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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: silverfox1111 on November 08, 2017, 11:01:48 AM

Title: Scrap metal
Post by: silverfox1111 on November 08, 2017, 11:01:48 AM
Gday all.
Quick question, can you get cash for aluminium engine blocks & gearboxs as well as storage water heaters or is it easier to just call someone to pick them up for nothing?
Thanks
Silverfox
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: cassgazz on November 08, 2017, 11:53:43 AM
The scrap yard that I have used in the past has a separate area for aluminium. This pays more than what steel does.
As long as all the steel has been stripped out the block & gearbox, you should get a good price.

Not too sure about the water heaters though. Most are normally steel these days, rather than copper. Leave it filled with water for a few extra $$$  >:D
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Rumpig on November 08, 2017, 02:56:04 PM
Scrap yards will take almost anything, if you have a few in your area ring them and find out what rates they are paying for each metal, because you'll be surprised at how much places vary in what they pay, and that's money you'll be missing out on. Depending on what you have exactly depends on if it's worthwhile taking stuff down, clean ally and clean copper are worth decent money, if you have them mixed with other metal also it can be worth very little to nothing. Many scrap places have bins out front on weekends for dumping stuff in if you just want to get rid of stuff.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Hoyks on November 08, 2017, 05:18:36 PM
Having an ABN helps get a better price too.
Some of the bigger places around Newcastle would only pay if you have an ABN. They'd do you a favour and take the stuff off your hands for nothing if you didn't. There were a few smaller places that would pay 1/2 what the bigger guys would, but asked fewer questions.

They did this because blokes armed with some bolt cutters and a tilt tray were stealing big rolls of copper cabling or whole cars from the street and taking it straight to the scrap yard.  The big guys didn't need the hassle and an ABN was a convenient way to filter the really dodgy guys.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: silverfox1111 on November 08, 2017, 05:31:58 PM
Got 2 subaru motors, one suzuki sierra motor & one subaru gearbox. Sounds like it might be worthwhile in my spare time to strip the motors down to separate the alloy from steel.
Silverfox
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: speewa158 on November 08, 2017, 06:26:54 PM
The Daily spot price of scrap can go up & down like a brides nightie  :cup:
l used to deal with a Scrappo  he told me that 1 day he called before he delivered & was quoted a price . The next morn at 6.30 AM he tried to deliver but the new price was well below that quoted rate . lts a day to day price  .
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: MDS69 on November 11, 2017, 02:18:06 PM
In NSW the yards will not pay cash anymore, don't know about other states. It is cheque or direct debit. The yard we use for work doesn't pay for steel under 500kg but will let you leave it there. It will be worth you stripping your scrap down and separating.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Bad Scott on November 11, 2017, 09:00:15 PM
1 cent per kg steel was the last time I went. Heard since it went down to half a cent. It does float around.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: kylarama on November 11, 2017, 09:55:17 PM
Most places in Melbourne still do cash, but you need a drivers license. We scrap around 500kg worth of ali every few months at work. Even with an ABN from a large company, they still want an individuals drivers license.

Clean, extruded ali can be worth around $1.50 - $2.00 per kilo.

Cast ali, like gearbox cases, sometimes half that.


My mates workshop makes a few bucks selling car batteries and catalytic converters, plus all the scrap metal like discs, drums, springs, dead engines.
Old cats can be worth up to $150.
All this usually goes towards the cost of old tyre disposal....

