Anyone fancy melting my scrap copper?

[4thelongrun]

As an electrician I gather bits of scrap copper sometimes and strip the pvc in the backyard. I used to take the small stuff but realised its not really worth sitting there and stripping the outer insulation then the inner insulation just to get a few meters of 1mm wide copper, so now I just collect 6mm and up. Storage is also another thing, I could take everything and not bother stripping it, but my yard is only two biffa bins wide and would rather not be tripping over cable everytime I go out (use the back door for access). 

Have seen a few people on here who make their own beautiful bars and would really like to do that with my scrap but don't know anyone with the equipment and as you can tell from my yard I don't have the space. So am wondering if anyone would be keen to make some copper bars or rounds (or anything else) out of what I get? 

[DarkChameleon]

6 hours ago, 4thelongrun said:

As an electrician I gather bits of scrap copper sometimes and strip the pvc in the backyard. I used to take the small stuff but realised its not really worth sitting there and stripping the outer insulation then the inner insulation just to get a few meters of 1mm wide copper, so now I just collect 6mm and up. Storage is also another thing, I could take everything and not bother stripping it, but my yard is only two biffa bins wide and would rather not be tripping over cable everytime I go out (use the back door for access). 

Have seen a few people on here who make their own beautiful bars and would really like to do that with my scrap but don't know anyone with the equipment and as you can tell from my yard I don't have the space. So am wondering if anyone would be keen to make some copper bars or rounds (or anything else) out of what I get? 

Check you tube vids to show you what to do to melt copper into ingots..you could also make a tool that helps to strip copoer, also available on youtube..using a drill and pieces of metal sharpened to strip the wire or a hand wound device to pull the wire through sharp blades.

[TonyS]

I’m a retired electrical engineer, there are powered tools available to strip cable so long as you have enough to make it worthwhile. SWA will take a couple of passes for you to get bright copper, burnt copper attracts a far lower price. Melting burnt copper will create a lot of dross as the copper is oxidised and contaminated before you start.
Electrical grade copper is 99.9% pure, don’t mess it up.

[Xander]

Take it to the scrapyard, it doesn't have to be stripped...less hassle.

[TonyS]

Better price for stripped bright.

[AuricGoldfinger]

7 minutes ago, TonyS said:

Better price for stripped bright.

True but got to factor in what you’re times worth. I once had 2 tonnes of copper and brass saved up, the labour involved in storing and sorting it all out wasn’t really worth the hassle - even on a huge amount like that.

Now I don’t bother sorting any of it and weigh it every time i get £500ish worth. I would have loved to have had it all in bar form and tried to look into getting a company to do it but couldn’t find anywhere. I know you can do it as a hobby but i wanted them all turned into bars in a commercial cost effective way

[Xander]

Years ago they just burned it, if you did that nowadays you would probably get lynched.😎

[DarkChameleon]

3 hours ago, Xander said:

Take it to the scrapyard, it doesn't have to be stripped...less hassle.

Less money for unstripped or non shiny.

 

2 hours ago, AuricGoldfinger said:

True but got to factor in what you’re times worth. I once had 2 tonnes of copper and brass saved up, the labour involved in storing and sorting it all out wasn’t really worth the hassle - even on a huge amount like that.

Now I don’t bother sorting any of it and weigh it every time i get £500ish worth. I would have loved to have had it all in bar form and tried to look into getting a company to do it but couldn’t find anywhere. I know you can do it as a hobby but i wanted them all turned into bars in a commercial cost effective way

Then pay a kid who needs a few bob to strip it for you and watch out when smelting it..copper oxide isnt good in your lungs.

[DarkChameleon]

59 minutes ago, Xander said:

Years ago they just burned it, if you did that nowadays you would probably get lynched.😎

You can make a device out of two shape ed blades of steel pointing together in a vice then strip the first few inches, pass thewirethrough then use a drill or just gloves and pull it through and the razor edges strip it quickly...great for longer lengths of wire.

[4thelongrun]

5 hours ago, AuricGoldfinger said:

True but got to factor in what you’re times worth. I once had 2 tonnes of copper and brass saved up, the labour involved in storing and sorting it all out wasn’t really worth the hassle - even on a huge amount like that.

Now I don’t bother sorting any of it and weigh it every time i get £500ish worth. I would have loved to have had it all in bar form and tried to look into getting a company to do it but couldn’t find anywhere. I know you can do it as a hobby but i wanted them all turned into bars in a commercial cost effective way

This is what I mean I don't have a garage or a shed, would love both one day though, so it's all in two bags (stripped/not stripped) by my back door. Otherwise would just keep it all, not bother stripping and take it in when a few bin bags stack up. But like you say it would be nice to have them in bar or round form to keep 

[TonyS]

Domestic cable I wouldn’t bother about. We were reworking substations.

[60015]

1mm, 1.5mm and 2.5mm twin and earth isn't worth stripping but is worth collecting. A decent scrap merchant will still give you over £1 a kilo with the plastic on. Anything over 2.5mm probably is worth stripping if you have the time.

The processors have very sophisticated machines for granulating and sorting cable these days. I've even seen one where cable is tipped in to a hopper and copper ingots come out of the other end!

DO NOT under any circumstances burn cable off - if you are caught doing it by the Environment Agency (or whatever they are called this week) you face a potentially huge fine.

[DarkChameleon]

My father would make lead from roofs into ingots, easier to store, our junkyard did the same with ally but on a large scale, I was also buying mai line cable from old wasteland for loose cigarettes, and it was about 4 inches wide, lead over copper, I stripped that by hand and for the cost of 5 cigarettes and some labor time I was making enough from a three foot piece to but a carton of cigarettes...lol...but smelting is preferable, it reduces space to s tore and bright is only a wire brush away when you weigh it in..although now you'd have a diem add and then copper coin time..lol.

[Xander]

3 hours ago, 60015 said:

if you are caught doing it by the Environment Agency (or whatever they are called this week) you face a potentially huge fine

Extinction Rebellion will come and lie in your driveway.😉

[Murph]

8 hours ago, 60015 said:

 

DO NOT under any circumstances burn cable off - if you are caught doing it by the Environment Agency (or whatever they are called this week) you face a potentially huge fine.

 

I used to see some of the traveller kids doing this with drums of cable that they had procured from the nearby industrial estate.  They were fairly near the places the wire came from so it was surprising the police didn’t chase them off.

[gkoogk]

3rd may prices

Dry Bright Copper  £4.35 a kilo Burnt Copper Wire  £3.80 a kilo Unstripped Household Cable £1.10 a kilo