Stripping copper wire for value epic fail 

It may not be worth the time for the money. But I find it therapeutic and fun. That is priceless.

I am a simple man. I see a new eWaste Ben video and I click on it.

powder inside cables is used to reduce friction - like a sandy lubricant, increase fire/water-resistance, reduce heat from the cable itself, increase insulation. It's either magnesium oxide or talc or chalk or superabsorbent polymer

it wasn't a fail... that was a good demonstartion that is not worth it.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to demonstrate the commercial viability of this for us Ben. I'm sure you already knew the answer but it says a lot about you that you are willing to go through the steps to prove the case. I guess this is only worth the effort is we plan to melt/cast the copper.

Hello Ben, You started off the video with a concept. That of showing how much difference it makes to strip 10 kg computer cables. OK I understand when you stopped. However what you could have done better is to weigh the heavy cable which you stripped to show the difference it makes. You should have explained how much it is worth with plastic on it and how much bare copper (4.1 Kilo) worth to show the time taken to make that difference and could have concluded if it is worth it or not. Just my two cents.

20 odd mins of my life gone to discover you didn't even darn well finish what i started watching....

Excellent and informative video Ben. It wasn't a fail, you just proved that for you and your little business this light weight cord is not worth the price gain. It's very time consuming. The amount of labor costs just takes from the value gained. Great example and thanks for sharing. 👍👍

When you just planned it I thought to myself "Well, that's not going to be too much fun." and sure enough, it wasn't. The only cables that are worth stripping are the ones that used to power industrial equipment. Surely the PVC coating is thicker there but the end results is much more better. Also, to cut thick cable into more manageable pieces you don't really need an angle grinder but maybe some large boltcutters or even a hand metal saw.

Thanks for another informative video Ben. I did a stripping video as well and had some folks comment that they strip almost all their wire. But as you just demonstrated, that takes a lot of time and effort. I do strip ROMEX, other low gauge solid core wire and serious cable like you did in the last half, but the small stuff just gets sold as ICW. I keep a bin of wire to strip and about once a month or so have a stripping day.

Always enjoy your videos. It helps with motivation sometimes for my ewaste biz that I started in the GA. I watched some of your videos and then magically I saw like 3 or 4 PC on the side of the road and then that was it from there. Now i go to companies and recycle their items. If i see one on the side of the road, I still have to pick it up. it is like i am obligated to get it. I even made my wife jump out of our car and grab one. And then i said "PC".

good on you ben you deserve a couple of beers

The extra fine copper wire is like super sharp needles

Hey, watched your videos since forever, like them! There is just something soothing about recycling metal, very therapeutic.

I used to strip every wire, not any more. Thanks for the video. I learn something everytime I watch a new one. Keep it up

If you just strip the outside layer, will it upgrade the wire at all?

My husband and I love watching your videos, we are in Pennsylvania, USA.

Its a discretionary thing. On the one hand one can leave it unstripped and the processor further up the line can do it just as efficiently and perhaps have the means for a more constructive disposal of the PVC and plastic. On the other hand it is also a rule in recycling and scrapping that there is always a ' quality in determines quality out ' factor. By stripping the 4+ kilos of outer PVC one has improved the quality of the product going to the scrapyard by that amount, which might not show up immediately on the balance sheet, but there is nevertheless merit with it. Its a tough call coz leaving it on and Simsmetal MIGHT send accumulated PVC volumes to Europe for closed loop recycling, but if you strip it yourself the PVC might end up as useless golf course fill at best.

Ben you are the best (cable) stripper in town !! 😂👍 Thx for the new video and stay safe 🙂 Greets from Berlin 😉

I love the free roaming chickens making an appearance from time to time

Hey Ben over here in California ...if you got a Harbor Freight there go get you a nice big set of cable cutters they're about 3 ft long with red handles pretty inexpensive.... just lay the cable on the ground and put one foot on the handle and you can cut those big cables to any lengths like cutting butter also if you cut them shorter they're much easier to run through the wire stripper.... trying to cut those big cables up with wire cutters is brutal... onward on with more copper ingots

A lopper . The bottom handle in a vise lay the wire on the blade push top handle down. The Canadian treasure hunter uses one on copper pipes to take brass of the ends

And what about some machine that strip automatically wire from copper? Did you try to find one? Maybe it's a interesting thing with the volume of cable you usually have.

