I Bought 2775 lbs of AC Compressor Motors to Scrap for Copper! 

I once opened one compressor and had enough. So when I saw the title of your video, I had to watch it because for me, it sounded a mess. And in fact, with the dust, the smoke, the messy oil, the aluminium motor deception, it was a mess. Fortunately, this experience brought some good money. The one thing I will remember dough, is that you had the power, the courage to finish the job ! Five stars !

Here's how I saw a scrap yard do huge quantites of these: 1) Place them on a 4'x4' drainpain and drill a hole in the bottom of each compressor to let the oil drain out. 2) Use a plasma cutter suspended from above and put the compressor on a lazy susan to rotate it. Takes about 30 seconds to cut each compressor open. 3) Place in a vice. Cut the windings on one side of the motor with a reciprocating saw. 4) Place the half cut motor on a table with two arms to hold the steel portion. Run two pieces of rebar through the motor windings and attack the bars to an electric winch mounted above. Winch pulls the copper out no problem.

I’ve done about 16,000lbs of those. Plasma cutter is the best tool

You're doing good work for the planet recycling important metal resources

17.50 those parts are easy to dismantle when you find the welding seam and put that block on a diagonal position and hit it with sledgehammer. That is the easiest way of getting the copper out

I’ve been a welder for a couple of years and a torch guy at a scrap yard and from what I saw your technique could use a little work granted the torch you have isn’t that great but try and make a hole keeping the torch at a 90 degree angle heat the metal in the direction you want to cut to red hot then turn the torch to 180 degrees. This will cut a straight line and the oxygen will push all the molten iron away leaving a clean cut. Cutting your time from 8mins easily down to 2-3 mins (granted this will vary depending on your torch and how good it actually cuts). But great video over all I have thought about this many times working at a scrap yard. What I could buy for cheap and process down and make a little profit keep it up❤

6:16 The sweet coppery filling

I took in 1400 pounds of copper this summer that came out of compressors. i use a plasma cutter to cut the casings open. takes me 10-15 seconds to open them up in my hay day but last week it was taking me a bit longer but still under a minute, i was having to do it 1 handed while holding my goggles closed with the other hand. picked up new goggles over the weekend, so we will see if I can get it back down at least less than 30 seconds would make me happy again. I already owned the plasma and to cut open the compressors/condensors i use my worn out bits that don't cut without leaving a jagged edge anymore so it was a way to finish burning up half used up tips I don't want to use on a project where I need clean even cuts. who cares what the cut looks like on scrap that is going in. So technically I have no expenses like cutting blades to include. back again in my hay day when prices were down, I was buying them from my competition scrappers here in the country and i would cut them open and take them in when prices went up. quite a few thought I was losing money but my pockets said something different. i retired for a while but I am starting to come back out of retirement and do this again. seeing you already have an air hammer, the bigger ones instead of cutting the one end of copper off and try to pull the whole thing out the other side just take your straight edge blade(hopefully you have one) and slice that sleeve of copper right in half down the center and now you only have to pull the copper wire out half the distance. yes you need to do it twice seeing it is cut in half but it is so much easier pulling it out half the distance. if I had to depend on grinders, blades and torches to open them up, then I would probably not do it either but with the plasma it is a piece of cake. best tool i ever brought.

Thank you for taking the time. John.

That was really interesting. Thanks Thub!

I just have to say, you are making awesome content. Well done. Super knowledgeable stuff and love watching your videos! 🙌 from a fellow Canadian scrapper!!

I like the shave, the drip and the project.. this was my favorite Thub video yet.. I'm inspired now to do something similar thank you 🙏 and keep up the hard work 🤙

I love it when you do these test runs. Conclusion: It was a decent return, but not so much that you would want to do it again. That's not so bad, and a fun experiment to try.

I would love to see more like this! That was great!

My truck is a Tundra 5.7L. It's only a half ton truck as well. But it's rated for pulling up to 12000lbs. And I do general junk removal now as well, and my very first customer back in spring just donated his trailer to me too. It's a 5.5x14ft cargo trailer. I haven't bought any metal yet but I've been thinking about it, but I'm not sure how to get started. Back in the spring this year, the county gave me 7 hydraulic oil pumps. It was probably 2 tons. It was a lot of oil I had to drain out. But it was worth it. I had a about half a ton of motors alone. The biggest weighed 180lbs by itself. I took 3 of then apart for the copper but gave up, it was too much work. If I remember correctly I got about $500. Funny thing was I hauled it all on a little uhaul trailer I rented! My cargo trailer now helps so much. It's only single axle, but it's good for bulky things like appliances.

Thank you for doing this! I've often wondered what it would yield. And I've not seen anyone else post a true analysis like you did. TY, TY, TY!

