I Scrapped All These Lighting Ballasts for Scrap Copper - Wire Was it Worth it?
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- Опубліковано 2 лют 2023
- What a scrapping saga! I expected copper recovery from these fluorescent light ballasts to be completely straightforward, but there were some unexpected variables that you should be watching out for if you want to attempt to do the same. Even so, it was pretty worth it in terms of how much you can make!
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Project Shop Florida is the scrap *quantity* king of UA-cam---you're the *quality* scrap king of UA-cam. Personality adds a lot my friend.
I follow both. Great scrapers!
Thanks so much! 😊 I’m doing my best and just happy to be here. There’s no question PSF stacks like nobody else tho!
I am gonna have to check this guy out. He doesnt pop up on my reccomended thingy.
@@sypher2049 definitely do! He puts in the work and seems like a good dude
Very true, @thubrint is like a hybrid off my favorit scrappers, a hybrid of. @scrapandpalletman @uberism81 @eWasteben @mikethescavenger
I have recycled thousands of light ballasts over the years. A facilities electrician would give them to me when upgrading the light fixtures to the new electronic type with the higher efficiency lamps. I simply brought them home and stored them until I had at least 500 lbs. Then I scrapped them for between .05 and .15 cents per pound. I always took them with other metals to make the trip worthwhile. I did not have them time, space, hammer, or desire to tear them apart. I did it more out of a sense of being environmentally responsible rather than just sending them to a landfill. To all those hard working people that visit the junk yard on a regular basis my hat is off to you. It’s not easy or lucrative but I think it’s the right thing to do.
You sound vaccinated
As a 37 year scrapper, I have never open the ballast yet I do know what that I’m I just never opened one and I actually learned something from this channel. I greatly appreciate it.
Thanks for watching! I hadn’t cracked into them until now either but I had been curious, so this was a fun experiment to share
Appreciate the scientific approach and exploring individual specific items like this! Very thorough
i LOVE when you do this type of video. Helping everyone out
Your videos are really good bro. You speak well when it comes to getting to the point of why we all do this. Thank you.
One of the best scrapping channels. Thank you.
Thanks so much!
This is the first video is see. i really like it! Good video quality and filming. Perfect information and tought out. your speaking and voice are easy to follow and calming.
I have scrapped a pile of ballasts.
I have never busted them open.
Thank you for showing us what we are in for, if we choose to tear into them. I still have access to a huge pile of ballasts, saving them for remaining old light fixtures in the old building which I help maintain. A few years back, we tore out old school lighting for installation of all new LED lighting. Much of the old building still has florescent lighting. Ballasts fail, so we saved a big pile, for those instances, when we need to swap out dead ballasts.
Useful video. Thank you.
I’ve been breaking ballasts up for about twenty years and I’ve always found it to be worth the effort. I get number two wire for it.
Do you run into a lot that are aluminum wire on the inside? I’m having that issue.
I got a job at a Junk hauling company. And they domt sort thier metal so I take it home and recycle it properly. All your videos hit all my interests!! Thank you so much fornyour videos!! California here
I would make a killing there
Great informational video. Like the way you break it down for the scrapper with basic tools.
Good man !! I usually just scrap the ballasts as they are. I didn't even think of cracking them open but might in the next few days. Thanks for posting man and a very thorough way of explaining the subject matter.
Thanks Thub. Wow that was so worth it, well done. 👏👏👏👏❤️💙
Brilliant information supplied in a well edited and presented video. Thank you.
Him and Tin Man are worth watching because of how they deliver the information
im about to open my company for scrap. Now you openned my eyes with this one!
Thanks for the break down and examination of the process.
Scrapping education and fun! Always a blast with you man. Keep it up!
Thank you sir!!
Great video!!!
👍
Great video! Very informative
Thanks thub I've always been curious about the ballast.
Right me too. I have like 8 of them that have been keeping in a corner for like a year and a half now.
I like your way of scrapping.
Saw you by accident. I had been watching scraping videos for a while. Glad I came across yours
Today. I did like and subscribe.
I enjoyed your content and we'll look back on the rest of yours😊
Thanks so much, glad you found me!
I like when you go out scrapping
Great video mate nice information
Good content. Extremely helpful. Going to buy that wedge hammer ASAP. Thanks
I’m so glad I’ve got the proper scrap hammer!
