is other copper in them as well. The motor that turn the plate, almost always copper. the fan motor about 95% of the time copper. So I would rip them all open. Then use a rat tail file on the 2 windings in the transformer. If one or more is copper, Remove it. If not leave it in and just clip all the wire out, and grab the two small motors:-) Hope that helps.
It was a hypothetical... If you can liberate 1 transformer a minute. That is 60 an hour, 2 pounds in each = 120 lbs of #2 copper at $3.00 a pound is $360 :-) Thanks for watching and stopping by the channel.
Well kind of... there is other copper in them to offset that time. But the intent of the video was to show how fast the copper can be liberated. Thanks for watching :-)
Let me know... do you strip out microwaves?
I just did one yesterday but it was aluminum transformer!!! Nice video just found you and subbed!!!
@@luketippey8664 Check with your yard... you may do just as good selling them as is, and avoid having to process the aluminum/aluminum ones :-) Thanks for riding shotgun for me.
@@luketippey8664 every microwave after a certain year is alu
@Daniel Persson I get motor wight for transformers at .22 cents a lb so it's still worth it, compared to shred at .085 lb
@@luketippey8664 i hear ya, to bad in Sweden transformers go as electronic junk and arent accepted at our scrapyard
The junkie that stole the copper from my Air Conditioner would love this channel.
@@claytonmatt4334 lol, thanks for watching
I was fixing to say I hope no crack heads are watching.
That was yours ?
This video just pisses me off. How much time was spent acquiring the microwaves. How much time was spent selling the copper? This is SO disingenuous.
@samwdavis. If you are out scrapping and collecting everything else, and going to the scrap yard anyways you will end up with a bunch of microwaves. So why not take the copper out of the transformer?
That winding is wrapped up because there is 8000 volts on it! Throw the coils in acetone for a few minutes. All that cardboard will peel easily off. If you soak the whole transformers in acetone before disassembly, they will come apart easier. Keep in mind the flammability of the acetone. Soak outside in a bucket for an hour, pull them out & then drain & disassemble. The acetone will get dirty but will still work.
Good to know, Thanks for stopping by my channel :-)
Acetone ain’t cheap. Maybe build a small cardboard crematorium and incinerate insulation off?
Sometimes the primary coil(the thicker gage, less wrapped coil) will be aluminum while the secondary is copper. So don't discount the transformer if you only check the primary.
@@E-BikingAdventures you got that right... I get a lot that are half and half. Thanks for watching.
you are very lucky if you find a microwave that has been made in the last 5 years that has any copper in the transformers
I think it is more about the brand than the time. But yes, the older the better for finding copper. Look for the woodgrain models :-) Thanks for watching.
I know right in the last 30 I found probably only one had copper
Tin Man In Canada said he still finds new ones with copper but the video might be a year or two old. Perhaps his ratio is getting much worse as well.
I scratch the wire and mostly they are aluminum. I don't waste my time on the aluminum ones
Why are the aluminum ones a waste of time, what makes them not worth scraping and just about anything else that has aluminum wire?
Still got to enclude the time taking them out of a microwave, and yes you are lucky if you find one transformer out of every 5 microwaves that is copper ( and if it is it will only be the top windings ) and most are aluminium windings
Yes, getting harder and harder to find them. Think woodgrain :-) Thanks for stopping by the channel
I've never found a double copper transformer. I found one a few months ago that was made is the early 90's and it was half copper and half aluminum.
I know it sucks... had a 50/50 one today. Keep your eye out for Avanti brand... Double the Pleasure :-)
When scrapping any type of a transformer if you want to remove the slack to get a little bit better price slightly Heat over the top of a fire pit for a couple seconds the coding will eventually start to fall off a little slamming it on the concrete every now and then during the heating process doesn't hurt either doesn't always work but works some of the time sometimes it even works on motor coils too
Yes, my yard always pays #2 for it. the price per pound is only about .20¢ a pound difference. Thanks for watching!
