The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

On Apr 5, 5:54 pm, SCOTT wrote:
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

Hi, Scott.
The people at the local transfer station moved the metal dumpster
right up by the guard house with the open end of the dumpster right
where the attendant can see into it, unless you park your truck right
in front! So much for recycling! They are not interested in recycling,
only scrapping!

I used to find quite a lot of useful stuff there and tried to swap my
metal junk for theirs. A lot harder, now.

A few weeks ago I took a bunch of scrap aluminum to the scrap dealer
in Bend, Oregon. They had just posted a sign stating they were no
longer selling any scrap to the public. There is a steel dealer in
Redmond that still sells cutoff pieces by the pound, but no one here
in Central Oregon sells other types of metal.

So, that leaves yard sales, farm auction sales, and up until the last
couple of years, old farms that were being demolished to make way for
housing developments. I found lots of free metal at such places just
before the houses and barns were demolished. Sometimes more metal was
found after demolishing! It was hidden away behind other stuff
destined for the land fill. I usually asked the heavy equipment
operator or just waited till they went home. It was all going into the
dump truck, anyway.

The last place had a big bunch of drive shafts with u-joints on the
ends. I cut the u-joints off and had a nice steel tube. Used two
pieces to make a screw jack for raising the patio frame so I could
place new posts. Another u-joint find was a rather long length of
ancient farm equipment drive shaft. This went from a stationary
engine, across the ground to the thrashing machine, or similar thing.
Lots of nice steel shafting. Same thing from parts of an old hay
bailer that was going to the dump.

Also scrounged a broken drill shaft from an air powered rock drill.
After drilling a series of holes, they pack the holes with explosive
and set them off to break up the lava rock. They just went off and
left the drill bit. The other day, I was going to cut off a piece and
discovered it is hollow. That is where the air goes to blow out the
ground up rock. Have to find another use.

My point is, there is usable metal all around you. It may not be what
you need today, but you never have enough metal pieces, do you?

Good luck,
Paul in Central Oregon

I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if that
answers your question.
I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried in the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it daily. One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to resell to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down in it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big) Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot in the yard using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients", to see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a specialized
piece of equipment like that.
Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at $8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.


RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

"SCOTT" wrote:
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there.

Aye, our local (county) dump has much the same policy, only they tell you it
is for liability reasons.

Another thing they started doing recently is "sniffing" the used motor oil
coming in with a handheld gadget to see if it contains items besides used
motor oil.

Jon

On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:
I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if that
answers your question.
I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried in the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it daily. One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to resell to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down in it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big)

Indeed. Very big.

I have a bunch of copper contacts with silver bars soldered on,
too. Not worth nearly as much, obviously. Great job.

Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot in the yard using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients", to see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a specialized
piece of equipment like that.
Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at $8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.



I should check them out. I have a scrap man who often sells stuff to
me.

i


RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

On Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:54:06 -0400, SCOTT
wrote:

The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott
The local scrap/recycling yard was a source of metal for
me for decades. New management has closed it off to salvage
by the public. I suppose $100 a ton scrap price is the main
reason. Makes an old iron pile worth keeping. Rumor
has it a bit of ambition and a knuckleboom truck will
make a good amount of dough these days just hitting
up the farmer/rancher in the outback. IMO.the metal boom will go the
way of the realestate boom just a matter of time ED

Around here, we have places that deal with prime, seconds, scrap, and
surplus/junk/salvage. A lot of the places deal in a couple of those.

Prime is full lengths, the good stuff. Seconds are short pieces, off
spec, bent ends, a bit rusty, etc. Scrap is sorted using a magnet on a
crane. And surplus/junk is whatever gets sorted out of the scrap
process. You need to find places that sell seconds or salvage.

I buy most of my project stuff as seconds from either of a couple places
that sell prime and seconds. Not as cheap as the dump but I can go buy
30', get a fair price, pay with a credit card, and get on with it.

I might add that when I did this sort of thing for a living, I would
commonly by "product of a coil" (as in a 10,000 to 20,000 pound mill
coil of steel) or a full truck load (44,000 pounds on a flat bed). When
you buy that much at a time, you get to specify what you want and they
say 'yes sir'. Things like special handling of 3" square stock where all
the forklifts got carpet pads to minimize nicks.

SCOTT wrote:
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

It is so hard to comment on this, as I have no idea how things are where you
live. Some things you may consider: Craigslist, AM radio shows that
advertise wanted or for sale items, putting a WANTED ad in your local Quick
Quarter (or equivalent), just getting out more.

It's like a garage sale. You just have to go look. You can't find that one
valuable treasure in all that trash at a yard sale by driving by and looking
out the window.

