This is the conclusion of the massive AC pipes I paid $5000 for. It was a lot of work but definitely worth it. Plus some bonus footage from a lighting job I did. Music: Mixkit.co
I have been watching your videos for several years now and just subscribed. I have cruised to Florida three times on the USS Piedmont (AD 17) Destroyer Tender, now decommissioned as a machinist in the 80's. I have been scrapping all of my adult life; dismantling everything but, not to your extent, I still do a little and am now disabled retired and unable to ever drive again. The one thing that no one may ever take from us is our knowledge and you have outstanding knowledge in the field of processing scrap metals. You are the ultimate king of scrap!
Hi ,love the copper piles...I have been skip diving and found 6 signs that the supermarket used during the peak of the pandemic. Each signs were Hugh and all made out of exdruded aluminium. Took me half a day to take all the screws out and all the little steel bits out. Total weight was 245kgs not bad as they were free. All paint free too exdruded aluminium. Love your videos each time I watch your videos make me want to go out and find more scrap. I think your way of removing the insulation was the most cost & time effective way to do it.
At one point I used to renovate hotels and grocery stores as a plumber, the amount of cargo vans full of copper and brass I’ve hauled away would basically be unimaginable to anyone if I told the amount.
I can relate, In 1986 I was a teenager on school vacation and worked for this air conditioning company for $25 a day as an assistant to help the senior technician carry or fetch his tools equipment and we would drive around in his van to attend to various service calls at convenience stores supermarkets so a few weeks later my partner says we going to "moonlight" on another job to earn some side money to clear out a big supermarket at a mall that had moved out and together with 4 other people that were in on it. We got there they told us to remove the underground plumbing that were these long copper water pipes wrapped in thick fiberglass insulation stacked 3 or 4 together we had to climb down into a manhole underground use a pipe cutter or hacksaw to cut the pipes and pull it out in sections then someone at the top would remove the insulation, it was heavy back breaking hot cramped work and the insulation was soaked with a lot of moisture that attracted dust which made it "muddy" and slippery to handle but I was young kid with a lot of energy and it was like an adventure, we spent 3 days on it and I remember the scrap dealer came with his big truck and loaded up close to 2000 kilograms of copper pipes there were also a huge load of unstripped copper wire some steel tubing some aluminium I forget how much copper was priced in 1986 all in I remember we got close to six thousand dollars in total but they only gave me a couple of hundred dollars but for a teenager in 1986 with $200 in his pocket that's huge money.
Awesome full on scrap processing. I think you got it all sorted. Like a kid in a candy store, shopping at the scrap yard. You got so much going on, looking forward to the next video. 👍👍
Straight gold 🤟🏻 brother I can’t wait to get to your level one day. Currently I run a junk removal company. So scrap is just a bonus on top of already being paid for the job. Currently pulling an extra 4 to 6 k off free scrap. If you would like a decent little side hustle with low work to add on grab a bin truck and some bins. It’s like free money. I buy a lot of scrap cars to process. But since watching your channel I have taken the plunge and began to start purchasing scrap to break down. My pay days are no where near yours but I will get there one day. Keep up the good work and keep this content coming. It’s always a slow start with channels like this but your gonna blow up one of these days and I’m glad I’m along for the ride ✊🏼
Please put a board up next run my friend. Coworker wrecked with rods in back and they all shot through windshield. They got lucky. Love your videos, I'd work with you all day and agree with your methods for speed and recovery : money. 👍🤘
@@ProjectShopFl yeah bud, no problem. Just something I never thought of until I saw the work blazer with pointed survey rods sticking out the windshield we said "Oh Sh1te!". Then we all turned them around backwards or made sure our boxes had a back cap. Course everything's dangerous nowadays.
Incredible numbers man. I really like how go over the paperwork at the end of the vid, breaking down all the costs and expenses. Even down to the food. (McDonalds?? LoL). But seriously, I enjoy the full transparency and It's a blast to watch your vids. Very interesting and great job. Looking forward to the next episode.
The broken down costs is a "coaster"-calculation and does not provide a serious business calulation. Not included: - rent for shop - stranded costs like electricity, water costs etc. - disposal costs - depreciation/repair costs for using tools/machines in the shop - proportional costs for investments into the shop, which will be used directly or indirectly during a long period of time and over more projects.... - (fixed) costs for using the company truck (these costs do not contain costs for fuel....) and its repair costs. - ... - ... So it is far, far away from true transparency costs. But due to the fact that the huge marge or big buffer between buying/selling the recycling material AND the fact that he only pays 15$/hour to an employee it is clear that this is still big/good business....