Why not soak them in acetone for shellac?
The difference between the price of #1 to #2 is not great enough to make it worth the effort :-) Thanks for watching Brian.
@@thescrapmeister yeah l did my research and figured the same.
If im not wrong, most older power supplies in many things have these copper blocks
Many things have transformers... Even in some large speakers. Thanks for watching.
high voltage secondary winding needs lots more insulation. Primary 120 volts secondary 3,000 v.
Yes, Thanks for watching :-)
New subscriber here my yard won’t take the paper do you think a wire wheel on the bench grinder would work?
It should...Try it or look for a different yard
It's #2 at best so they should accept at least some waste on it.
@@thatcanada my yard won’t they give you a #3 if the paper on it here
@@nicejunk666 those savages
Get yourself some digital scales, more accurate and can weigh up to 2kg or more depending which ones you buy!! Great work.
Thanks for the tip! I do have them :-)
. Seems like the older microwaves would be most likely to have the copper since everything is made so cheap and disposable these days.
You got that right... look for the wood grain ones :-) Thanks for stopping by the channel!
@thescrapmeister The magic chef! 1983.
Would it hurt to burn the cardboard off?
Most yards will not take burned wire. Thank for stopping by.
So maybe $45. Then you have to spend your gas to get there. Plus there's the time for getting the transformer out of the microwave itself, hoping there's actually even copper in it. This is a great idea for keeping retirees busy lol
I guess not everyone can be a Walmart Door Greeter :-) Thanks for watching.
When I was a kid back in the 70's, I remember seeing these strange looking E's and I's all over the creek bed and had zero clue what they were... Lol. It wasn't until years later I found out. Evidently someone was tearing these transformers apart for the copper wiring and tossing the E's and I's in the creek. Funny how some things don't changed, people still stripping for copper.
It's funny they didn't sell the steel too.
@@thescrapmeister perhaps maybe because it was more iron in it than steel and wasn't worth messing with?
Might be, or maybe they didn't have a way to transport all the weight. Maybe homeless people or drunks LOL Who knows but it is interesting.@@garyr7027
@@thescrapmeister lol, scrapers needin quick beer money 😂
So which brand have them and which don't or do I have to learn the hard by getting them and searching ......???
I have found that the Avanti brand has copper other than that it is hit and miss. Thanks for stopping by the channel.
Im betting the wrap them differently, just to make identifying which one is which easier.
It is actually because of the High Voltage :-) Thanks for watching.
Were these really copper or aluminium windings? The weight is a dead giveaway...
They were copper or copper/aluminum:-)
When I scrap microwaves out I'm lucky if I get copper transformers every now and then 1 side will be copper
keep and eye for Avanti Brand... Copper both windings :-)
@@thescrapmeister I'll do that for sure. Thanks
15 pounds of number 2 copper at 2.77 a pound is $41.55. Now include all the time to collect those microwaves and open them up you might make $20 an hour but you still have to drive to the recycling place. $15 an hour at best.
The point was that you can open 1 a minute. Thank for stopping by my channel.
My point is, your not being honest about the amount of work in time it took to get all those transformers. Profit/time =pay
@@oneministries4878 i agree, there is more to it than just harvesting the copper :-)
Of course if that is cash, it is more like $25 an hour.
Yeah this guy has no clue at math
Don't feel bad, I suck at math too lol.😂
Always happens when filming :-) LOL Thanks for stopping by the channel.
That's great but I live in Saskatchewan where finding free microwaves is next to impossible. It was ok in BC, I had a house full of stuff to scrap. But here it sucks. Valu Village sells 476,879-year-old microwaves for 20 bucks each. at the weight you showed, at 4 bucks a pound, that's $11.50. I'd be losing $8.50 on every microwave.
