Pics of what I want to cut

[everlastsupport]

Make sure the deck is not wood, could get exciting. I know of guys that chopped them for door and to add them together. Looks like a lot of cutting. Get the Smith on once side and the plasma on the other if you need to go fast, but the plasma will be cheaper to run. You have plenty of power there for the compressor and plasma I hope.

[DaveO]

I'm sure you've pegged those trailers as past their useful life, no longer roadworthy, or whatever, but do they have value as anything else? Construction offices? Storage containers? Beach rentals to college kids?

[Tritium]

I have a 45' aluminum skinned shipping container. The entire inside is wood except for the top which is solid aluminum. If they are weather and rodent proof they have much more value as storage than as scrap I bet.

Thurmond

[DaveO]

That's what I was thinking. I would never try to talk somebody out of buying a new machine, but cutting those bad boys up for scrap, dealing with all the non-scrap (junk wood, tires), sharp edges, things catching fire, transporting to the scrap yard and paying the junk yard... seems like a long road to walk down.

[jakeru]

Have you ever heard of a 'cut rod'? I'm not talking about air-carbon arc.

There are rods that can be used with just a "plain jane" stick welding power source and stick electrode holder, (and no compressed air), which can pierce, and reach through thick box-like metal sections and cut through areas that might have considerable thickenss (like a "box frame"), where the back side would otherwise be difficult to cut with something that can only cut what's right next to it, like a plasma cutter. Supposedly the cut rods work on aluminum, too. I have no idea if they are long lasting and fast enough to cut an entire trailer, but you might want to look into them more for project:
http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com/e...r/Cut-Rod.aspx

[DaveO]

I'd never heard of a cut rod- I did a search for "cut rod video" and all the results were for a Rod Stewart song, definitely not interchangeable for a welding video. The cut rods you mention are available online starting about $6 per pound, also something to think about in this truck scrapping exercise, and some are meant to be used underwater. It'd be cool to have a few on hand, just to try them out.

At first I thought you were talking about a thermal lance, an oxy-acet process. That dredged up a story my Dad told me a long time ago- definitely hauling up the deep storage memories- that a company he worked for was hired or asked how they would break into a remote building, and challenged to bring back some proof that they'd been inside. Instead of attacking the heavy door they used this acetylene lance to melt through the outside concrete block wall, and brought back whatever proof was required.

[Krookz]

Have you ever heard of a 'cut rod'? I'm not talking about air-carbon arc.

There are rods that can be used with just a "plain jane" stick welding power source and stick electrode holder, (and no compressed air), which can pierce, and reach through thick box-like metal sections and cut through areas that might have considerable thickenss (like a "box frame"), where the back side would otherwise be difficult to cut with something that can only cut what's right next to it, like a plasma cutter. Supposedly the cut rods work on aluminum, too. I have no idea if they are long lasting and fast enough to cut an entire trailer, but you might want to look into them more for project:
http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com/e...r/Cut-Rod.aspx

I believe they have a similar effect to the Thermite cutting torches... They're just run by electricity instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mShRdpo7PT0

[Mikeymetal]

Thanks for the input but I was hoping someone would say like "i scrapped one like that and got $600.00" or "Probably 600 pounds of aluminum and 2-1/2 tons of steel. The math is all good but a ballpark figure would work too.

[Tritium]

Non-magnetic stainless was selling for 65 cents a pound today when I was at the scrap yard so. Clean Yellow brass was $1.50 lb., Clean #2 copper was $3.15, Clean #1 copper was $3.40 lb., Unprepared steel was $170 a ton. I did not have any aluminum to sell so I did not check the price but it was recently 50 cents a pound for old irrigation tube.

Thurmond

[DaveO]

The math is all good but a ballpark figure would work too.

The math would get you the ballpark for the aluminum, at least: with the weight per square foot in hand, you'd just need the height and length of the sides. Axles, frame or undercarriage, the front jack stands or whatever they're called are all steel but guessing those weights? I did see that unsorted bulk steel scraps at $170 per ton.

[Mikeymetal]

more than anything this is an excuse to buy the mac-daddy plasma cutter that we've been mulling over. and good fuel for the conversation fire. These trailers have served their purpose as on-site storage for over 2 decades now. we had another one that a guy was paying to leave here and a storm came by and wasted it. I would rather we go about breaking these down in a orderly fashion than dealing with a train wreck. thought of the craigslist thing but theres already a guy that wants to pay us $300.00 each to take them and do the same thing. we figure that if he's willing to do that, there must be double that in scrap value. Anybody out there got any idea just hoew much they're worth in scrap??

[DaveO]

There's online metal suppliers that have tons of information on their sites. This one, for instance
http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant...858&top_cat=60
...gives the weight per square foot of various sheet metal types. Using that and measuring your trailers you could get a pretty close estimate of the total weight- you'd have to select the trailer alloy and research it. Then, multiply by the per pound price your scrap yard gives you. Metal prices change daily, kind of like stock market prices. Someone in an earlier post suggested talking to the scrap yard to find out the optimal size and condition to get the highest price.

You might be able to game the system if you find out what the price is linked to, or if the price is online you could see the daily fluctuations and try to sell on the highs.

Please post pics of the demolition! I'm sure it will be an adventure. Maybe you could have daily challenges with your brother...

[wruehl]

My cousins all used to own outfits that put up prefab steel buildings. Before all this really cool cold saw, and plasma cutter tech, we used a plywood blade installed backwards in a circular saw. It would cut metal stock like crazy. Hearing and eye protection where a must, but it worked well.

[Mikeymetal]

Thanks Robert, and everyone else for the excellent responses. The detail stuff has helped us to make the decision to go ahead with the project. I'm thinking that the 70 amp unit fits our needs with room to spare.

[Robert s]

No problem Mike I just know for a fact that it doesn’t take much scrap to make $1,000 when it is selling well and now is not a bad time. I think that your choice of the 70 amp unit is a good choice.