Try turning the your head to the side when cutting instead of aiming straight down. So when you blow through with the oxygen to make the actual cut, the oxygen will cut but also blow the slag and make a opening where it can’t reseal. Also be careful as the torch flame hitting direct concrete will make it pop like popcorn! Damage your slab. A green tented face shield will also help with the cutting glare better than the clear. Hope that helps. I’m a fan of your channel. Keep it up.

Hey bro, cool video. You asked for advice on using a torch. Here it is. Set propane on regulator to like 9 or 10 psi. Set oxygen @ 40 to 60. To Aquire a clean cut you have to lay the compressor down. Dont stand it up. Also have a straight line(your cut line) (preferably with soap stone) marked around the compressor. (Do this with a pipe wrap around)….you tube it. Now the next part is so important; choose the correct torch tip. The size of the oxygen hole in the center is what does the cutting. For thick metal use 00 or “double ought” tip. But for thin metal you can use a smaller one. When cutting with a torch the metal has to be “blown” out of the area thats being cut. If its welding itself back together it not being blown out. In your video you are holding the torch at a 90degree angle to the compressor. Try this instead; Lay the torch head down on the compressor, angle the torch toward the metal @ an 15 degree angle. The metal will get cherry red, gently press the oxy button on the torch and if you are doing it right it will Begin to cut a long slice of metal out, causing the liquid metal to turn into droplets and they will stream Off and away from the compressor. Leaving a clean slag free cut. And more….no heat (well not as much) Will go inside of the compressor case and melt other parts inside. Of course this takes practice but with time you will learn. Happy torch cutting!!

Your channel here has been a huge help in teaching me to find the "hidden" treasures inside of stuff. Same with the "is it worth it" videos - some items I've just stopped processing after watching. I think it would be an awesome little series if you went through all of the common scrap finds this way (washer/dryers/microwaves/etc), or updated some of the older videos where you were learning/experimenting, and have since found more efficient ways of processing.

The Thub bags arrived the other day and one had its first journey tonight. A night stroll to a work site for a load of insulated wire. In the end it was so much that the strap broke (we will mend that!) A proud purple bag full of goodies waits for processing. Thx so much!

That WAS entertaining. You have a good story telling capability. Good voice, good cadence and humor at the right times. Keep up the good work. 👍

You make it look easy man. Four hours work and a bunch of cutting disk I'll stick to just taking them in whole. That's four hours I could be finding more scrap

Not bad. But I prefer my way. The Diablo Reciprocating carbide steel demon blades are amazing. I can't stress that enough lol I must have got through 40 - 60 compressors, before breaking the blade (My fault). And I use no power tools for extracting the copper (final stage). I don't like producing/wasting copper dust, and my method is actually pretty swift. At least with the oily compressor wires. Placed in a vise, clipped with bolt/cable cutters, then leverage. They slip out relatively easy. Now, if they were not the oily style wires, they can put up a fight. But leverage still wins out in my case. I'm stubborn lol On average, I can have wires out without electric tools, in under 5 minutes. 7 minutes would be pretty conservative. And no copper wasted, and minimal mess. 😌

First, breaking down the time and cost and value comparisons was awesome. Thank you sir. Second, I've been doing this with compressors and electric motors for about 6 months now. What I've learned is the torch=waste of time, use a corded grinder rather than a battery operated one, regular cut off wheels work better than a metal wheel with diamond blade. A Sawzall with the right blade is pretty much as fast as a grinder at cutting them open but you will find you can get thru about 4 -5 compressors with one blade. I found a tile wet saw on the side of the road and started using it, without water, to cut one end of the windings off. I've done about 30 or so with the blade that was on it when I found it and it's still going strong. Also with that saw there is a pan underneath and with some pieces of fiberglass I made a backstop so after cutting all those I collect the copper dust and any pieces of windings that may come off. I've been wanting to try a chop saw for cutting the compressors open bur I haven't tried that yet. It was cool ti watch someone else's methods and the hammer drill idea is a great one! Happy scrapping!

Some scrappers wouldn't bother it's too much work,but then complain scrap metal prices are low. They think curbside to scrap yard is being a scrap dealer. Great video nice to see someone maximizing profits 👍👍

I love your "Is it worth doing this?," videos. I don't mess with compressors, but this was great. Quite a big jump in the return between the smallest one and the next one up.

did my first space heater ....its a start.....your videos are starting to sink in ....thanks alot thub ....interesting and entertaining and educational

As I've seen in some of the comments below try to angle the tip of your torch to the side to allow the molten metal to flow away from the direction of the cut. Also, I couldn't tell, but make sure you are wearing an approved, usual green in color, dark cutting torch goggles or glasses to protect your eyes from damage which actually make it easier to see that you are cutting and removes the glare much like a welding helmet... People don't always do this but it's vitally important.