Steve

"Ignoramus14041" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:
I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if
that
answers your question.
I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried in
the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it daily.
One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to resell
to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I
recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down in
it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts
in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big)

Indeed. Very big.

I have a bunch of copper contacts with silver bars soldered on,
too. Not worth nearly as much, obviously. Great job.


Desolder the silver or (silver plated) contacts and sell the bars and
contacts as 2 seperate metals. You will bring in more money. A torch will be
required for this. Heated vertically, the silver parts should drop away by
gravity. Copper spot price is $3.98 this morning. See:
http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/co...cal_large.html

You will probably sell below spot, because the guy purchasing has to get his
cut also.

RJ

Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off
it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed
money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot in the yard using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients", to
see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a
specialized
piece of equipment like that.
Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal
with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but
will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at
$8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.



I should check them out. I have a scrap man who often sells stuff to
me.

i


RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

I have a friend who once ran the local salvage yard. He bought steel at the
time for 2-1/2 cents a pound and would sell it to me as a walk-in buddy for
10 cents a pound. He sold me complete machinery for that price, punch
presses , engines, and such, and would carefully lay the good stuff to the
side for me to buy. Figure the markup, and I was his pal. I asked him once
how lucrative it all was overall, and his words were "It's better than a
license to steal" Of course, I was going home and making my cut on the items
also. Another friend bought an entire elementary school property, athletic
fields and all. He has 2 of these locations now, and if he sat on his ass in
a lounge chair and paid someone to come in and cut it all up for him while
he drank beer, he would undoubtedly end up a millionare, very likely more.
Industrial companies through out the years have just given him truckloads of
industrial equipment to get out of their way.

The first guy was located in a low end section of town, and the street
scavenger types made most of their money selling him aluminum cans. Location
was indeed a big factor in the ability of the people to get their cans to
market. They rolled the cans to him in old grocery carts he provided for
their use.

RJ

"ED" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:54:06 -0400, SCOTT
wrote:

The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott
The local scrap/recycling yard was a source of metal for
me for decades. New management has closed it off to salvage
by the public. I suppose $100 a ton scrap price is the main
reason. Makes an old iron pile worth keeping. Rumor
has it a bit of ambition and a knuckleboom truck will
make a good amount of dough these days just hitting
up the farmer/rancher in the outback. IMO.the metal boom will go the
way of the realestate boom just a matter of time ED

The good stuff at the yard sales is under the tables, or still in the garage
because they thought no one would want "that old stuff" .
One yard sale around ten years ago netted a 24" throat Rotex turret
punch and a 30" sheetmetal stomp shear for $65 for both. The old man who had
them was just delighted that someone knew what they were, and that his
family would not sell them for scrap after he was gone. They were not even
out for sale, but crammed into a utility room in the garage. I had to all
but force him to take $100 for the machines, then slipped his daughter
enough more so that the whole family could go out to eat dinner together
that night. Also brought him back a steel plate a foot square, because by
selling the shear, he lost his walnut cracking platform. I think of him
every time I use those tools. I doubt he is still alive, judging by his
condition at the time.
See:

http://www.rotexpunch.com/id6.html
RJ

"SteveB" wrote in message
...

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

It is so hard to comment on this, as I have no idea how things are where
you live. Some things you may consider: Craigslist, AM radio shows that
advertise wanted or for sale items, putting a WANTED ad in your local
Quick Quarter (or equivalent), just getting out more.

It's like a garage sale. You just have to go look. You can't find that
one valuable treasure in all that trash at a yard sale by driving by and
looking out the window.

Steve

Ignoramus14041 wrote:
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:

I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if that
answers your question.
I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried in the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it daily. One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to resell to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down in it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big)


Indeed. Very big.

I have a bunch of copper contacts with silver bars soldered on,
too. Not worth nearly as much, obviously. Great job.


Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot in the yard using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients", to see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a specialized
piece of equipment like that.
Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at $8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.




I should check them out. I have a scrap man who often sells stuff to
me.


If you're referring to the analysers two companies I know of that make
them are Niton http://www.niton.com/ and Oxford Instruments
http://www.oxford-instruments.com/wp...ents/Products/
look under X in the products list for handheld X ray analysers.

i


RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...

The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

Backlash wrote:
... Copper spot price is $3.98 this morning. ...

That must be ingots ready for the manufacturer. The *scrap* prices here
are much lower:
http://www.recycle.net/Metal-N/Coppe...affilid=100000

And those are probably higher than the individual will get.

Bob

--Move to another town; yours is doomed, dooooooomed! ;-)

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Don't order chardonnay
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : at a pizza parlor...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

On Apr 5, 6:54*pm, SCOTT wrote:
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

Not a good sign Scott.