In the UK that flex is called VIR (vulcanised indian rubber), i never strip it A cos of the amount of waist B the resulting hair wire is classed as No2 copper wire here :( C cos you loose money Even the twin and earth (solid copper core) i do strip isn't really worth it, if it wasn't for the lockdown (IE boredom) and the fact i have amassed a large amount over the last year i wouldn't have bought my stripper, having said that i do enjoy seeing the bare wire come out and build up in a bin :) Cool vid non the less chap, informative and that's what the web is all about after all isn't it ? a resource for information and on that front your a winner mate ;) well worth the time to make the vid IMHO, cheers chap.

I bought the 750w powered version of that machine- it's awesome. However any fine strand wires are near impossible to strip without making the wire frizzy and prickly so i leave all power cords alone. Im planning a copper granulator for those wires. Like the speed of the drill though, but I'd bet it would struggle on the 1" cables.

Watching you fold that huge beautiful cable at the end means all that cord cutting made your forearms like popeye. That video was educational material.

I have to refer back to this video now and again when i get the urge to buy a wire stripper to strip wire.😅 Thanks so much Ben for this great breakdown video, its definitely a classic. I do the easy stuff by hand for long term storage and hoarding only. 👍👍👍👍👍

i like the chickens watching you...

Not knowing anything myself, would you be able to melt the whole cable and to scrape the plastic off the top and to separate the copper from the plastic.

Why not use a electronic motor with a on off switch, it will save burning your drill out so often.

There has to be a weight ratio for the copper vs. copper with PVC, to make it worth stripping. Find that then you know what size wire you need to start stripping to make extra money worth your time. Plus it cost money to melt metals than to just sell it as is. what is the cost of melting?

White dust is baby power. it's used to keep out layer of insulation separate from the 3 insulated wire

Hi ben you mentioned you get heaps of cable each month where do you get it from?? Im in Adelaide and am starting a scrap business

I love your machine looks and seems to work like a paper shredder

👍💰Thanks For the Great Video! Love it!!!👊

I know you're unscripted and that's a big reason I watch you! Have You thought about continuing to be unscripted but adding the bloopers like the tripod getting knocked over?? I think seeing some of the uncut parts would be an awesome additive to your channel whether it is the bloopers from that video at the end or one video with some past bloopers or anything along those lines!! Have a GREAT Day My Friend!!!

Thanks for another great video Ben! I faced a very similar situation in my latest video extracting copper. At the end for me, it ended up being an issue of time and efficiency. Once I get the process down faster, it will be a profitable endeavor to extract the copper from the wires instead of selling it as is!

You got the simplest looking wire stripper. The links don't work. I'd like to get that. It looks much easier than the stripmeister. Can you provide more info. I can't find anything Enerpat that is tabletop

Nice work. Definitely the way to go for those heavy cables with lots of copper. Once the garage is cleaned off you can have room to bolt the stripper down and perhaps use a corded power drill--save your more expensive battery power drill--for better speed and control.

I leave the small wire as it is because it gets chewed up in my stripper although I sometimes strip bits when I'm board and have no other wire to strip. I also don't let my pile of unstripped wire build up. I also like looking at all the different plugs and finding interesting shapes or odd colours. I also like it when I find a cable with the old colours for the inner wires.

Why don't you stripped the thinner flexible cables?

Thanks for sharing your project Ben. Cheers.

I think it depends on the "methificated value effect" its been documented well in one industry, in which methificated individuals will spend hundreds of hours between the onset and the completion or securing items of value such as massive tree burls and underwater logs. to put it in numbers, sub $1 an hour wages are typically satisfactory because of the freedom of being ones own boss. Wire stripping has characteristics that put it on the upper echelon of hall of fame ways to make money if this "effect" is a accepted criteria.