Love the data you collect and share!! Scrapping has always intrigued me and these videos are SUPER informative!!

This is refreshing - please make more! Thanks for sharing this, I have subbed, take care man 👍🏻

When using a torch you don't want any yellow flame. start by just barley cracking open the acetylene gas and igniting it. turn it up to about a 6-8 inch horizontal flame. Crack the oxygen valve and slowly turn it up until the yellow flame is completely gone and all you are left with is purple/blue and a light blue/white inner cone. Pull the oxygen trigger and adjust the inner blue cone down to a clean sharp shape while the trigger is held. If when you pull the oxygen trigger the flame goes out you have too much oxygen or too little acetylene. When you start to cut just hold the purple flame against the object (blue cone just above) and let it heat up. The metal surface will start to liquify and this is the time to pull the oxygen trigger. Pro tip preheat the path you intend to follow. Not to the point of melting but it really helps to warm up the metal before hand and can clear any paint or whatnot on the surface. While cutting slightly angle the tip in the direction you are cutting to start the heat in that direction also this helps move the slag from resealing what you just cut. Slow and steady. If you go too fast and it stops cutting start again at the point left off by heating to the melting point before pulling oxygen trigger.

Invaluable information and entertaining presentation. Thanks for taking the time to show us this.

I really appreciate you breaking down all the figures and time spent on each it's really informative and as always with your videos very entertaining. Keep up the good work

Nice! Sounds like a good deal especially since you can pile them up and do it whenever you want.

Interesting and informative as always Thub, keep up the good work :)

I am so glad to see an expert such as yourself handling the cutting torch so deftly! It was a noble effort, and extremely entertaining. I'm also glad to see such fiddly work paying pretty well. I noticed the other day that you kids got a doozy of a storm. AND I received my purple bag yesterday - SO excited! Thanks, Thub!

Love it Thub!

Well worth saving a few up and battering through them like you did. Top tip again thanks.

Love your channel great work👍

love your content man! youve got me leaving it better than I found it and stepping up my scrap game :)

This kind of stuff is how my son an I make our living and it's always great to learn about more and other things we could be stripping down for more profit thanks for taking the time to share

That was very interesting. I just took in 600 lbs of compressors and got only $60. I would definitely strip the big ones as you showed to be most beneficial. Thanks. I love your videos

I enjoyed that, cheers thub

Thx fore this! Was to a lot of help and info my friend!

I have been cutting compressors for many years and the tiny acorns ones if you find a Zanussi fridge compressor. The compressor weights 10kg and you get 1.5kg of copper. As long as they are the old compressor and not made in China. As I find aluminium windings in those. I have a nine inch cutting disc find it much quicker.

Interesting stuff thub

Very informative! Love it!

Liked this a lot. Kudos🥳

Few of my Rental Units under renovation had their Compressors stolen and likely sold for scrap. Now I’m investing in Lead 🤙🏽

Great video mate .some nice number 2 to weigh in

I like the detailed individual onscreen info. Maybe its the propane/oxygen I'm not used to but with oxy/acetylene the flame should be blue/white and much tighter (higher pressure), should never see yellow flames and smoke/suit from torch flame. I like your vids, keep up the good work!

Two words, Plasma Torch... Most fun I have ever had with a tool 🙂

Like the money/time information. Thanks for sharing your videos

I like the video I'm getting older but not quite old enough to retire and I'm damn tired of working for someone else this will definitely help me where I'm moving to there are tons of junk cars that people will actually give you for free to get them out of their yards thanks again

Hi from Montreal,Canada! Learning a lot from you.Loved this video.There's a lot of copper in those compressors.

I'm a Metal Fabricator, it was hard to tell because of the light calibration of the video, however when you're cutting, you want to have a blue flame. When you press your oxygen handle in, you want to have 5, tiny blue triangles right off the tip, it looked like your mixture was off, causing you to heat, not cut. I noticed alot of people were telling you to cut away from your cut, don't do that. Slag builds up on the cut steel, causing it to oxidize and basically reweld it shut (albeit, poorly) it just makes for a dirtier cut and more difficulty separating. I'd recommend angling into your cut, so that it blows the slag entirely away from the joint. When sparking your acetylene, turn it down till you get a visible, heavy black soot coming off the flame, and a smooth flame. Then, turn it up slightly until the flame starts flickering, and burns cleaner, then add your oxygen. Otherwise, practice, practice, practice! If you'd like, I can create a video/tutorial on my channel to show how you can get highly precise, clean cuts using a torch.

Point the torch tip in the direction of your cut and move a little faster. Don’t cut straight in. Make sure your regulator pressures are set properly and your tip is clean. It takes practice but I just use the cutter wheels. Amazon has a metal cutting wheel designed to cut multiple times without wearing out.

