My first motor. Tip needed

[NJ Marty]

I took this motor out of a broken garage door opener. Any tips on getting the copper out? It is so tightly wound, rock hard. Do I unravel it or a strong pair of snips. I dont think snips will get in there with enough leverage to cut.
Any tips will be helpful.
Thanks
Marty

[DemonWolfe]

Use a sawzall on one side and cut all the wires, then use some pliers to pull it oit the othdr side, works pretty goodPp

[wayne1956]

You might want to cut one wire to make sure it is copper wire. Some motors (mainly washer and dryer, but others also) have anodized aluminum wires. One cut and you will be able to tell.

[hypoman]

The steel wrapped around your copper should have a weld spot somewhere around it. Take a chisel and a hammer and hit that weld spot and that crap should just break open pretty easily.

[silversaddle1]

After 30 years of scrapping just about everything that rolls, flies, floats, or spins, I have discovered that there is really no "easy" way to scrap electric motors.

So here are the best ways I know of, in order of best to worst.

1. Bandsaw. If you have a big enough saw you can cut one crown off and ues a pry bar to remove the other side.
2. Fire. Burn that dog! After you burn it out, cut the wires with snips and it comes right out. Plus, you will have #1 copper.
3. Sawzall. Cut one crown off and use a pry bar to remove the rest of the copper.
4. Air Hammer. This method really works well, but is noisey as hell. Cut the crown off one end the pry bar out the rest of the copper. Be sure to cut the
copper from the inside out.
5. Cold Chisel and Hammer. OK, this way really sucks, but it's how I got started. Take a chisel and hammer and cut one crown off, pry the rest out. Again
be sure to cut from the inside out.
6. The hell with it, sell it as is for motor scrap. Yes, sometimes it's better to just take the scrap price and bank the money. Some motors are just too much of
a pain in the ass to mess with.


Questions?

[TexasDigger1]

In my area, electric motors bring $.25/lb When you find fans, ceiling fans, any type of equipment with an electric motor, doesn't take much to add up.