What is the price of electronic motor scrap running inside Australia? Please tell me sir

@ewasteben. If you hold some tension on the feed side of the wire it will not roll around as it goes through the cutter. it will help. also if you cut the long pieces into 3 foot pieces easier to feed straight. ill make a video running some wire on my channel soon

I have come to the conclusion, that any solid copper wire less than 12 or 14awg, or stranded copper wire smaller than 10 or 12awg isnt worth the time. Exception would be if you have a lot of it, and that they’re on spools, which makes it easier.

cool vid Ben i have same model of wire stripper and as well upgraded it with el engine with gear tho I'm not stripping nothing smaller than 1,5 mm thickness of copper all under it´s just not worth 👍😀👍

Great video thank you for sharing

I appreciate the look from the other side

Ben I bought that stripper and had the same issues your having nice to see Thank you

thanks Ben, you have saved me a lot of time and money.

Hello Ben, I got a really nice wire stripping machine off on eBay for $200, it strips anything between 2mm and 25mm cable and it works incredibly. They’re from overseas but ship to Australia and I think it was well worth the money. If you’re interested I can email you the link

Instead of going all the way down to copper would your buyer give you a better rate for the wire with the outer shield stripped?

really was hoping you had a video like this. it's great to see the value Vs time and then have left over junk to deal with.

Yeah I tried this myself a few years back and gave up, all the waste and time involved wasn't worth it to me. I still use the stripping tool for thicker wire only especially if it is only one coating layer, though you get much thicker wire then I ever see.

Depends on the copper to insulation ratio for me. I'll strip 22 ga speaker wire but put HVAC wire in the insulation copper box as there's more value in doing that then stripping the weight away. Plus the yards want clean stripped wire and you'll get a good rep and better price if you strip and sort all your wire. I usually get 5 or 10 cents more a lb then others

Just rewatched this vid. I have a barrel full of this type of cord. Plan was to strip and melt it. Perhaps better to sell it as is and buy copper pipe with the $$.

Hi Ben...When are you going for street scraping again?

Hi Ben, I own a stripping machine with an asynchronous motor which is really good and much better than the drill. I only strip solid copper wires and leave the soft ones to the yard as insulated PVC copper wire as they are not worth the time.

Would it make sense to use a motor from something you find at the curb? You could possibly run it all the time and just feed wire. I was also thinking maybe you could wire it up to a foot pedal if you didn't want to leave it running constantly. Might reduce wear and noise.

Removing the first outer layer may make sense. It's quick and it brings the remaining wires to a higher grade.

This was an interesting and informative video. I was spell bound watching it. It was not a pleasure watching you struggle , but it was good to see you persevere. Stay safe mate and keep on scrapping.

These days we stuck at home im just stripping every wire i found at home, and sadly they look more like those first 10kg but meh, i dont really have anything else to do

Waiting for copper melting videos heheheeh Nice video by the way! Love giant cable strip video!

Most of those cables with the really thin wire will probably be Chinese copper coated aluminium

A corded drill with the button held down would really improve efficiency

Not a fail for me 👍👍👍👍💕💕

in south australia they are paying $2.20 a kilo

If you want to recover copper you need to strip the outer jacket, then you can put all of the thin cable in a a can. The third step is place the can in an fire pit and cook the gasses out to be cleanly burnt. The result is clean copper and charcoal dust.

Thanks for the video. Always something educational.

So what uve discovered is that particular type of wire isn't worth stripping. I could have told u that before you started.. The test is to bend the wire, if it stays in place, then there is enough copper to make it worth it. If it springs back sell it as is.

Maybe put the cable through a roller crusher, then two passes through a shredder, then into a water tub ..dump anything that floats.then into the furnace for a melt?

Were did you get your wire stripper blue box??? I need one

Thanks again for all your videos .. I really do appreciate it learn a ton from ya ..

I didn't bother with stripping the multi strand standing light lamp wires I stripped the exterior coating off

Ha! was looking for a vid to watch/listen to as I had a bunch of mains wiring to strip... so I manually stripped some (with a craft knife, on my carpet, pulling the wire into the blade) and in the 37 minutes of your video, I produced 700g of dry bright, hung on a 'necklace' which is how I collect up all my itsy bitsy lengths of domestic electrical wire. Current value, about £3.50 for that little lot! Not bad for one find in one skip.