Love the experiment!
Definitely worth it, especially if you can do it outside. 👍
You are awesome, and really helpful!
This was actually really useful. I've gotten a few of these from one of my work sites and I was told to keep them because they're worth a bit. They look like a mess but atleast I know ehat to do with them now
Nice experiment. Lesson learned 😉
Awesome! I have a lot of ballest's but didn't know how to get them apart! Thanks for a great video! You got new sub 👍❤
Thanks Thub. I'll wait till I have some more of those saved up before I start cracking them open.
Great video didnt know there was so much copper in a ballast and the info on how to get it out fits my style a big hammer will fix everything. As far as scavenger videos i only watch you and Mike the Scavenger. thanks for the tips until next time take care.
I add in e waste Ben.
Thub and Mike are all I watch now.
The Florida guy is way slick, my persona is bruised every time I watch him.
But I did learn how to strip stranded copper wire as fast as I can pull it from him.
Absolutely love watching your UA-cam channel! I learned quite a few things about scrapping metal just by watching the videos you make and upload. Keep up the great work! And always leave it better than you found it!
That blacksmithing hammer has been a companion for most of my life. When I've needed a bigger hammer, that was usually it. I had the 3lb and the 8lb.
I'm happy I saw this video. I have a truck bed full of old light fixtures and I only cut the wires out of them and was gonna scrap them tomorrow morning but I'm gonna process them more now and get the ballasts out
I’d say check one ballast first before deciding to go hard, make sure they aren’t aluminium. Good rainy day project to have waiting for ya tho!
I am a little late here but my yards won't take light fixtures if you leave the ballast in but if you take the ballast out then they will take both separately. ballast here are worth only .10 a # all the time.
Hey Thubprint great video!
CheeRs Bro
Nice work. It's good to know that if a guy was desperate and had some time then a fair chunk of money could be ground out of those things.
I'm glad you did it, so I don't have to. That doesn't look like the kind of mess I'm interested in.
Definitely
Haha i just watched tin-man's video of scrapping light ballasts this morning and bam here you are with yours. Yours is much better. I watched his and I was all nope not gonna break them apart but now watching your video I am like hmmmm, doesnt look so bad and the payout is worth it. So ty ty once again sir.
On another note, i thought all Canadians always said ey after everything they say. Just playing. Enjoy and many blessings.
Oh I’ve heard of that guy! I hope he had a good hammer 😁
@@thubprint hahaha nope
I subscribe to project shop too. I like both of y'all for various reasons.
Thank you appreciate your videos...have a ton of HVAC systems to tear down.
I'm very loyal to this channel. Always wanted to know what was in a ballast. Looks like the bigger one have close to a pound of copper.
Great video
Thanks for the shoutout my friend. I don't mess with any that say "Electronic" on them just sell them off. The older ones are definitely worth it if you get the process down. Great video and info sucks they nit pick you on the #2 copper.
The copper king himself! You’re an inspiration to scrappers of all sorts bud. I appreciate the tips, funny that the word “electronic” would be a tell. I’ll look for it!
Thank goodness this video was suggested to me just now because I just build up my truck bed with some ballast that I was about to tear into and I had no idea about these cancer-causing tcb's that might be in there🤥🤥🤥😌
Thank you for the video. Ummmmm no thank you. Lol. I come across very few and far between ballasts working at a plumbing supply company. Most of my time is cleaning old pressure relief valves. Thanks again.
Im from ny state and do my scraping in the summer, i think it is very importent that if your somewhere like me that you take special note that he said they were cold. If your going to try this i suggest putting them in the freezer the day before.
That a cross pein hammer. Great video!
that's a good return.
Merci biloute, très intéressant comme vidéo.
Thank you for taking the insulation off of the copper
gey buddy, good video!!! what you could do next time is the top clothe of those canapes or shades you could use them as tarps for top and floor to reduce mess and get the cheap hand gloves you use for kitchen at dollar store so you throw them away when done.always can get free scrap material to help reduce dirty wasteful time things like those ballast, just a idea and have a good night oh unsless you put in a pillow case and just bash the heck out them lol!!!
Thanks for being thorough and showing all possible outcomes. I did a few old ones when I first started and then after decided to turn them in as is for ballast price. The yards basically give tin shred for the new ones, although I did crack open a bunch of those for the copper coils and sent the rest with low grade boards. I’d rather scrap other stuff vs ballasts.👍 Messy!!
good show!