@@53-herbie39 Dude, you're reading into and taking my reference of the word "transparency" way out of context. It was referring to the job for the pipes. Not all the cost accounting with the shop. And it was full transparency for the job.
Some times them brass pieces come out pretty easy with a good wack from a solid hammer hit from the side and some of them ballast have small electric motors in them I know it’s tedious but adds up quickly wen doing large loads like that … love the videos mate keep ‘em coming
Hey, Sir. love your vids. You inspired me to make some investments in tooling to process scrap myself. Having hard times with scrapping now here in Ukraine, but i hope for the best when war is over... My kindest regards!
@@xpred558 Nope, its illegal , VERY dangerous (live ammunition all around, traps everywhere). And i dont have heavy equipment even if it was safe to operate.
Gosh it would have been nice if you could just throw a blow torch down the end of the pipe for 5 min then they would just slip out. Love your dedication and effort to put out good content for us. Thank you for reading all our comments!
hey buddy! all i can say is WOW!!!!!! you put the word work in a whole new meaning lol you are good my friend i wish i was there watching you live instead of on you tube. God Bless my friend and happy Thanksgiving!!!!!
Been scrapping for 16 years and I didn’t think to buy unprocessed scrap from other contractors (I’m a carpenter by trade and I manage a 42 unit apartment complex, so I do come across a decent bit of scrap in those regards) to process/clean up and re-sell myself until I came across your videos 🥲. I haven’t had a heaping ton of luck thus far over the past year, but I did get an electrician (who just so happens to live nearby to boot!) to sell me his left over wire @ 90% of market rate/what our local yards paying for insulated at the time, lets me keep a big bin at his house and I’ve been picking it up once every other month for the past 9 months. Definitely helps!! Had an hvac company tell me that they’ve had a scrap guy for 35 years but that they’ll call me when they lose him lol. Thanks for the idea! Love your stuff!
If you had a consistent supply of this scrap, it might be worth building a custom machine to strip it, maybe something similar to a hydraulic log splitter with a blade like an apple slicer.
Great work! Anything you can do to optimize or streamline this would help. I bet you could build some kind of simple device to hold three wire wheels and drive them with one big motor and just shove the pipe through it
First of all! We are all jealous of your find!!!! As far as reclaiming it? I'm questioning if it was in longer lengths is it would have been more valuable for someone rather than buying new? Depending on grades, wall thickness etc? As far as clamping? Rather than just a vice? 2 timber or steel rails held to the bench about 1/2 diameter/ thickness, with even packers in the bottom as sizes decrease? The other thought I had was a heated wire element drawn through? Again, recovery of scrap is rarely the same! My best wishes to all of you!
Awesome process. I think your doing great. I can't wait for you to set up The Sluce. I definitely want to see the copper recovery from floor debris. I've been looking through my floor sweeping for copper by hand but a sluce would be awesome.
Nice. I didn't the electrical work on a motel 6 and had to disconnect power to a building being tore down and i burnt up 2 new Milwaukee saw all cutting 6 runs 300ft long of 4 inch and 6inch copper pipe man that was a lick anyway nice job
on holding the free end of the stock while you cut - it's hollow - make a clamp to the table that has a cone on it so you can use it on various sized stock - could be hard rubber or metal
Keep up the great work buddy and I’ll keep watching, I like the videos and you’re doing what I was always going to do but never done it. I worked in the electrical industry my whole life and never really had time to scrap but always wanted too, anyway good job👍
WHEN YOU SAID THIS IS THE WAY TO DO IT I FELT PROUD WITH YOU. IF YOU WHERE DOING IT WITH GASOLINE OR SOME SOLVENT, ITS MORE WWASTE PRODUCTS AND UNNECESERRY POLUTION TO THE WORLD. YOU ARE RECYCLING AT ITS FINEST !
Good profit for you - and probably an OK one for the guys that removed it and passed to you. I've got a copper cylinder here in UK. I'll deffo take the sprayed lagging off and empty out the limescale before the scrap yard gets it.
