Scrapping a Laboratory Oven for COPPER, STAINLESS and MORE! 

I’m so excited about both those facts 😆

You earned all of those! I told all my friends about you..and how you've put more money in my pocket this month than my previous salary job.. Started may 27th. Thanks bro

Thank you!

Oh it’s brand new to me 😁 I’m pretty excited, I’ve spent the last month getting it all put together and learning everything I can about it

Ditto

Thank you! I figured they’d be a lot more fun with the ability to melt down components 😄

Lol, it sure don’t! These bars are a bit ugly but I think that’s part of the charm 😊

Thank you 🙂

Definitely true, that’s the whole reason I find great stuff in dumpsters sometimes!

That’s a solid guess actually, the system is pretty simple otherwise

That sounds amazing!! I’d love to find those every day too haha, transformers are my absolute favourite

His vids are so good! With some practice maybe I can get my quality there 👍

I have no idea who made them haha, found them at a garage sale with the kiddo. I love stoneware for my house but they don’t stack well so they aren’t ideal for the kitchen, but they seemed like they’d work here! 😄

It’s a first! I’m hoping to make it a thing

That stupid material handler haha! I’ve been trying to re-home it for so long because its perfectly fine and worth way more than scrap, but there’s such a shallow market for such things and they live and breath writing off business expenses. Sooner or later it’s gonna get scrapped too 🙃 I appreciate the warning and I’ll be sure to handle it with gloves and caution 👍

@@thubprint Small labs are generally happy to get hold of second hand equipment. We will swarm like the vultures we are on closing labs, scooping up bulk glassware, or on non-calibrating hardware like a flipper. Nobody wants old reagents or anything that requires traceability or maintenance/logging records. Ovens and freezers are consumables, even if they cost thousands to replace with high fidelity models.

I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I think you might be as excited as I am haha

Thank you! I’m planning to do a whole series, but I’ll have to learn what parts people like and which parts to skip over

Thank you!

I’ll do one a month I think, I was excited to try my new tools out but I still love the hunt!

Thank you ☺️

Hello!

Oh nice! I was pretty jazzed to start using mine haha Just.. I’m not gonna get right into it, but just be sure to research and follow all the safety procedures right? They’re pretty serious toys 😆 all the best!

Big facts! A lot of my best scores have been directly because of networking and being good to people 👍

😆

I’ll keep an eye out for one of those!

Well I really wouldn’t say it makes more money, it’s kind of just burning fuel and time haha But it is pretty fun! Silver buttons yes, I do save them up. I have an AP solution I drop them in to dissolve the base metal but I can’t just torch them because they’re alloyed with cadmium (way more toxic than zinc aha) my intent is to keep collecting them until I can make one of those silver cells and purify them through electroplating the silver out

I’ve been meaning to pick up one of those impact drivers! Just the little shortie would be great for me

😆👍

I’m looking forward to doing a few of them!

Thank you!

Something to aim for!

I’ve never tried selling any lol I certainly hope they would!

Thank you!

Thank you! I’m always happy to help, so anytime you’ve got questions let me know and I’ll do my best to answer

Me too!

Hi Vince! Let’s just be clear that burning fuel and time to melt scrap metal is a net loss 😆 But if doing it for fun and storage, it’s really hard to say. My initial investment here was not small, about $500 and that was a spectacular deal. Acetylene is heckin expensive and when I run out I’ll switch to oxy-propane. I chose the torch because I can cut with it, weld with it, melt anything from aluminum to gold and (most importantly) I can give the camera a clear view of the whole business. I do believe that my lifetime cost of use will be lower because I’m really not using much but that’s not why I went this route and I don’t have the experience with the electrics to compare them 🙃 Generally speaking, fuel is much cheaper heat than electricity, but I think it comes down to logistics more than anything else. A tabletop electric is super small and convenient! I’ve got a friend who has one and as far as I can tell he’s perfectly happy with it

@@thubprint As always, thanks for replying to your fanbase!

I hadn’t even thought of that! Y know it probably was, I’ll have to wrap it in tape and be careful not to throw it around again

Just plain old ceramic. Resistance heating elements are almost always nichrome - nickel/chrome alloy. Higher temp kilns will have more exotic heating elements - molybdenum or tungsten containing alloys. Yours look more exotic. The ceramic is a non conductor and unaffected by very high heat.

I didn’t, but now that you mention it I probably should so I can share affiliate links for them 😆 I’m fortunate to have a gem and jewellery making supply store in town, so I’ve bought all these tools there so far

@@thubprint that's great, I talk to my local scrap yard and they'll take ingots, lead, copper, aluminum etc.., but as you mentioned with lead and pewter if you can find bullet makers that might be a better venue to sell to.