This province sucks for scrappers and recyclers and repurposers. In BC there were plenty of places you could get microwaves, TVs, appliances, or just about anything. At every landfill there was a shed that you could take stuff OUT of for free. At the bottle/electronics depots you could take anything you wanted as long as it hadn't made it inside yet, and people would drop off electronics by the door and the staff would take it inside. Curbside scrapping was seldom there but it was there, people don't put things curbside in Saskatchewan. Any scrap bin was fair game unless it had a lock and fence, or a no trespassing sign. That was in BC. Saskatchewan SUCKS!!!!
Yes, finding them in numbers and free is hard. I get them from my Hotel contacts. Thanks for watching.
45 BUCKS, WHO IS PILING UP 360 BUCKS OF MICROWAVES IN YOUR YARD A DAY
It's a hypothetical:-) thanks for watching.
Hhhhmmmmm, i think i have a VERY good source for these at nearly unlimited numbers. Not from microwaves, but from battery back up power supplies.
Ill have to see what the windings are, im pretty sure theyre copper though judging by the weight
I'd be on that like white on rice! Thanks for stopping by the channel
Now I just need a time machine
Back to the Future :-) Thank would be awesome.
No but your a destructive electrical engineer.
LOL... Thanks for checking out my channel.
What about the time it took to tear down a microwave? When you do the math, it's about 39 cents more than just scraping it. All if its copper. Time is money. I do it for the copper but I save it. Going off the first one's weight of 30 ounces. You should have 15 pounds. Not a bad haul.
Yes, getting ones with copper is the trick. Thanks for stopping by my channel.
It only takes one minute when you have the transformer allready out of the microwave, the microwave out of the scrapyard, you need to add the time to get the microwaves, the time to extract the transformer, extract the copper, the time to clean all the garbage you made, the time to bring the copper to sell it and come back. Ah and you need to substract the gas you need to move arround. Here in my country copper scraps are bought 4 euro/kg . So you a faaaaaaaar from 360$/H very far. But if you do a video about it, I guess at a certain point you make 360/h
You are mostly correct :-) There is two motors, wire, and the steel that offsets the time to get the transformers out. Thanks for watching!
Good video
Thanks, nice to see you stopping bye Scorpion.
Which brand is all copper usually they are copper and Alluminum
Avanti Brand has copper/copper I have yet to find one that doesn't :-)
Few more smacks with the hammer would get the shalack off it
Yes, that would loosen it up. Thanks for stopping by the channel.
I know someone who died working on a microwave
It can surely happen if one is not careful, you need to respect any electric equipment. Thanks for checking out my channel.
No one is making 360 dollars an hour scrapping copper unless it’s being done with automation rather then hand labor also the dollar figure is entirely dependent on current scrap metal prices
Totally Agree... the point of the video is to show how easy it is to liberate the copper from transformers. The hourly rate is just a hypothetical example. thanks for checking out my channel :-)
This is a great video, but awkward to watch the paper removal
Hey, Thanks for checking out my channel :-) Sorry about the paper part.
That is NOT the fair assessment on hourly. You have prep, disassemble, clean, transit, fuel, etc. More like, you make about $12 per microwave, and if you really hustle and find a lot of microwaves, you might make $100 in a day
Thanks for watching... It is a hypithedical, based on being able to do 1 per minute.
take an exacto razor to that tape. It is half the time
Yes, I do use them on the coils... thanks for watching.
How much did you pay to get rid of the rest of the microwave? How much time did it take you to get the coils out of each microwave? Spare change but not even close to 360 an hour.
Sold the entire unit minus the plate, takes about 7 minutes to get all the copper items out of the microwave.
Right?
Well I guess so... thanks for stopping by my channel :-)
$360 is not realistic by a far stretch.
You left out the time extracting the transformer from the microwave and setting up to separate the copper out of the transformer.
Time spent retrieving the microwaves and the time to dispose of the remaining unused parts of the microwave.
You are correct, it is a hypothetical showing how easy it is to get the copper out of transformers :-) Thanks for watching!
15lbs..$60 Nice!!