Back in 2018 I broke down a huge electrical cabinet for a huge industrial park and I pulled out around 40 solid copper bus bars that weighed like 40 to 50 pounds each, the pay I got at the scrap yard, was amazing. Also I used an Excavator to pull out all the underground high voltage cables from the man holes, turned into a 40,000 dollar pay check. But I almost died, the city said that all the electricity coming to this vacant lot was all disconnected and this place was huge. It had its own helipad. But anyways, there was about a 200 foot section that wasn't on the original build plans from back in the 80s, which was connected to a feed than ran all the way into town at the clock tower and old mills which were converted into apartments. The helper I had jumped into the man hole and tied a pull rope around the cables like all the rest and when I started to pull with the boom there was some tension, when I started pulling a bit harder and the helper had just gotten out of the way when the cables snapped, there was a huge explosion and the Excavator was shut down. I called the electric company and had them come down and screamed at them because of what happened, especially since they said that all power was disconnected. They told me that all of us should have been dead. I told him, "NO SHIT." It was crazy.
I been scrapping for 30 years but piddly stuff compared to what your doing bro. The Old Saying Takes Money to make money is spot on. But the hard work ethic is key to success! And you got that going on big time
About 8 feet of the 2 inch copper would have made a nice reflux column and a shotgun condenser. Copper is expensive right now. I enjoyed the video after the initial heartbreak...lol
next time you should try local green house or plant growers , they would use the fiberglass housing for grow tray for seedlings, quick pop with map gas torch and pliers for those brass inserts.
I don't know how much of this you actually do but if you look into it they have pole Sanders which is a belt sander that goes around a pole. I believe that they are about 500 bucks. Maybe helpful? I use them for repainting light poles.
@@ProjectShopFl WOAH!!!!!!! With as much time and energy you spend doing this and all the vids I thought this would have been a main gig. lol Thats awesome that this is just a side hustle for ya.
Hey I do scrapping as well how did you get the pipes? And where to look or what to call for to get this? I usually do centrifugal chillers and get the copper tubes out of them
I wonder how a wire would work on say a 5hp electric motor. Instead of using the belt replace the belt with a cutting wire and size so it fit around the pipe. Then manually push it threw the wire? Im not sure but I would have maybe looked into that. Looked like you guess did a good job anyway
One of these days you ought to go in there with a couple of trailers and big old giant trash bins and sort out all your medals and all your types of copper and bring them to the scrap yard basically clean out your shop make more room and buy a bigger trailer or a bigger building you should also look into scrapping aluminum cans if that does anything as well
45 years ago we put wire in 55gal barrels and use some napa to burn insulation off have about 10 or 15 going at a time. It would be cool if you could heat pipe up and pull it out.
With all the new construction going on and the need for green solutions, wouldn't you be best placed to sell it on, I am assuming it's old stock that's never been used.
One suggestion for cutting the insulation. Rather than using the tooth side of the blade, use the non-tooth side. Better yet, grind a knife edge on that side and you’ll be able to cut through the foam. I did that 20 years ago when i was building R/C airplanes. The knife edge would not cut the copper. To be clear, this is after you’ve cut away the PVC pipe. Who knows, another project may come along when you have to remove just insulation.
Have an idea. Take a 2’ length of scrap steel and weld two pins the size of material the size of that will fit the Inside dia and you clamp to the bench that ought to keep one side from movingmoving
Since you're paying competitively are your customers wanting what the scrap yards pay? I'm doing the same but need to stretch these margains they are way to compressed where I am.
@@ProjectShopFl same, then where do you sell the material if you're matching or just barely beating the yard prices? Wouldn't make any sense if you're just breaking even or retaining a 10% margain. Anyways keep up the good content bro!
I buy wire at local market prices, the pipes I cut 1 foot of each size, counted how many of each size there was and came up with a price with lots of play in my favor.
Clever way to remove that foam / pipe. What was that used for in that configuration ? Underground ? Or that's considered insulation ? I've never seen anything like that up here in Philly..
A quick way to of removed the copper would of got a piece of metal conduit slightly bigger than the copper cut teeth on one end and weld plate on other end with shaft to chuck into a 1/2 hand drill, then it would of cut the foam off around the copper then tube would come out and foam would also be taken off the copper as long as you made your like hole saw a close fit.
not sure how well it would work, but maybe 2 grinders with wire wheel brushes in them inset in the table somehow, then maybe you could push the dirty copper over those like a table saw set up but for cleaning the glue off the copper. Unfortunately you would still have to use the sawzall for the first part but might be able to make that second step a little faster next time you get a chance to run that stuff.
I do this at my buddies scrap yard I get all the plumbing stuff I need electrical wiring brand new for pennies like $500 worth of plumbing for like $20