Always love your videos Thub. 10 cents is a bummer for ballasts, I get 18 cents at my local scrap yard in New York. I am an electrician so I see a lot of them, I usually wait until I have around 40-50 before I bring them in. The effort involved and the mess involved (more this) in breaking them apart is not worth it in my opinion. I caught onto Project Shop after hearing you mention him a bunch of videos back and went out and bought the wedge hammer also hahaha it really does make a huge difference in breaking the seams on the bigger transformers.
10 cents is $200/ ton. What does shred sell for there? You are getting screwed royally. The garbage left over is 10 cents a pound!
Good One.
grahm diam good video , what i do is take the steel covering off and then put them in the freezer . After a day or so whack them with a hammer and the tar just falls off. Then melt them into bars. Cheers
I am an amateur copper stripper. I live in an area where it is illegal to dumpster dive and appliances can only be put out 1 week a year. I go to yard sales and auctions to get my copper. I don't strip copper to make alot of money. I do it to stay busy. So please keep up with the interesting videos. I love them.
Where I live trash picking isnt officially legal, as long as you are not creating a Nuisance cops will leave you alone. However dumpsters are usually located on private property, so without permission from the owner, you will be trespassing.
always check for PCBs it will say no pcbs and the ones that do wont say anything thave it!! mostly older ones they are considered haziest material's at the yard i work for
My ballast have 50 years of service and work good again!
The noise relax me
Never destroy an epic tecnology!
You’re better then psf! I really like Mike the scavenger too
Man I wish I'd known this years ago!
I JUST PULLED OUT A 1952 CAPACITOR START ONE LAST WEEK AND 15 OR 16 1952 2 POLES AND 3 WAYS!!!
The Pontiac is back!
I really figured it wouldn't be worth it, but it's such a huge increase, the time would be well spent because it could be done little by little as your sitting around in the evening or whatever. Nice.
I built a small press that has some power to it and it really does a number on the tar and steel when crushing the light ballasts. It breaks transformers apart pretty good as well to reclaim the copper and steel. So far it has been a time saver and had more than made its money back in labor it took to build it. I pilfered and found all the parts to build it for free
Thanks for the info - i think I will pass on those #1 because it is a mess #2 you have to processes them to far to make real money #3 I live in florida and it would likely require a day in the freezer to get similar results. Love the knowledge.
I'm with you Nacho
I've only done a couple of microwave transformers and saved a couple for a fractal burn generator/suicide machine along with two ballasts from light standards but I was looking for art supplies and not scrapper cash. The ballasts had two different sized wire and some was degraded pretty badly but the 'distressed" look was working for me .
Electric windings in 2 or 3 or 5 hp motors beat the sh&t out of me. Maybe a big Acetylene torch and Gandolf casting a spell might work but what a frustrating waste of time (since there's prolly 40 in my back yard taken from whole house fans and they are gonna be tested to see of they work, and if not sold intact for chump change.
I appreciate your work an information. Gratitude and Namasté
Those giant cast housing motors are so so much worse than you’d expect at first! Maybe you’ve seen my video where I attempted one but wow, what an absolute beast. It took hours and hours. That was doing it all with a hammer and pry bars of course, and I’ll never do it again. Now that I have the powered demo hammer drill id be willing to try another one but without it, absolutely not.
I would buy all those "little transformers" to use in my projects. They don't go bad very often and are pricey and inconvenient to buy new. If there is a me here, maybe there's a me by you that would do the same. Cut them off the board with some side cutters and call them "gate drive transformers" or "signal transformers".
I have found a copper/aluminium wire mix is some ballast. the aluminium wire is treated as shett alum.
good job
Tin worth taking in too
nice copper threads :) anything to save the planet
These ballasts were very different to the ones I know. What is the same, though, is that the new electronic ballasts are a complete waste of time.
Check if the steel from these ballasts can get you a higher price. Some scrap yards pay bigger money for ballast and stator steels if they are kept separate and your yard deals with the right purchasers.
There is a Wikipedia article under the heading "Electrical steel".
I’ve actually looked into that before, it’s a high silica content steel that is worth quite a bit more! Unfortunately my yard doesn’t have a buyer for that grade so it all goes in the same
The white ballasts here in the UK are so much easier to take apart and not messy. Was the paper between each layer of windings.? If it wasn't, you cut it with a grinder.