LOVED this video, amazing effort thub!

More videos like this would be neat. Not necessarily compressor motors but making connections and buying unprocessed scrap from businesses. Then processing it a being the middleman. Im sure its easier said than done but itd cool none the less.

You are appreciated. Thank you for your instructive slice of life videos.

You best video yet thub! Lots of sparks, oily mess and your smooth, calm David Attleboro-like narration! Props! Btw, saw dust or kitty litter makes good oil absorbents. 👍

A honest report about recycling. A rare perspective.

Also..love the production quality of the video! And the clean shave!!

Thanks for doing this. Fun to tag along as always. Like these video’s

I am so glad to have stumbled upon your channel! Keep up the great work fellow canadian!

If you cut a v notch in your air chisel i think it would help tremendously

This video was really well put together. Appreciate you comparing the torch to the cutting wheel.

Make a metal drain pan to put the motor in, on top of a lazy susan. Put a drain on the pan going into a storage container for the oil. Mount the grinder on a fixed mount sideways wi9th adjustable height so all you have to do is rotate the lazy susan around to cut the casing in half. I did this many years ago when I was scrapping. It saved a large amount of time and no mess/ fire hazard from the oil being spilled all over the place. The lazy susan was on a metal plate and I could slide it in the pan for different sized compressors to get to the grinder. IIRC, I had it down to 1-2 minutes max per compressor. It also worked great for oil filled transformers. Then I could recycle the oil in several ways. I had a 2nd drain pan I put the compressors in upside down to finish draining all the oil out.

plasma cutter is my favorite cutter by far, torch i only see as useful for cutting excessively thickwall metal and oxywelding thin gauge panels (which it actually does waay nicer than tig'ing) Since I started watching lots of welder videos I am paranoid about Heat-affected zones, torch would tend to anneal things whereas the plasma does the job before it can heat-soak into the material and soften it. (BTW Airbag time for both of us!) My plan involves air-springs and fitting extended length radius arms. Coil-spring Leaf-spring it don't matter, once you max them out they lose that nice memory and get sloppy.

I don't think that's the best product to try to buy and process.. But however, I think a new wire stripper with a motor is in your future.. I think if you could find a electric log splitter is that you can put some tongues on and you can pull out the windings.. Then it would be more profitable in faster to do electric motors..

First off, thank you. I enjoyed your video, it was an ordinary man's thorough evaluation of whether scrapping compressors is worth the time and effort. Brings back memories of when I was a kid and saved newspapers, scrap metal and glass bottles for spending money.

Wonderful video. It was very enjoyable. The best part for me was seeing you open a compressor that I might have helped bulid. Keep doing these kinds of video.

One thumb u look way dif from not having the gotee and I’d say any day that u can make a 1000$ from a few hundred with some hard sweat an tears is a good day! Dirty hands 🙌 clean money ! I’m glad to see the hick rack I gave u the info on is still holdin strong 💪

greetings, here's my advice after I opened thousands of different compressors, the important thing is that you work on the floor and hold the compressor with your foot 1- take a large grinder and make cuts on one side (it's half of the compressor), put the grate on the bucket and let the oil drain drain it, until then continue with the next compressor, etc. 2- when you take out the engine and disassemble it, cut only one side where the copper is, light the fire and put all the engines on it to burn the varnish, then it's easy to pull out the copper with pliers... you can cut them with a burner - with oxygen and gas, but for me it's a more expensive option, this is the fastest... 

Hello. Harbor Freight has a 7" grinder that I use. I can knock down about 100 lbs of aluminum control arms per blade. And they come in 5 pks for about $10 bux. Can't see it having a problem destroying those motor housings either. But is a real gem compared to changing the disks every 5 minutes on the 4.5" grinders. My .02 cents.

That's actually gotta smell great. Like when my shed catches some oil, just a tad though!

Yes please to more videos like this. I always need a dose of reality with the ideas i have for scrapping . I love doing it infact you were a cheif influence to me but the cost must come into it. Love your stuff its the best on the internet.

I don't bother cutting up compressors. I worked out a few years back that the extra money isn't worth the time. I worked out that I was making an average of $2.50 per compressor and that's counting on the windings being copper, not alloy. Each one took me about 20 minutes to process so that's not a good use of my time. However, if you still want to do this, try a plasma cutter. It has almost no consumables and is faster than either of the options you used. Trim cut the copper tubing first because that's number 2 copper. Then drain the oil before attempting to cut the casing open. This reduces the oily mess and smoke.

Just a tip...while a cordless Sawzall are so popular, everytime I use my corded Sawzall I'm amazed how much a far better tool it is

That's a heck of an experiment Thub! No one can say you don't earn it. Atta boy! Winter will be here soon, you should regrow your scarf. Have a good weekend broski.

