Travis Hathaway on thu 18 aug 05
Hello my name is Travis I live and work in Idaho I work for a company =
that builds robotic welders, we use a TON of wire and the ends of the =
wire we through away the sizes range from so small it takes a micro to =
see it and to so big it takes a fork lift to pick it up I am dealing =
mostly with strands and chunks my question to you is what can I melt all =
this copper in? what fire can I use to get it hot enough to do this? =
mostly I would save up enough to make a good size brick heating up my =
source and throwing chunks in??? well if you could help me with this I =
need it. I have about 5000 pounds and need to dispose of it some how. =20
p.s. I know I can take it to the local recycle shop but they pay so less =
for un-striped copper and I just think it would be neat to take in a =
hole bunch of Bricks...
Steve Slatin on fri 19 aug 05
Travis --
Copper melts at 1083 Celcius. If I wanted to do what
you're suggesting I'd use an Oxy-Acetelyne and melt it
in a crucible and (while well protected) pour.
-- Steve S
--- Travis Hathaway
wrote:
> Hello my name is Travis I live and work in Idaho I
> work for a company that builds robotic welders, we
> use a TON of wire and the ends of the wire we
> through away the sizes range from so small it takes
> a micro to see it and to so big it takes a fork lift
> to pick it up I am dealing mostly with strands and
> chunks my question to you is what can I melt all
> this copper in? what fire can I use to get it hot
> enough to do this? mostly I would save up enough to
> make a good size brick heating up my source and
> throwing chunks in??? well if you could help me with
> this I need it. I have about 5000 pounds and need to
> dispose of it some how.
>
>
Steve Slatin --
Drove downtown in the rain
9:30 on a Tuesday night
Just to check out the
Late night record shop
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Potter, Mark on mon 22 aug 05
Travis,
I don't see your email address so unfortunately I'm having to subject
everyone else to the task of deleting this email . . . but . . .=20
I'm assuming that all the wire is insulated. If so this is a problem
because you will have a lot of noxious fumes if your goal is to a melt
the copper, and eliminate all other impurities.=20
Forget about using a kiln - a potter's kiln will melt copper, but the
problem is you need an oxidation fire to burn away what you don't want,
and that will burn away a lot of the copper too, and heavily contaminate
the kiln.
Your best bet is to go online and look for bronze foundry casting tools
and supplies, you could buy an electric furnace designed for melting
bronze (expensive) and non ferrous metals. This will do the job best of
all particularly if you learn how to properly 'blanket' the melt with
the right chemicals to prevent undue oxidation of the copper itself. The
insulation would become a noxious 'slag' and you would scrape it to one
side when pouring the copper.
If you have access to a lot of copper scrap short ends) it might be
worth it, but the electric bill on a few hundred pounds of melt may well
equal half the value of the copper itself. This approach puts you in the
metal reclamation business, and unless you have a novel or niche
approach the economics of today suggest you won't be making much money.
But it's a cool idea - I'd definitely look into it.
If you have a lot of short ends that have no insulation on them you can
bale them and send them to me and I'll buy them! I make sculptures of
such stuff!!
Best regards,
Mark Potter
mark@visionage.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Travis
Hathaway
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 9:30 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: what can i melt copper in???
Hello my name is Travis I live and work in Idaho I work for a company
that builds robotic welders, we use a TON of wire and the ends of the
wire we through away the sizes range from so small it takes a micro to
see it and to so big it takes a fork lift to pick it up I am dealing
mostly with strands and chunks my question to you is what can I melt all
this copper in? what fire can I use to get it hot enough to do this?
mostly I would save up enough to make a good size brick heating up my
source and throwing chunks in??? well if you could help me with this I
need it. I have about 5000 pounds and need to dispose of it some how. =20
p.s. I know I can take it to the local recycle shop but they pay so less
for un-striped copper and I just think it would be neat to take in a
hole bunch of Bricks...
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Louis Katz on mon 22 aug 05
While I applaud reuse and recycling I would suggest that burning away
all of the plastic under such circustances is probably going to be
extremely polluting. Sending the wire off to be recycled with the
insulation probaby will mean that the burnoff is done with at least
more optimum combustion. How many pounds of plastic are you intending
to burn?
Louis
>
> source and throwing chunks in??? well if you could help me with this I
> need it. I have about 5000 pounds and need to dispose of it some how.
>
> p.s. I know I can take it to the local recycle shop but they pay so
> less
> for un-striped copper and I just think it would be neat to take in a
> hole bunch of Bricks...
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