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: silverfox1111 on November 12, 2017, 07:20:02 AM
Thinking now, that due to what is paid for cast alloy, I'm probably better of to just ring one of these collection mobs & give the motors to them rather than waste time pulling the motors apart to seperate the alloy from steel.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Rumpig on November 12, 2017, 07:27:20 AM
1 cent per kg steel was the last time I went. Heard since it went down to half a cent. It does float around.
i don't know anyone other then businesses using the stuff  that bother taking steel to scrap yards, it's never been worth the effort. Ally, copper, batteries and electrical cables have been the main things worth bothering about for the average punter, and a few of those not worth the effort once the arse dropped out of prices a few years back.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Bad Scott on November 12, 2017, 08:26:15 AM
i don't know anyone other then businesses using the stuff  that bother taking steel to scrap yards, it's never been worth the effort. Ally, copper, batteries and electrical cables have been the main things worth bothering about for the average punter, and a few of those not worth the effort once the arse dropped out of prices a few years back.
We do it for the cans 😁😁
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Rumpig on November 12, 2017, 09:08:16 AM
We do it for the cans 😁😁
understand if it's a business throwing heaps of offcuts etc of steel in a bin to take for cash, but the average punter collecting scrap at home would take years of collecting steel to get enough for a carton. Atleast with ally and copper you only need a smallish amount in comparison to make it worth keeping. You see people driving around Brisbane collecting washing machines and fridges from kerbside clean ups, I'd doubt they make much more if any then their running costs when they cash it in
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: speewa158 on November 12, 2017, 09:55:48 AM
Yes but the thrill of the hunt  , on road side shopping in the Green isle .
l have been a devote for years , provides me with a Hunter/Gather thing .
One mans junk is another's treasure  :cup: :cup: :cup: :cup: :cheers:
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: rags on November 12, 2017, 11:00:36 AM
I know a drainer who on arrival on each new house site, scans the block for any left over reo bar etc left over from the slab pour.. The waste on project home building sites is huge and reo is a large part of the waste. He typically did 2 and sometimes 3 jobs a day, collected the steel and stock piled it until there was a decent amount and prices where up. His attitude was that as a self employed person who doesn't get holiday pay, this was like his holiday pay and funded his family's trips.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: corndog on November 12, 2017, 11:44:17 AM
I've seen 2 guys/scabs on a building site stripping the wire out of the old fluro light fittings we put in the bin. Wire went into 1 bin, light fitting shell into another. We just shook our heads. Their new names became Super Scab 1+2. And if they didn't get paid enough as it was.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: rossm on November 12, 2017, 01:18:46 PM
Yes but the thrill of the hunt  , on road side shopping in the Green isle .
l have been a devote for years , provides me with a Hunter/Gather thing .
One mans junk is another's treasure  :cup: :cup: :cup: :cup: :cheers:

Last verge collection council was a bit slow on the pick up and I had a guy going through my rubbish when it had been out about four days.

He was busy digging through and scattering stuff all over so I fronted him and told him he had to tidy it up or I would report him for littering. Dunno how that would have worked but he got the message.

Then I asked him what he reckoned would be left after his fellow treasure hunters  had four days start on him.

You never know, he said.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: speewa158 on November 12, 2017, 04:10:30 PM
Arrrr the thrill of the hunt  . You might have found something else that was almost forgotten & chucked it out   .  BINGO  , Treasure    :cup: :cheers:
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: prodigyrf on November 13, 2017, 01:34:49 PM
i don't know anyone other then businesses using the stuff  that bother taking steel to scrap yards, it's never been worth the effort.

Often it's not about getting anything for it like roofers and fencers or old whitegoods but just not paying to dump it.
In that respect I had an interesting one with a special combined Council offer to dump your e-waste when many were leaving their old computers and CRT tellys on the median strips. So I gather up a couple of CRT tellys and a PC, etc plus a VHS video player/recorder and fine with dumping them all except they wanted $5 for the VCR for some reason I couldn't fathom so I took it home and chucked it in the wheely bin. Yeah I know I'm a cheap bastard  ;D
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Troopy_03 on November 14, 2017, 03:27:10 PM
Often it's not about getting anything for it like roofers and fencers or old whitegoods but just not paying to dump it.
In that respect I had an interesting one with a special combined Council offer to dump your e-waste when many were leaving their old computers and CRT tellys on the median strips. So I gather up a couple of CRT tellys and a PC, etc plus a VHS video player/recorder and fine with dumping them all except they wanted $5 for the VCR for some reason I couldn't fathom so I took it home and chucked it in the wheely bin. Yeah I know I'm a cheap bastard  ;D