Starting at 22 lbs for #2 insulated wire here is about $.55 per pound right now, so $12.10. If you lose 70% of the weight is 6.6 lbs and is now clean #2 copper at $1.60, so $10.56. Granted its an estimate based on your estimate of weight lose. For me, its worth it, but then I'm looking to melt the copper, not sell it. Granted the less work I have to do before the melt is a benefit.

I bought the single head stripper with a motor last summer. My father and i spent 4 days stripping wire like that, in the end there was not even enough money left to pay for the Stripper let alone our time, and not to mention the trip to the dump. to get rid of a mountain 4 feet high of PVC sheathing. There is a reason why in the old days the old scrappers were building fires and dumping all that wire in it to burn away the plastics, i'm not saying its the right thing to do, Far from it, but it was the only way they had to make money with wire. its much faster to strip CRT tv's for the copper and the value is better because its so much faster and easier.

👍I used to strip those cables but also realised it wasn’t my cuppa now I only do the heavy core stuff.i would have used a hacksaw to cut the thick cable👍

27:00 I would try to sell this as it is: a real thick cable for connecting high power stuff. Or was it damaged?

I see the chickens wanted to be in the video

Great Video Ben Keep Bringing The Videos Dude👍👍

Hi, i also do it, but wirh knife by hand. Can you write what device you use? In Russia we have no such things

Can I ask where did you get your wire stripper from please how much

Very good video keep it up

If you cut that in to lengths of 1.2 to 1.5 it's on the big stuff so much more manageable the longer the cable the longer its takes to strip

M8 cheers on your endeavour to strip wire . The first wire it's called 45% meaning you get 55% return , that said what's left it's called 55 or 65% which is a higher value . I would suggest to ask the buyer if he has a better price for that stripped wire that you did ; In regards to your mill berry I applaud your efforts to make look so pretty. Keep up the good work . God bless y'all.

curiosity: for all the plastic parts that you are left with after dissasembling different gadgets, why don't you buy a grinder and put the plastic through it, this way you can stack way more in a bin, than stacking big pieces with lots of empty spaces between, that takes alot of space. there are alot of 2 roll grinders you can get

Ben could you do more of this then straight into the melting but pin the flap out the way so its not going clank all the time

Motorized stripper would have a motor that's meant for continuous running so it won't burn up . Drills more likely to burn up that a actually motor lol

Good video Ben I am one of those that time isn't an issue but value is. So when stripping if it's less than 50% copper I don't fool with it. Nest test I have tried if you have a cable your not sure of. Cut. 6 inch piece weigh it then strip it and weigh the copper. If it isn't 50% it goes to insulated and I don't fool with it. After a time you just know what you can strip and what not too. A 6 inch piece just take a few seconds to strip and give a very accurate rating of copper %. Of course value does change with price there copper % van change with that.

Hi Ben another great video from you copper wire good money take care your health keep scrapping regard 👍👍👍👍🇸🇬

I see you never slowed down the stripper

I had that type of machine with a hand crank. Sold it after 2 years the gentleman I sold it to put a pulley and 1.5 horsepower motor he strips over head power lines no problem. I switched to a copper mine wire stripper. With a 3 horse power motor 4 year later will going strong. A drill is way to week for the machine you have

I like that stripper, I agree time is money but 1.50 a kilo sounds great to me. I get like 40 to 45 cent a pound but I'm allowed to leave plugs and transformers attached. Even at that the low grade would take too long to be worth it. I might take a day to strip all my number 1 wire.

In Finland you really dont want to strip those power cords. We dont have to take the plugs off, and you actually get less money if you strip them.

Cords like that is usally a 30% copper and 70% insulation. Too much work for what u get.

Perfect for PEF. NEW GENERATOR FUEL.

I build a fire put the hole works in the fire then shake it out and separate copper from the rest melt it down into ingots its quick and easy

Love the chooks. I know you make bars; have you ever tried casting anything else? It does require some artistic talent, but sandcast copper "art" can really sell. If you get ugly mistakes, into the smelter they go!