Thanks for stopping by my channel :-)
Just FYI : . The magnetron, which generates the microwave energy, has a sintered ceramic insulator that is made from beryllium oxide . During use it is inert and harmless but if it is crushed and the dust is inhaled you can get berylliosis, an incurable disease of the lungs.
….Wow. Thank you
Yes, you are correct when it comes to older one. That have sense stopped using beryllium. But one don't know which are witch. So don't crush any of them.
@@thescrapmeister Thank you for this information. Because of beryllium I've been terrified of exploring the insides of microwaves for years, really! It's been frustrating because I always knew there was lots of good stuff inside of them!
I want that copper wire to use on electronics projects. There's a wealth of it!
That's just an urban legend. There's no beryllium oxide in household microwaves.
Don't forget to release the energy or you'll get whapped
The secondary windings are wrapped with more insulating material because those wires carry more than 10 times the voltage of the primary and the engineers didn't want that to arc to the transformers core.
I see... Good to know! Thanks for stopping by the channel.
That's correct! (Arcing purposes)
I thought it would be something to do with the power running through that one ,worked a few electrical goods factories
About twenty times. Can be very dangerous. :)
I am a professor of logic at the University of Science, and I can confirm that arcing is the reason for the additional insulation.
It will tell you on the serial and model number tag in the rear of the oven. Look for the copper symbol CU or aluminium AL or both
Now that is good to know! Thanks for watching :-)
Are used to work in the scrapping business most of the newer microwaves. Nowadays are not copper they are actually aluminum wire with copper coating. Only old microwaves and I’m talking from the early 2000s it’s just like a Lincoln 250 amp arc welder is not copper inside. It is aluminum wire inside which are crappy welders. You have to get the early model welders like that that have the copper wire in them. It’s very easy to tell the weight the true copper ones are really heavy. The aluminum ones are a lot lighter. Same thing with microwave ovens the older ones heavier because they’re copper, newer microwaves, are aluminum coated with copper
yes I know this... it is really a shame we don't make things well now days. Thanks for stopping by the channel :-)
😁👍✌@@thescrapmeister
I have not seen a microwave Transform that was 100% copper since the early 1970s.
It's all copper-clad nowadays!
I have 5 or 6 different microwave Transformers I keep for electronic experiment purposes in the back room.
I can only dream to find a 100% copper Transformer!👍
We were upgrading micro waves at the hotel. The Avanti brand had them.
I have done hundreds over the last 20 years, and you are right 90% was aluminum copper-clad wire. the magnetron tube it self has more copper, but can contain beryllium also, so be careful.
The ones we micro scrap have one of each.
Wow, stumbled onto your video by accident. You solved (for me) a lifelong question. At 54 now and grew up in a housing project in Pennsylvania. Behind the place was a fairly large, wooded area that was once home to coal mines. During the first 10 years you couldn't walk anywhere without seeing lots of rusted E's of various sizes all over the place and nobody knew where they came from, or what their purpose was. So, seeing them as holding the copper together gave me an answer, I never thought I'd find.
Cool, now you know :-) Thanks for watching.
How many things could you make from those working transformers? How many of them were good to use?
@@bartholomewceremony6981 yes I guess if that is what one was into :-) yes, they were lost likely good. I sold two on eBay and both sales the buyer said not as described and it cost me money for the return shipping. So l just scrap them. If someone wants some, it is easy to find microwaves:-) thanks for watching.
@@thescrapmeister too bad the shipping was not deducted from the refund if they even returned the same one.
Your reply is worded far above average, but then you write, "rusted E's". I have no idea what you said.
Just got back from the scrap yard. Nice little copper score you got. Gj.
Nice 👍I was just out working in the shop and noticed tools are sweating ;-0 Not sure what I can do about that?
Cardboard is an excellent heat insulator. It prevents heat transfer to the iron core which would melt all the windings by contributing to the heat generated by magnetic eddy currents within the soft iron core. These eddy currents are created by rapidly increasing and decreasing magnetic fields, which induce electrical fields within the iron as well.