That's just weird. There's less harmful stuff in a VCR than any CRT TV or Monitor.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: speewa158 on November 14, 2017, 06:43:46 PM
The catch is the gold in the connections . Strip down the unit to circuit boards  , grind them up , burn them & the crap is gone out flows the gold . You get enough to make it really worth while ,,,, you do the math     :cheers:
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: prodigyrf on November 14, 2017, 10:26:12 PM
That's just weird. There's less harmful stuff in a VCR than any CRT TV or Monitor.
Seemed weird to me at the time and why I remember it so clearly. The stuff was being loaded into shipping containers so my guess is it was being offshored and they had certain criteria. Was much later and I arranged with Council for a hard rubbish collection at my place and someone left a whopper CRT with it and it was left behind and I got a red sticker about it. Apparently I'd have to take it to the tip myself and pay $20 to get rid of it. Those CRT screens are tough but they do implode nicely for the bin  ;D 
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Cruiser 105Tvan on November 14, 2017, 11:09:05 PM
And did you get covered in all the dust from inside the tube when it imploded?
What’s in a Monitor?

CRT Monitors include several extremely hazardous materials encased within the Cathode Ray Tube. This glass tube contains a large quantity of lead, and coatings of phosphorous, cadmium, and mercury, in addition to several other heavy metals and toxins. The interior surface of the glass case is also coated with lead, which becomes airborne lead dust when the CRT is cracked, and all of the materials will leach into soil after breakage. This is the reason that municipal landfills do not accept CRT’s, since they are a danger to the workers involved in their breakdown and collection.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Cruiser 105Tvan on November 14, 2017, 11:20:17 PM
And did you get covered in all the dust from inside the tube when it imploded?
What’s in a Monitor?

CRT Monitors include several extremely hazardous materials encased within the Cathode Ray Tube. This glass tube contains a large quantity of lead, and coatings of phosphorous, cadmium, and mercury, in addition to several other heavy metals and toxins. The interior surface of the glass case is also coated with lead, which becomes airborne lead dust when the CRT is cracked, and all of the materials will leach into soil after breakage. This is the reason that municipal landfills do not accept CRT’s, since they are a danger to the workers involved in their breakdown and collection.
It also makes you wonder when the local council people chuck telly's into the back of rubbish trucks and stand and watch them being crushed by the mechanism in the truck.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Troopy_03 on November 15, 2017, 05:11:38 AM
The catch is the gold in the connections . Strip down the unit to circuit boards  , grind them up , burn them & the crap is gone out flows the gold . You get enough to make it really worth while ,,,, you do the math     :cheers:

You know how much gold is actually on those connectors... it's microns thick... you do the math  ;D

You'd need to process a tonnes of circuit boards to reclaim an ounce of gold.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: Troopy_03 on November 15, 2017, 05:30:52 AM
And did you get covered in all the dust from inside the tube when it imploded?
What’s in a Monitor?

CRT Monitors include several extremely hazardous materials encased within the Cathode Ray Tube. This glass tube contains a large quantity of lead, and coatings of phosphorous, cadmium, and mercury, in addition to several other heavy metals and toxins. The interior surface of the glass case is also coated with lead, which becomes airborne lead dust when the CRT is cracked, and all of the materials will leach into soil after breakage. This is the reason that municipal landfills do not accept CRT’s, since they are a danger to the workers involved in their breakdown and collection.


While I don't disagree that CRTs contain dangerous compounds, it's not really as dramatic as that website implies, after all they are promoting their own business.http://tbsindustries.com/crt-monitor-recycling.html (http://tbsindustries.com/crt-monitor-recycling.html)

If you worked at the dump, and were busting them daily, you might end up with higher exposure levels than is healthy.
Title: Re: Scrap metal
Post by: prodigyrf on November 16, 2017, 09:54:37 AM
And did you get covered in all the dust from inside the tube when it imploded?
This is the reason that municipal landfills do not accept CRT’s, since they are a danger to the workers involved in their breakdown and collection.
No I'm old enough and wise enough to wear safety goggles and a respirator mask nowadays and cover the tube with cloth in the wheely bin before the pointy end of the welding hammer (forget a ball pein hammer here folks) but I did my citizenly duty with that combined Council collection and shipping them all off to third world countries in those containers, no doubt to be ecologically recycled  :-*