Hey man, some tips if you want...oxygen on oil/grease can be really explosive, please be safe, love your stuff I want to keep seeing you do it. And try to aim your heat from the inner cone of the flame towards where you are cutting...if you have the right heat/angle, you can actually turn off the fuel and complete the cut with just oxygen. Keep going, thanks for the trial and errors that I don't have to do now.

always great content. thank you

My guy I just did this, and it is well worth it. For me I even the small ones was worth it. I ain't have the setup you did to calculate the small but it still turned out great. My 2 cents: Get a plasma cutter, it is way better and faster. A sawzall surprisingly works very well, especially on the acorns, after starting the cut with the grinder but it goes faster then a grinder accept when cutting scroll compressors were you gotta cut down the side. After seeing the "L" cuts and I like that method. I can see how it is more efficient and for that reason the sawzall comment is obsolete. Also if using a grinder I like getting those diamond blades. Last, when using the hammer drill they have blades with tips that are like the prongs on that barbeque tool used for hot dogs... it can get a better grip on the copper. I appreciate your videos. KZfaq unsubbed me but I Am back

Love the info!!

Great video! Love the info.

Digging the log/vice stand!

Good vid matec

LOL Hey man I learned how to light the torch to a cutting flame as soon as its struck with sparks. (Barely turn on the gas until you hear it faintly whisper, then 3/4 more oxygen than gas when you turn the oxygen knob) Also lead the cut, try to use the torch flame ahead of itself, preheats the place where you're cutting to. My small old Harris torch cuts like a laser on acetylene or propane. More concentrated power is better than a weak flame. Its a cutting torch or just a melting torch depending on your pressure and heat. You'll get there, but lots of practice man. Have a great day.

Information needed and found here. Thank you tube

Amazing and inspiring man 👌

Very informative video 👍

The trick to good efficient gas cutting is at the cutting tip keep the feathers (outer ring of small blue flames ) sharp. Not too sharp they go really spikey just sharp. The gas pressures vary a little with nozzle sizes. Your oxygen needs to push a clean line through the flames enough to blow the molten/ very hot steel out of the way on the other side. Your flames were looking too soft (not enough pressure to heat ) Oxy/acetylene/propane cutting requires a bit of practice to get just right but once you've found the sweet spot note your pressures and leave em at that . P.s .always keep your cutting tip real clean or it'll just block up and sputter eventually stomping your flame. & get yourself some tip cleaners. 👍😉

Well firstly i will say that famous Canadian friendlyness can be found through all your vid's and i saw a good couple of them...Second it is a great chanel very informative 2...Be blessed my man respect from the UK

The channel keeps growing

I can’t think of a more brutal job to do when it’s freezing cold out bless you

right on, very informative and damn entertaining

Great video, valuable information.

After a few KZfaq videos I feel I'm basically an expert at this. 🤣

Great video. Been waiting for this one. Having the right tools sure does help. Where did you get the air chisel?

Nice breakdown Thub. Interesting to see you have a go with the gas, but sticking with the cut-off wheels would be more economical I think, both in time and expense. 👍

Great video

I want to try using my chipping hammer to remove the copper from the motors, that looks like a genius idea, Great video!

I have an oxygen acetylene torch, I use it more than I thought. really handy for motors. Spend a few hours with your torch. technique will come. I also bought a 12 ton press for popping transformers. I am considering a plasma cutter in the future, probably next spring. Great video thus thanks!

Nice, thanks for sharing!😎🦅👏💪⚡️👊💥

Interesting video sir.

Thumbs up for being an expert after watching KZfaq videos

This was helpful and entertaining. I strip a lot of wire as an electrician. But I don't like doing all that extra work that you did cutting and torching. I have a wire stripping machine that does most of the work for me.

Another good idea is to make a quick go around with torch or vice versa and then cut with grinder thus reducing wear and tear on cutting wheels.

Compressors are my favorite to scrap! You get a lot

A little bit late but with torch work you want a high definition on your flames at the tip = the more the definition the better so you'll be looking for 6 mini cones or a highly defined crown if you will. Also as some other viewers mentioned there should be no smoke or orange flame near the head, and always point the head towards travel direction. Also check into your torch pressure settings for the fuels used. Also your friend was correct about the cut off wheel = a slower and lighter touch is always better if squeezing every bit of value from the blades. Good job though overall keep it up.

i do about 3 or 4 electric motors a week for the last year and i thought i had it worked out. thanks for the tip about cutting large winding motors where they bridge to air hammer out 1/2 at a time.

If you cut a notch in a V pattern into the pneumatic air chisel blade the new v groove holds on to the copper really nice. Watch videos by Okie scrapper for how he did his chisel.