Come on now, you and I both know that’s not how copper works

I can’t wait to hit the big 100! 😁 I did a video awhile back where I got right into different types of stainless. There was a lot more to it than I realized haha! There’s two reliable methods, the magnet test and the spark test. There’s a bit of nuance to it though, if the magnet doesn’t stick at all then it’s 304 stainless, and if you grind it a bit with a grinder and it sparks then it’s not aluminium. The magnet will attract a bit to certain types of stainless however, like 316 which is actually more valuable. Fortunately 316 is kinda fancy so it usually has a stamp indicating that somewhere. 200 and 400 series are also slightly magnetic. The sparks from stainless are also shorter and duller than the ones from plain steel. It doesn’t have to be that complicated though, most scrapyards are just gonna do the magnet test and if the magnet sticks they throw it in the plain steel, so you can just sort them that way as well. Keep an eye out for the 316 though because they will recognize the difference and pay more for it. The 200 and 400 series are not worth caring about unless you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of them because you might have to drive all over the place before you find a yard that will have a category for them

@@thubprint And you’ll get the 100k subs too! Thank you for responding- and you taught me more in that paragraph than I’ve learned my whole scrapping career lol My expertise is in the NON ferrous category, as I never had a truck to junk until here recently .. can’t fit much scrap in an old Monte Carlo / Blazer 😂 my Yard will take stainless separate but you’re right - 90% just goes out into the pile

Thanks!

Thanks so much! It definitely makes it more fun for me, and it’s a neat way to visualize the actual yield

Well nothing yet haha

That would be hilarious! Those are sort of desirable though, oddly enough. Fuel efficient little grocery getters. Maybe a truly awful car, like a dodge dynasty

I’m so glad to hear that ☺️ I’m excited with how it turned out so I’d really like to do a series like this

@@thubprint id say its been one of my favorite videos in terms of the general informative stuff, though im a relatively experienced scrapper so i guess im biased

It’s not too bad, but I use a single studio light and camera settings that make it appear that way so I have more control over how subjects are lit. I think it’s cozy!

Brite copper. I stripped it all from large gauge wiring

They want that much huh? Well it doesn’t sound like you’ll realistically get to their “bulk volume” so I guess it comes down to when you need the money. Many people seem to believe the looming electric car revolution will increase the price of copper but nobody can see the future. It’s unlikely you lose by hanging onto it, but a spike in price is extremely rare for copper so just sell it when you need the cash and don’t think too hard about it. Personally I enjoy having a couple hundred pounds hidden away for unforeseen expenses 👍

@@thubprint good point maybe I'll hang on to it for a time in need!

@@thubprint ps thank you again I just picked up an air conditioner on the way home from getting groceries which I totally would have passed up if I didn't see your new video. Thank you thank you thank you

Ooo, I’ll have to do a dishwasher! I’m just excited to play with the torch. Will keep an eye out for a proper stainless one

@@thubprint I should get an honourable mention lol

😊💙

Ty 😊

😂 the struggle! I’m right there with ya bud, but I’m proud of you for doing the thing and I’m sure future Patso will be grateful for the work you’ve been putting in 👊

@@thubprint yea lol just grinding up a cushion of funds so I can breath while I'm in job corp xD

Thanks for being here!

I would say his videos had a hand in inspiring the melt and pour 😁

@@thubprint I watch him every Friday morning too!

Thank you! The wire stripper I use is called a Stripmeister, there’s a link to it in the description. That’s a cool idea for some melted copper! You could make a really cool design too if so inclined. Copper is an interesting material because it’s so good at heat transfer, it would heat up really easily but it may go cold faster than you’d like. Combined with hauling a heavy metal plate, you may find you’re happier just finding a few rocks while out there. If you just want to warm the bed up before you get in it though, I bet copper would be awesome

Oh dear.. 😆 that’s not what ya want! This insulation was all synthetic fibre but that’s a good example of why we should always have the respirator on when busting into this stuff

Oh good idea, I hadn’t really looked at them. Although the steel doesn’t have to be clean but worth keeping in mind

@@thubprint Yup, they are often just press-fit into shallow holes so you can easily break them off with a pliers. No sense throwing the aluminum in the shred if you can easily get it off.

You are wrong

Jon, where in the title does he say he will fix it?

@@vincedibona4687 I know. It was more a half tongue in cheek comment as much as anything. At 0:25 he says “it probably could be repaired, but that’s not what I’m interested in”. Now, I absolutely love scrap (and scrapping), and I REALLY like thubprint’s videos. But I also like being able to save and rescue things if they can be saved, and I just feel that, ***IF*** this could have been repaired or repurposed, then it’s just a little disappointing that it just get broken up into scrap when maybe it would have been worth more to someone as a fixer-up-era. And ultimately at the end of the day, the only reason I did comment was to help thubprint via the like/comment/subscribe portion of the YT algorithm. As I said. I love his videos and have learnt a lot from watching them.

Thank you! These milestones do feel like little accomplishments, and I appreciate your help 👍 I haven’t posted to my insta in quite a long time but it’s really just to make it easy for people to dm me, I’m not trying to grow an audience there