Good to know... Thanks for checking out my channel :-)
I love how people clickbait 😂 they don’t even try to get close to the truth lol😂 dude I could earn $360 per hour I’d be working 23 hours a day 7 days a week
Well I can only hope you watched the entire video, so you would understand the point of it :-) Thanks for stopping by the channel!
This video does not address all the other time and effort that needs to be spent like removing the transformers from the old microwave ovens and hunting down the old microwave ovens in the first place.
You are correct... it is a hypothetical :-)
You need to do the "scratch test". Sometimes what looks like copper is aluminum
Oh how I know that :-) Thanks for stopping by the channel.
What about a magnet test? Aluminum won't pull to a magnet, right?
Why not tell us the brands 😒 shameless gate keeping
I have in other videos :-) Thanks for watching.
$3 of copper when the transformer would have gone on eBay for $50 without all the effort..
Yes I know. I sell a lot of beer and soda collectables on ebay, huge problem with returns when I tried selling transformers :-( Thanks for watching!
Figuring them at 360$ an hour doesn't include time to get those buggers out of the mw
You got that right :-) Thanks for stopping by the channel
I would have liked to have seen the micowave units that still have Cu windings. I guarantee that your vise won't last very long..don't ask me how I know. Nice hammer for weld cracking.
Thanks for stopping by the channel... I've found Avanti Brand, Double copper and Sanyo Brand, Copper/Alum. As for the vice... it has a life time guarantee :-)
It didn't take a "minute" to capture two pounds of copper. It takes AT LEAST a minute JUST to take the MOT out of the microwave alone. Lets be real.
The MOTs make Excellent little spot welders, and from there you can make all sorts of things.
I have to agree one can make things with them... But when you get 30 to 60 at a time. Finding customers to by them is nearly impossible :-)
Thanks for the method of flipping it over (2 min mark) - always wasted time banging on the windings the opposite way.
Makes is go so much faster... Thanks for stopping by the channel :-)
I pull the transformer out of all of em, even if they're aluminum wound I still make em worth my time. My local yard has a loyalty program, I stash n em n take a lot in for 5cents more than normal irony aluminum
They should give us more because the type of steal they use in motors and transformer lamenents is a more expensive high silicon steal.
Nobody has 100 microwaves laying around.
Yes, I get a lot from the hotels I service, thanks for watching.
Wouldn't be hard to find 100 go to the dump or just stay home and keep watching videos of people doing real stuff while you sit at home talking smack
I’m seeing being able to scrap 100 lbs in an hour
100 X $3.60 a pound and you're there! Thanks for watching :-)
@@thescrapmeister you’re scrapping 100 microwaves in an hour? You’re doing better than 1.5 a minute? I’ve scraped them and that’s simply ridiculous
@@skynet2966 yes, I am just saying to rip the copper out of the transformers. It's more of a hypothetical... because my arm would fall off if I did 60 in an hour :-) thanks for watching!
@@thescrapmeister ok. Hypothetically, I agree.
Very interesting regardless of copper or aluminum it’s still worth money some cases I don’t even break my transformers down. I just take them out of the microwaves and I take them straight to the scrapyard where I’m at. They considered to quote a motor price so I still get two dollars a pound for it, but in my case it’s better to do it. That way to spend a whole day scrapping transformers. I might lose 100 bucks but whatever I’m still getting pretty good money for doing nothing but scrapping transformers some of the Maggotron. I also scrap I don’t deal with anything with wire, just not worth it and then the metal of the cabinet of the microwave itself is worth a little bit of money, not much and then streetlight the old cobra heads talking about money because of the old aluminum cobra street lights are worth money. I cleared out a Kmart one time that closed and I picked up over $5000 in a period of 24 hours scrapping out the cobra heads take all the transformers out take out the aluminum shields they don’t take the lightbulbs they don’t take the ceramic sockets at the bulbs fit in, but they will take the transformers, the aluminum shields and of course the overhead housing itself is aluminum when you gotta take out the glass and the cell is not worth it either so that’s another thing you should check into check out the old parking lots that are no longer can find out who owns it if there wasn’t let you take it down in case I got lucky so people bought out the store. They were changing out the lights and they gave me the cobra heads.