2160p60 looking shhweeeet nice shots !

That's a lot of work! good job.

For info i have scrapped out lots of motors. Like you I cut off the windings on one end first. I usually pull the windings out with a big pair of waterpump pliers or drive them out of the slot with a punch and hammer. But its so slow and hard on the hands. That said watching you use a impact tool to drive them out is something i don't think I have ever tried. What i have tried with minor success is drive a tapered round prybar under a loop of winding then across and under a loop on the other side to try and start the winding moving. Here's the fun idea inspired from watching you use the impact! If I were to drive the bar in as stated then run the impact thru the INSIDE of the windings and drive against the bar. I wonder if I could push out most all of the windings at one shot🤔 Always trying to find better ways😊

Thumbs up for the hard work

nice! thats much better than i expected

We have done this over a 55 gallon drum cut in half the long way with steel mesh over it to drain the oils into a 5 gallon pail worked great

Yeah if someone's gonna do scraping you gotta have a trailer. It's a must. Not having one ends up costing you more in damage to your vehicle, lost scrap opportunities, increased difficulty loading and unloading, wasted time, added gas costs, etc. Than a trailer costs

great video thub, really enjoyed it. You sold me on cutting open the compressor motors I have. I do have a plasma cutter so hopefully it takes less time. Again, great video!!!!

I enjoyed watching this a lot. Money is hard to come by and this showed how with some ingenuity end effort cash can be made. It may not be easy but what is easy in life. I would love to see more of these videos.

I actually buy these all the time and cut them open with a the same angle grinder. Not sure the disc you are using but I don't waste as much as you. I cut a hole at the top of every unit to drain the oil before I cut. It's always interesting to see how other people process these units.

Gotta love all the sparks on the oil soaked cardbard

Yes this was great. More please

So I learned something the other day while scrapping. I do alot of Plumbing scrap. The yellow flex Gas lines for Water heaters with Steel ends i Always thought they were aluminum or stainless tube with the metal end so I have always just thrown them out not worth the time and space to me. Well one had a big ball valve I wanted so I cut it off Turned out that flex line was Brass I Had 8 of them and 5 of the 8 were Brass. I will be checking those from now on I dont even want to think about how many I have left behind or thrown in the dumpster without checking.

enjoyed this video very much, thank you

Thub with no beard!!!

great educational video.

Fun video, thanks!

Albeit i am a welder, but i can usually have those apart in three minutes with a thinner than average cutoff wheel. Heres a trick to sort aluminum from copper, before you start cutting the seam, cut in till you hit the windings and check through the slit with a flashlight. Thats how i sort mine. Cutting the windings with a thin kerf metal blade on a sawzall is great because the dust can be taken in at least at my yard. Air hammer or my favorite, a five pound cross peen hammer will usually bust them out in three hits.

Ohhh - I have so much to say here. First . . who are you and what have you done with my Thub? Grow it back, dude. Second . . What were you thinking? That looked sooo difficult. Third . . I hope you could recycle the brass shell casings from all those bullets you sweated while transporting all that stuff. You are something special, Thub. Keep up the good work. What a fun video!

😊 I did lot of copper scrapping when I was younger. Without power tools/gas cutter etc. When the copper was stuck. I just put it inside the fire.after it cools It takes only 10 minutes to get the copper. The fire burns non electric fibers in the coil copper comes loose easily. Hammer and chisel one side and pull out on the other side that's it. Ofc copper thin layer that covers the copper burns but it's way easier. To get the coils I just used bruteforce "sledgehammer". Or opened screws/nuts. Ofc I didn't demolish compressor motor .That might be harder...

subscribed just because of your good nature. Well done

Great video!!!

Wow you’re doing it the hard way. I use a portable band saw for the ac compressors. I also do it differently. I guess I should make a video of the way I do it it might help people that do it.

That last compressor reminds me of a Toyota transmission that had a AWD transfer case still on it I wanted to scrap, I got so aggravated trying to open it up because of all the funky bolts Toyota used on it . An American Transmission is so easy to open up. I think I had a hairline fracture in my wrist from hitting it with a 10b sledgehammer for what seems like hours. I didn't have a proper place to deal with it at the time, I was unfortunately living out of an Old GMC conversion van, at the time. Thankfully I own a house now. 😅.

What a lovely mess! 🤣 At least you made bank! 👍 You look younger without your beard. 🥸 God bless 🙏🏼🇺🇸🇨🇦🇮🇱

Haven't even watched the video yet and I'm already stoked haha. Love the vids

Very impressed

Appreciate the forethought of you fast forwarding the waffling. Much appreciated my brother

Super cool video! I come across alot of compressors and was curious.. then boom your video pops up! Thanks for the video!