Bravo et merci
Funny that i used to do this year's back
When you are doing this in the summer it seems a lot harder to do.Because of the cold it went very quickly,the tar was frozen.You noticed yourself the new one didn't cooperate.
Thanks for checking on this. I do have a large bucket full my yard doesn’t pay for. I believe there newer but wouldn’t they be able to go in tin?thanks
It would depend on your yard but mine has a flat “no electronics” policy on the steel pile. Of course we’ll still toss basic stuff like appliances in there but as a general rule they don’t want a lot, I think it’s because the copper spoils the steel
Thanks
It's scientifically proven that naming your hammer makes it more powerful. It's also my personal opinion that giving the actual hammer strikes names increases the power even further. Example: flaming tiger claw pounce or lightning dragon hammer crush. Yell these as you're swinging and I'm sure you will feel the extra power.
Ooooo, that does sound really important! I might ask for suggestions next time it makes an appearance
Lmmfao Spokane WA here and thub I love ya bro and got mad respect for you my fellow trash panda. Remember to leave it better then you found it n keep doing the thing...❤
Also holding the end of the hammer handle!!
What, ya think you got all day or sumpthin?
"Big bertha" agrees
Where did you get all those old ballast things from . I know from lights but where . Do you know some electrician that gives them to you or what
Do a video on scrapping ceiling fan motors!
Looks like you going to need a new table, that's alot of banging!!..lol
Bravo
Please include a test of that hammer on a microwave transformer in a future video. The last batch of those I tore into ruined the old hatchet head that I had laying around.
I had a job separating lead from batteries when I was a teenager I would make 20$ a day if I did so many a day it was awful the acid and lead I ended up getting sick from it but times were hard back then
I will never sell ballasts the same again! Not a bad yield for what... 20 ballasts? Keep up the great videos!
Have you ever considered a video on sealed units?
My yard only gives me 1 cent a pound for unprocessed ballasts but will still give me number 2 copper for the windings a little dirty or maybe I just do a hood job at mixing them in with my other number 2 copper
I did fifty or sixty of those so much tar but $0.20 cent for Ballasts compared to $3.60 for #2 it was well worth the disassembly.
ive never scrapped one of these before, what is all the black stuff?, some sort of ceramic coat?
It’s actually not usually so brittle, it tends to be much stickier when it’s newer. My guess it’s just some kind of electric insulator for safety, but it must be pretty important because it’s how they’re all constructed and always have been
Thanks for taking one for the team and sharing!
I'll trade you an idea I had but have yet to try out, maybe you'd like to try it.
I work in the commercial signage industry and replace a lot of neon with LEDs. The neon ballasts are closer in size to a shoe box, maybe 25 pounds each? It occurred to me if I could find a nice big old toaster oven or similar appliance, cut the bottom out of it, and mount it to a steel drum, I could melt out the potting compound and let it drip into the barrel below. I've heard that the potting compound melts at a fairly low temperature. Probably pretty nasty stuff but I've always been curious how much copper is in there...
That’s actually not a bad idea, just a little bbq type setup and save yourself all the bashing and tar dust. The copper is gonna be graded as dirty no matter what you do so it doesn’t have to be perfect. I’ve seen some waste oil garage heaters where folks have used a furnace fan to blow heated air out from the combustion chamber, thats the first place my mind goes for the heat source
I had a stack of them. Yard said they wouldnt take. So next go i tossed them into the scrap metal scrap.
I dont feel to bad as they are a bit of work to process.
is this the guy on the KaChava video?
holy crap!!
Learn as you go working with what you got something I can actually relate to
As a retired carpenter of 50 years and handyman I had to laugh about the hammer. I have between 25 or 30 hammers of all types.
I've looked at my local Lowe's and Home Depots. that hammer isn't sold at them that I saw. I use my old Boy Scout hatchet sometimes. That black tar is a pain.
This is one of the first ones that surprised me. Of all the extra refining efforts, I figured this would've been the biggest waste of time, not the best use of time. Since it was just paper... plan B... just burn it. Fire is cheap.
Normally I’d never burn wire because of the plastic, but you may have a point.. the tar stuff would probably look/smell/taste just like a tire fire though!
Most yards in Canada have strict rules about fire processed copper.