I find you come out better with the aluminum ones by selling them without taking them apart. Thanks for stopping by the channel :-)
Wait you got $360.00 for 15 pounds of copper? Something does not add up. Maybe I’m missing something?
It was a hypothetical based on being able to liberate the copper in one minute and doing 60 in an hour. Thanks for watching.
Make your own copper bricks and sell them online.
I might get a forge someday... Thanks for watching.
It is not easy to sell copper unless you have very big volume.
That is not the case... scrap yards will buy what ever you have. Just like aluminum beer and soda cans.
Scrap yards here take any amount. I'm in Wisconsin.
quite a few around me don't pickup microwaves because the yards charge for them unless you take them apart. so I get quite a few of them because I am 1 of the very few that actually tears their scrap apart for more money. I also get lot of fridges and air conditioners because they charge for those too if you take them in whole. I cut them up, I even take the copper out of the condensers on fridge and a.cs.
If you have the time why not. Thanks for stopping by the channel
Do you live in Canada or the northern US? I can't imagine a yard that wouldn't accept those materials.
@@ScrapperSam wisconsin. Microwaves are a $10 charge whole but if you take them apart and remove the megatron(?) or whatever that part that has the brillion in then you can get paid. i take them apart to take the copper out anyways so no problem to me. but someone throwing out a bad micrwave won't do that.
fridge,freezers a.c. dehunidifiers or anything else with refridgerant in is a $20 charge no matter on size. if you remove it than you can get paid but you also need to have the dnr license to remove the freon which most scrappers don't have around here. don't show up with the condensers cut out without having that license, they will not take them from you.
so it is easy to find these items dumped on back roads all the time. i always take different routes justin case, you never know what you will find getting off the main drag.s
Also you cannot just buy that license and think you are good. they will come out and make sure you are equipped to pull the freon out correctly. they were surprised i had 3 of those vacuum pumps here. when they heard i also work part time for a couple of heating and a.c. guys they knew i was aware on how to use the stuff correctly and signed off.
Do you chase the copper line set from the condensor up the back of the fridge too ? 🤣
That's great but where did you find 18 microwaves????
You have to find hotel clients :-) keep it quite :-)
It's like George Harrison said:
🎼 Oh it's gonna take time
A whole lotta precious time🎶
I can easily find 2 dozen microwave ovens in a months period, driving around Philadelphia areas on trash days. Any Metro area really if you know the trash day routes and get out early. Keep on Scrapping👍
@@victormorrow3000 Surely you'd have to factor that into the $ per hour equation, right? Imo this is pure clickbait.
Could mean that or it could mean it only took an hour to process 9 transformers. I'm not a noob so I know what time it is.
Yeah, if you had an endless supply, you can make that much an hour, but no one‘s ever gonna be able to do that not even close to making that much money an hour, man!
You are correct... thanks for watching.
Idk anything about scrapping, though I was hoping it would tell me how to disassemble one of these so that I could re-wind it myself.
Anyway, One of the coils, the primary, takes about 120 Volts AC. The transformer turns that into around 2000 Volts AC, output by the secondary. The coil that's wrapped up is the dangerous secondary coil, in case there is some kind of stored energy somewhere you do NOT want to touch that coil
Cool good to know. Thanks for checking out my channel.
You are fooling the people The colis are almoust of Aluminium that îs cheaper maybe you ca-n fool The buyer.
Yes, you need to find the older ones :-) getting harder and harder to find them.
What would you charge me for 1500 to 2000 watts copper windings transformers ??? I am experimenting with electricity and need a dozen Sir. Thanks
I currently don't have any. I'd check ebay :-) Thanks for watching.