If you do not want to take the torch route, (I seen many comments explaining good practice so another try could be very beneficial) try using a power saw. They will turn a 7 minute cut into less than a minute when being efficient. I recommend Stihl brand! Best regards and compliments on the video!

Great video the power chisel was ASMR 🤘🏻♻️🤘🏻 CheeRs Thubprint

HOLD AT AN ANGLE your pushing everything in bud your smarter than this love your advice

You can cut the copper with the cut off saw also it works amazing cause the cutting wheel is so big!

Two tips I can think of... 1 make sure your using a #5 welding lens.... and 2nd practice with longer steel.... I went to welding school but chose not to e a welder due to how harsh it is on your body... but when I got into Garage doors the long steel sections that came out of old doors always needed to be cut up and thrown into the steel bin at the shop... I must have cut all kinds of long steel pieces... the torch would also work better on something it can blow right through, hence the name "blow torch" using it on those compressors where the material has no where to blow out to will make the cut harder... but most importantly is practice... al welding gear is practice practice practice Also the blow torch (and plasma cutter) are nice for very clean cuts when your actually good at using it... but if you want speed a Carbon arc gouger is the way to go.

This is a nice side hussle. My dad it hen he was retired. If you work smart it's worth it. There is also a lot of competition in scapping depending where you live. I went a few times to the scap yard, they have so many rules on the way you turn in metals that for me , I saw it as alot of work for very little in return. Nice vedio.

When you use a cutting torch make sure that you are running an oxidizing flame and not a neutral flame. When you hear the metal , press the oxidizing turbo and push away from you. That way you are pushing the slag away and it won't weld back together

HUZZAH more awesome keep up the good work 👏

You got so much copper that your hair is starting to become like copper

But, then there's the locating part- gotta figure out a way to get these things in the first place. This is pretty neat though, I'll be keeping any compressors I run across from now on! Nice Vid, you've got a good voice for this stuff.

wouldnt do it as a main job but as a side gig for fun, this seems pretty good

Make sure that’s not a brazing tip and only crack the oxygen ( green) open, heat about 3” in a line to red( ready) then push the button to blow the steel away from the unit. And finding a ring to slide around it would give you a edge for the tip to ride on and the cut would be perfect

Hope you had fun man.

Burning freon makes phosgene gas it's very dangerous at very low concentrations. They used to have freon detectors that burned freon to check for leaks. The flame changed color when freon was present.

When using propane on a cutting torch you need to heat up your material a little bit more than if you were using acetylene or propylene which is acetylene and propane mix

Thanks for bringing to my attention that im a "trash enthusiast". So help me its the truth, just never thought of it that way.

Oxygen side of the regulator should be 30 psi 5-6 on fuel. To properly set the torch the small blue flames seen coming from the tip should be 1/4 of a inch roughly and when you depress the trigger there should be a very audible change in the oxygen coming out if it is not then your oxygen control (3rd knob on the torch) is set too high

I think a 3' torch is much easier stabilizing then the smaller ones. You can cut while standing up, just use the top part of the torch and blow the flame out the side. Kinda like if it were a plate of steel laying on the ground and you run the torch on the surface keeping the torch head on top.

Use a jackhammer bit with a micro jackhammer you can pick up for 200. It splits the light cast iron shells really quick and then you just jackhammer one end of the copper off and it generally pulls most of it out instead of cutting. Takes 5 mins total

Great Video... Good information. I bet a plasma cutter would be the cats brass :-)

I go ahead and collect them for a couple months but I never factor in the hours it takes to knock them down. I do a couple of them a night in front of the TV while I'm watching my favorite shows,and at the end of the month or at the end of every 6 months I'll take a large quantity in for some extra cash. But recently with savings and prices going up I'll just do a big cash out at the end of the year.

It was helpful

Hi Mr. Thub, How timely, I was just getting prepared to gut 14 little compressors. But I'm moving! So I sold them intact so I can "move" on. P.S. Cutting galvanized steel with a torch does indeed make a nasty gas. If you do this do so outdoors and stand upwind. Thanks Friend!

Thank you I watch the whole video thank you😊👍👍👍👍🏆🏆🏆

With a little practice, a plasma cutter will make quick work of separating the shells. You just need to grind the paint off for the ground cable and the beginning of the cut.

When it comes to using up wheels, just make sure you cut through 95% and spin your piece the way that the wheel would make it spin if it could. Don't cut in to an edge if you can avoid it. you will save your blade. Also I hear that hydrogen is the cats ass for cutting. Much cooler and less material to remove, as long as your torch is fit to it well

Thay are good for bulking up your no.2 copper bin. Plus the extra bin of moter parts is a small bonus.