One of my litmus tests as to the livability of a town is whether I can
shop for depreciated materials to design/build/repair other items in
my life.

The higher prices of metal has made it MUCH tougher to scourge for
shop materials these days. The prices have caused alot of bottom
feeders to get very aggressive in respect to salvaging metal and is
reducing the available supply to HSMers.

TMT

On Apr 5, 8:40*pm, "Backlash" wrote:
I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if that
answers your question.
* * I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried in the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it daily. One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to resell to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down in it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big) *Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot *in the yard using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients", to see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a specialized
piece of equipment like that.
*Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at $8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.

RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message

news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...



The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -



" I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the
mall.."

Pretty funny. ;)

That describes my "shopping" habits also when it comes to finding that
"right" raw material for a project.

TMT

On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:

"Ignoramus14041" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:
I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if
that
answers your question.
I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried in
the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it daily.
One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to resell
to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I
recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down in
it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts
in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big)

Indeed. Very big.

I have a bunch of copper contacts with silver bars soldered on,
too. Not worth nearly as much, obviously. Great job.


Desolder the silver or (silver plated) contacts and sell the bars and
contacts as 2 seperate metals. You will bring in more money. A torch will be
required for this. Heated vertically, the silver parts should drop away by
gravity. Copper spot price is $3.98 this morning. See:
http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/co...cal_large.html

You will probably sell below spot, because the guy purchasing has to get his
cut also.

Sure. the contacts seem to be actual silver bars soldered or brased to
the copper. Nothing major. Maybe 3 oz of silver on top of 15 lbs of
copper.

I may try to just heat them in the oven or BBQ to get the silver
pieces to fall off.

i

RJ

Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off
it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed
money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot in the yard using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients", to
see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a
specialized
piece of equipment like that.
Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal
with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but
will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at
$8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.



I should check them out. I have a scrap man who often sells stuff to
me.

i


RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

Probably not enough heat in the oven, especially if they are silver soldered
on. You might very well get enough heat in a charcoal BBQ though. Got those
wheels turning in that head, with that silver sell, didn't I?

RJ

"Ignoramus16353" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:

"Ignoramus14041" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:
I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if
that
answers your question.
I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I
even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried
in
the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it
daily.
One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to
resell
to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I
recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down
in
it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts
in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big)

Indeed. Very big.

I have a bunch of copper contacts with silver bars soldered on,
too. Not worth nearly as much, obviously. Great job.


Desolder the silver or (silver plated) contacts and sell the bars and
contacts as 2 seperate metals. You will bring in more money. A torch will
be
required for this. Heated vertically, the silver parts should drop away
by
gravity. Copper spot price is $3.98 this morning. See:
http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/co...cal_large.html

You will probably sell below spot, because the guy purchasing has to get
his
cut also.

Sure. the contacts seem to be actual silver bars soldered or brased to
the copper. Nothing major. Maybe 3 oz of silver on top of 15 lbs of
copper.

I may try to just heat them in the oven or BBQ to get the silver
pieces to fall off.

i

RJ

Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off
it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed
money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot in the yard
using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients",
to
see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone
sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a
specialized
piece of equipment like that.
Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal
with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but
will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and
you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at
$8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.



I should check them out. I have a scrap man who often sells stuff to
me.

i


RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is
it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:
Probably not enough heat in the oven, especially if they are silver soldered
on. You might very well get enough heat in a charcoal BBQ though. Got those
wheels turning in that head, with that silver sell, didn't I?

Can you silver solder a silver bar? I think that it would be
unilikely?

Anyway, I could give it a shot. Not sure if I can somehow get money
for this silver scrap.

I used to keep about 40 lbs of silver in form of bars, as investment,
it was a fun feeling.

i

RJ

"Ignoramus16353" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:

"Ignoramus14041" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:
I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if
that
answers your question.
I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I
even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried
in
the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it
daily.
One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to
resell
to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I
recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down
in
it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts
in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big)

Indeed. Very big.

I have a bunch of copper contacts with silver bars soldered on,
too. Not worth nearly as much, obviously. Great job.


Desolder the silver or (silver plated) contacts and sell the bars and
contacts as 2 seperate metals. You will bring in more money. A torch will
be
required for this. Heated vertically, the silver parts should drop away
by
gravity. Copper spot price is $3.98 this morning. See:
http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/co...cal_large.html

You will probably sell below spot, because the guy purchasing has to get
his
cut also.

Sure. the contacts seem to be actual silver bars soldered or brased to
the copper. Nothing major. Maybe 3 oz of silver on top of 15 lbs of
copper.

