Cleaning scrap metal

admin

So I managed to get my hands on three large primary windings from some old welders the other day, hoping that they would be the old copper style winding's of days past.but, turns out there are aluminum with a large block of steel(?) in the middle, each one has to weigh like 300lb+ a piece.So the aluminum winding's are really the only valuable part of those parts, whats the best way to clean off the insulation to get it as close to clean aluminum as i can?and before anyone says "Just burn it off" ...thats pretty frowned upon/dangerous/super illegal for scrap yards to take it like thatMiller Spoolmate 200 w/t S-52 WirefeederMM 211'09 Miller Trailblazer 302
Reply:Slice it up the side facing you, bend wires straight, go to backside, pull them out. If I explained that correctly you should be holding a horseshoe shaped length of wire in your hand. Scrape one side of the paper insulation off, if it has it to see if it will peel away. Doubt it will as usually its varnish impregnated.Throw the pieces of Aluminum in your scrap bucket after cutting the copper/brass connectors off.Take Steel core, handful of Lugs(#2 copper), bucket of coated aluminum Wire to scrap yard.This is the most cost effective way to make scrap money on transformer type items.
Reply:Funny you say that about burning it off, my scrap yard has a shack setup just for burning coating off wire, honestly don't know how they get away with it.  It's not something they could cover up if they had a inspection.
Reply:Yeah i parsed a scrap forum (weird, people do this **** for a living) and they were all over the burning thing, like some scrap yards i guess would call the EPA of them if they showed up with a bunch of burnt looking items, and the stated fines were hefty, haha i was thinking about wire wheeling the winding portion to get it as close to clean aluminum as i could, short of throwing them in my sandblaster. but i think the slice and dice method is going to be the best, ill see how much work it will be to effectively clean the aluminum, if it takes longer than a half hour for each winding ill say **** it and leave it as dirtyanyone heard of any sort of acid bath i could give it to remove the enamel/ varnish?Miller Spoolmate 200 w/t S-52 WirefeederMM 211'09 Miller Trailblazer 302
Reply:If you search youtube I saw someone made a block with a hole for running the cable through and it was sliced in the top and a screw machined in to hold the blade in the notch, then just run your wire through. Someday I'll make something like that when I get to all the wire I've got. I suppose if you wanted to get real fancy you could get some drive rolls and motorize it.
Reply:Originally Posted by AntiblingIf you search youtube I saw someone made a block with a hole for running the cable through and it was sliced in the top and a screw machined in to hold the blade in the notch, then just run your wire through. Someday I'll make something like that when I get to all the wire I've got. I suppose if you wanted to get real fancy you could get some drive rolls and motorize it.