Where did you get the music from? In the background? I’ve never heard that on RUclips music.
I had a lifetime membership to digital juice, they went out of business. I am still kicking... but there lifetime is over I guess.lol
Only desperate crack + heads do this in my neighborhood. . However I'm not saying you are one The only reason I say that is the last crapper scopper copper I knew was found under a house dead for 2 weeks after he tried to rip the copper wire out from underneath it. I was actually one of the people out looking for him for his fiance. We generally try to refurbish the microwaves and give them back to the poor here or they're made into something useful that transformer for its creation. Transformers should be reused not abused. This is kind of like the chuckleheads who turn in perfectly normal thermostats just because their HVAC person tells then it's dangerous and the EPA of course is in on it. Just one big money making scam . The HVAC technicians get a kickback almost thermostats or they can turn around and harvest the Mercury themselves and make good money off of it. Young people in turn are stupid enough to go and buy a snap thermostat with $300 worth of electronic BS and wonder why they keep having to call everybody back for thier HVAC systems are breaking down or sweating to death because their Wi-Fi just went on the fritz m
I hear you... a lot of things are like that now days. Like the CRT monitors, can't be put in a landfill, but was fine to sit in front of it for 10 years. LOL Thanks for watching.
your telling me... that you make $360 dollars a hour by collecting around 4 bucks in copper every 10 minutes not including the time it took to take apart the microwave.... thats the stupidest thing i ever heard in my life buddy, dont get me wrong, i loike stripping things for copper but that is total bullshit, this pays around 8 - 10 bucks a hour at best
Thanks for watching... You can pull 1lb - 14oz of copper in less than a minute. do that 60 times in an hour, do the math :-)
Also dealer depending some buy electrical steel at a big bump from shredder prices. Not many keep it separate but some true mega places do.
Thanks for stopping by the channel... Ya would be nice, but none of my yards pay extra for it.
15 pounds... what did you get?
'nother hour older and deeper in debt...
st Peter don't you call me cos' I can't go!
I owe my soul to copper sacraping fun!
It's all like free money :-) Thanks for watching.
your maths and your video just arent really congruent. For your 'advertisement' to be correct, a person needs source, transport and store 60 microwave ovens for every hour they plan to work. You have at most $15-20 on your desk, and its not accounting for any of the other costs.
The point of the video is to show how easy it is to liberate the copper... The dollar amount is a hypothetical example. Thanks for checking out my channel hope you'll ride shotgun in the future
Apparently you don't understand the heat energy potential in the process off converting electricity.
Also, you could just burn off the paper.
I do :-) Us youtubes say things in the videos to spur comments. Thanks for watching.
I would say the transformer it is worked would sell for more on ebay then the copper would bring at a scrap yard.
I would agree... however, shipping is expensive and you would just be looking for issues with returns. Just saying.
Less than a minute to smash it apart, but 2 hours to take the microwave apart. Another thing, CLEAN copper pays better. Your math on time v. money is way off, you have to add all the time from start to finish to determine the real time
It was more of a hypothetical... showing how fast the copper can be liberated. It takes about 7 minutes to scrap out a microwave. Thanks for watching.
i think your math is off. should be 16 oz per pound not ten. even if it was five dollars a pound (its not), it doesn't add up. the time and gas to drive around and get them, time taking apart and cleaning, driving and waiting at scrap yard. i dont see how you woud even break even.
Yes, there are other factors to add in :-)
.. they seem like very “heavy” transformers to be finding in microwaves. Haha . Or your scales may need assessing 🤔 .
Well they were from microwaves... thanks for watching.
You cannot make 360.00 a hour scrapping out 8 copper wire transformers not inlets you had 100s of them that was copper then you need to burn the wire or sell it as insulation copper
Yes, You would need to have a source to get lots of them. Thanks for watching and commenting :-)
If you stopped to pick up a nickle it takes about 3 seconds. Giving you A dollar a min or $60 per hr.