I may try to just heat them in the oven or BBQ to get the silver
pieces to fall off.

i

RJ

Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off
it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed
money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot in the yard
using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients",
to
see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone
sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a
specialized
piece of equipment like that.
Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal
with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but
will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and
you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at
$8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.



I should check them out. I have a scrap man who often sells stuff to
me.

i


RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@comca st.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is
it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:59:03 -0500, Ignoramus10392
wrote:


Can you silver solder a silver bar? I think that it would be
unilikely?

IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Anyway, I could give it a shot. Not sure if I can somehow get money
for this silver scrap.

I used to keep about 40 lbs of silver in form of bars, as investment,
it was a fun feeling.

Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Apr 7, 9:59 am, Ignoramus10392 ignoramus10...@NOSPAM.
10392.invalid wrote:
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:

Probably not enough heat in the oven, especially if they are silver soldered
on. You might very well get enough heat in a charcoal BBQ though. Got those
wheels turning in that head, with that silver sell, didn't I?

Can you silver solder a silver bar? I think that it would be
unilikely?

Anyway, I could give it a shot. Not sure if I can somehow get money
for this silver scrap.

I used to keep about 40 lbs of silver in form of bars, as investment,
it was a fun feeling.

i

RJ

"Ignoramus16353" wrote in message
m...
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:

"Ignoramus14041" wrote in message
news:m4GdnbSbHKdToGXanZ2dnUVZ_tXinZ2d@giganews. com...
On 2008-04-06, Backlash wrote:
I shop at scrap and salvage yards like most women shop at the mall, if
that
answers your question.
I have furnished my shop with many items from the yards. Hell, I
even
bought a J&L comparator for the company out of the scrap yard, buried
in
the
mud, for $30 once. Got it going for another $120. We still use it
daily.
One
part of my hobby is to purchase and refurb machinery from yards to
resell
to
support my machinery "habit". I keep the ones I want for myself. I
recently
bought a pallet of mixed metal junk at auction for $5, and buried down
in
it
was a container with several pounds of large silver electrical contacts
in
it that I sold for $1,300 the other day. (Iggy's eyes get big)

Indeed. Very big.

I have a bunch of copper contacts with silver bars soldered on,
too. Not worth nearly as much, obviously. Great job.

Desolder the silver or (silver plated) contacts and sell the bars and
contacts as 2 seperate metals. You will bring in more money. A torch will
be
required for this. Heated vertically, the silver parts should drop away
by
gravity. Copper spot price is $3.98 this morning. See:
http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/co...cal_large.html

You will probably sell below spot, because the guy purchasing has to get
his
cut also.

Sure. the contacts seem to be actual silver bars soldered or brased to
the copper. Nothing major. Maybe 3 oz of silver on top of 15 lbs of
copper.

I may try to just heat them in the oven or BBQ to get the silver
pieces to fall off.

i

RJ

Spot price
was $17.55 an ounce at the time. Sold $200 worth of new eprom chips off
it
also. Ya don't do that every day, though. That will be used for seed
money
to make other purchases. I sell some items on the spot in the yard
using
the cellphone to read specs off name plates to prospective "clients",
to
see
If I have a solid sales lead before even buying the item. Cellphone
sends
pics for approval. Friend of mine made $25,000 on one sale of a
specialized
piece of equipment like that.
Some yards have a handheld piece of equipment that they "shoot" metal
with
to tell it's composition. That sucka costs around $36,000 dollars, but
will
sort the trash from the treasures. Check spot price on Rhodium and
you'll
know why they have that device. Never mind, checked for you. It's at
$8,980
an ounce tonight. You likely have some around your house.

I should check them out. I have a scrap man who often sells stuff to
me.

i

RJ

"SCOTT" wrote in message
news:050420082054065765%scottb9411removethis@ comcast.net...
The town where I live has started not letting you take anything from
the scrap metal bin at the town dump. Apparently they have a contract
with the removal company that requires all metal brought in to stay
there. So it looks like I need to find a new source for bits and
pieces. I haven't tried to buy from scrap yards before. Do you guys do
this, if so is there repairable machinery that comes up there, or is
it
all shredded, or what?

Scott

Sure you can. Silver solder is an alloy designed to melt at a certain
temperature. It can be had in several melting temperatures. The stuff
used in jewelry making is all designed to melt under the temperature
of Sterling silver. The silver bars probably aren't (maybe) pure
silver. Someone may correct me but all the silver solder I've used
(I'm not a professional) melts below the temperature of silver.
Karl

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:00:06 -0400, Bob Engelhardt wrote:

Backlash wrote:
... Copper spot price is $3.98 this morning. ...