Videos like this are interesting from a business prospective

You need an air chisel. Not only for knocking out the windings but I bet you could also pop open alot of those compressor shells with it.

I remember scrapping a whole factory. Cutting out copper pipes 8-10 hours a day climbing in insulation. Wasnt fun but i was making 1500 a week off the scrap copper

Good job! Also, like the new look.

Great video mate

Ya your neighbors def love u

Hello Thub,, Sweden here again and scrapping still rocks.. Found a local buyer for higher grade circuitboards and things like that. Some yards would have payed shred price for those compressor housings I'm sure, good thing you got prepared steel for it. I get prepared price for any clean steel If it's separated,, nuts, bolts, screws and you name it,, even the covers on AC units. Fun video 🙂

If you're running a torch, holding the flame sideways to the steel hosing instead of 90 degrees square to it, you'll rip through them like noones business. Hard to explain exactly, I hope you know what I mean... Try holding the torch as if you want to blow along the length of the steel instead of poking straight through it. It takes a bit to get used to but you'll sped up a ton once you get the groove. You also don't get near as much slag holding it together when you're done torching. If you've got the means, a plasma cutter might be slower than a fast guy on a torch, but the cost of operation of plasma Vs. torch might make it up. You'd still be pretty quick with plasma.

This was quite an undertaking, I have 13 of these compressors right now in my scrap but they are going in whole lol....

Ive always found with the electric motors to chisel from the inside of the motor to the outside. This gives a cleaner cut. I also cut the copper with a air chisel. This gives a much clearer cut for the copper to come out easier.

The Red Diable saw blades are now designed for cutting metal. I've used them on thick metal and the are very efficient.

Can’t even imagine how much work that was 😅 Great video, thanks for sharing it with us 👌🏻

That’s cool you’re from AB.

Cutting torch and oil. I'm surprised you didn't catch anything on fire. Good experiment and I'll avoid these like the plague. Thanks Thub

I always shy away from sealed units simply because of the oil. Seeing the amount of cutting wheels needed just adds to my - no thanks list. Thanks for the info!

A lot of work involved but good to watch well done 😀👍

The landlord's favorite tenant.

Those are SOOO HEAVY.that a hell of a lot of work plus very messy. U got a clean shave

I would like to see more videos man that was cool that's right up my alley I'm a dumpster diver too

Great video. I was thinking about this and wondering if it would be worth it. Thanks for posting.

Also masonry cutting discs I found work really well and then you can sharpen them

Pretty dam cool!!!! I would also think about doing just electric motors!

I would recommend a plasma cutter. They are way cheaper than they used to be. Few hundred for a cheaper one but should have no problem running through those cases. Maybe you could rent one first and see how you like it.

My inner joneser would have never let me finish that job! WAY too much work. I am glad you did it though, made for a good video. I wonder if you went to a government auction and just bough a bunch of old office stuff and scrapped it if that would be a little easier?

Great video my friend

Old scrapping trick was to add extra leaf springs to their trucks so the cops don’t pull you

Definitely did this many years ago. Electromagnetic same size motors similar to these without the oil and mess. 2x Volvo 240 trunk loads of them. Don’t recall the number of hours, but think in the end I was in the $350-400 range on the return.

Big wide cold chisels FTW for copper windings. Pop one into the air tool there.

Another tip I learned was sawsaw I scored it with the grinder then it just opens like a tuns can

Great Job. On the subject of your "getting ready for winter" video, I was surprised how much you made. I thought it would be worse.... I think that's good information to have... In the dead of winter, when there's no dumpsters, and not a lot to find, you can go get 2700 pounds of compressors, and make some money.... I know, you said you wouldn't do it again, but.... I think there is value in doing the work, crunching the numbers, and seeing what it really yields.... Going forward, you can fully grasp your options, evaluate your options, and make better decisions....

Great vid thub, I don’t blame ya one bit not doing it again lol. That’s some tuff hard messy work there. I also herd that heat and 410A can create a mustard type gas, but I seen you with the respirator which is great. I get $0.24 a lb on seals units. Which brings it to $8 to $15 each. I just leave enough copper to smash and fold to hold in fluids and dump as is. Besides the loading and unloading it’s the easiest way to deal with them jokers I think. Plus the smell from R22 & 410A smells like a bag full of mashed up A holes, and I have a weak sense of smell. So if I can smell it it’s bad lol. Love your content as always brother. Sub# 380 something Dumpster Jerry ✌️

Lived by telecoms waste factory growing up ,all kinds of metals, , to say every thief lived off it understatement , used spent my school days scrapping 😂