See now you get it :-) Thanks for watching.
How do you make $360 an hour?
you have to do 60 an hour :-)
That was a waste of my time and intelligence. Then had to been a very old microwave and if it was why didn't you just turned into a split welder and make more money..
Thanks for stopping by my channel.
I’m crying. That poor little transformer!
LOL, Thanks for stopping by the channel
@@thescrapmeister I love the idea of scrapping copper. I melt copper and cast for fun! But I’m also an electronics hobbyist and hate to see a transformer destroyed. If nothing else, be extra kind to the laminated iron sheets holding everything together. Those can be rewound to a new transformer. Still, I loved seeing the innards. lol!
Very informative but I have to hit you up on your maths. You didn't incorporate how long it took to extract each transformer from each microwave... that's not really accurate unless you magically find a pile of transformers. P.S. please pay no mind to my mild autism, I'm compelled to say it, sorry.
Thanks for watching... yes, it take 7 minutes to rip a microwave, and you also get 2 small motors, and some wire. So that covers the time to take it apart :-)
This is a whole new world for me and it's really fascinating. I appreciate the quick reply.
I repair appliances for a living what a joke the new microwaves are i need help removing over the range units if they are old the new ones i can install myself they weigh nothing meaning they are junk
Yes, just like everything else, it is sad. Thanks for watching.
How do you take your first person videos? I've been trying for a while and my footage is always shaky or the wrong angle.
@@OrganicGreens I use a gopro with the head mount. Pointing down at about 60 degrees:-) thanks for watching.
@@thescrapmeister Thanks so much for the reply. This will really help me out for making my gardening videos. Hope you have a great week brother.
I did, but the coil is NOT copper, it is just aluminium whitha a copper color varnish on it..
Yes, it is getting harder and harder to find the copper ones.
They more expensive if you sell them online then scrap them. Ppls buy them for contact welders
Yes I agree... just have huge issues with buyers saying it didn't work and e-bay gives them their money back, and it winds up costing me money.
So the manager at the scrap yard I sell to told me not to tear apart microwaves for that box because it's copper colored aluminum and not copper at all. Now I'm confused!
The transformers, the real heavy part can have Copper/Copper windings, Aluminum/Copper, or Alum/Alum it is getting harder and harder to find the Copper/Copper ones. I have found the copper/copper ones in older microwaves. Keep an eye on woodgrain ones. I also found many Avanti Brand have Copper/Copper. Their is other copper in them as well. The motor that turn the plate, almost always copper. the fan motor about 95% of the time copper. So I would rip them all open. Then use a rat tail file on the 2 windings in the transformer. If one or more is copper, Remove it. If not leave it in and just clip all the wire out, and grab the two small motors:-) Hope that helps.
Do Not Be Misled. This Copper is coated in enamel and therefore not worth as much as number one scrap copper.
That is true it is #2 copper and most always sells for $3.00 a pound or more. Thanks for checking out my channel :-)
Where I live you made $39.20 what a haul you got yourself 2 crack rocks
Ya not so much :-)
your doing nothing but wasting your time. what your doing is not worth it . about $50 buck worth. its taking longer than your saying.
I showed it in real time that it can be done in one minute. Thanks for stopping by the channel:-)
8 to 10 lbs of copper not $360.00 a hour if 10 lbs and it's 3.00 a lbs you made $30.00
It was a hypothetical... If you can liberate 1 transformer a minute. That is 60 an hour, 2 pounds in each = 120 lbs of #2 copper at $3.00 a pound is $360 :-) Thanks for watching and stopping by the channel.
How do u make 360 an hour,and,where do u get all the microwaves?
@@RoyVoth I have a lot of hotel clients, and it is a hypothetical, seeing how the copper can be liberated in less than a minute. Thanks for watching.
You gotta include the time that you spent removing the transformer from the unit.
Well kind of... there is other copper in them to offset that time. But the intent of the video was to show how fast the copper can be liberated. Thanks for watching :-)