That must be ingots ready for the manufacturer. The *scrap* prices here
are much lower:
http://www.recycle.net/Metal-N/Coppe...affilid=100000

And those are probably higher than the individual will get.

A week ago I scrapped some copper and got $3/lb.

From Scrap Metal Services. As far SW Chicago as you can get (its right
on the Indiana Border).

IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific?

RoyJ wrote:


IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific?


Rottweiler


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On Apr 8, 1:35*pm, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:
RoyJ wrote:

IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific? *

* Rottweiler

Thanks, now I have rice up my nose.

Quickly soldering a wire to a gold-plated pad causes a similar problem
by making a brittle gold-lead alloy layer, and the wire and solder may
peel off.
If you heat the solder for a few extra seconds the gold dissolves and
the joint is strong.

Jim Wilkins

Jim Wilkins wrote:

On Apr 8, 1:35 pm, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:
RoyJ wrote:

IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific?

Rottweiler

Thanks, now I have rice up my nose.


That's why you stop eating before opening any of my messages. ;-)


Quickly soldering a wire to a gold-plated pad causes a similar problem
by making a brittle gold-lead alloy layer, and the wire and solder may
peel off.
If you heat the solder for a few extra seconds the gold dissolves and
the joint is strong.


That is why they stopped gold plating the leads on the metal cased
transistors. The gold metalic embrittlement would leave what looked like
a perfect joint, yet only make contact at the bare, cut end of the
lead. After enough thermal cycles that would break. In some cases the
lead cold be gently pulled out of the solder to reveal that the gold was
gone from the lead, and had no wetting from the solder.


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On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:40:19 -0500, RoyJ
wrote:



IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific?
Sorry, no. It's just something that stuck in my mind from something I
read about repairing a silver piece. Perhaps one of our regulars
familiar with precious metals can confirm or refute, Anyone?
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:35:36 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


RoyJ wrote:


IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific?


Rottweiler
Good shot Michael! And for a change of scene; while researching my
latest Antique (Simpson 303 VTVM) your name popped up. Do you have any
info./specs on the test leads?
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

RoyJ wrote:


IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific?
I've been told by a few people that do silver smithing that using a lead
containing solder on silver is poison to the silver if you intend to try
to use a silver solder on it later. Having seen a small sample I assume
the lead must alloy with the silver on the surface and boils out when
later heated for silver soldering. Whatever it seems that once the
silver surface has been subjected to lead it won't silver solder
properly after.

Gerald Miller wrote:

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:35:36 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


RoyJ wrote:


IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific?


Rottweiler
Good shot Michael! And for a change of scene; while researching my
latest Antique (Simpson 303 VTVM) your name popped up. Do you have any
info./specs on the test leads?
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada


http://www.joeltunnah.com/images/Sim..._schematic.JPG shows it uses
the typical 1% 1 meg high voltage resistor in the probe for DC
measurements. The AC and Ohms is straight through. The schematic shows
both probes are made form shielded cable, probably RG-174, or RG-58.


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On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:42:04 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Gerald Miller wrote:

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:35:36 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


RoyJ wrote:


IIRC, you should never, ever, use tin/lead solder on an item made from
silver because the solder becomes alloyed with the silver and forms an
alloy with all of the properties of puppy poop.

Could you be more specific?


Rottweiler
Good shot Michael! And for a change of scene; while researching my
latest Antique (Simpson 303 VTVM) your name popped up. Do you have any
info./specs on the test leads?
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada


http://www.joeltunnah.com/images/Sim..._schematic.JPG shows it uses
the typical 1% 1 meg high voltage resistor in the probe for DC
measurements. The AC and Ohms is straight through. The schematic shows
both probes are made form shielded cable, probably RG-174, or RG-58.
Thanks much, the lead that was in the DC position seems to have some
odd properties, plus the ground lead insulation is totally petrified,
no AC/Ohms lead but the connector is still there. Not a bad deal for
$3.00, maybe not as good as the Fluke 77 at that price, but still fun
to play with.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Gerald Miller wrote:

Thanks much, the lead that was in the DC position seems to have some
odd properties, plus the ground lead insulation is totally petrified,
no AC/Ohms lead but the connector is still there. Not a bad deal for
$3.00, maybe not as good as the Fluke 77 at that price, but still fun
to play with.


If you work with any high impedance RF circuits it is better than the
Fluke. That 1 Mohm resistor at the tip of the probe reduces the stray
capacitance, and lets you read the voltage without detuning the circuit.
The local oscillator in a radio will usually stop running when you try
to use a DVM. That changes the bias voltages and prevents any useful
readings.


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