hungoversheep Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Hello all! My first post here so bare with me. I hope this is the correct area for this post. I am currently melting down copper scrap into solid 5 pound copper ingots. Everything is going well and really I am just fine tuning the forge and switching over to a forced all burner right now. What I am REALLY after is making a wire granulator, it basically just chops up wire into rice sized pieces. If I wanted to buy one it would be several thousands and would much rather make one of my own. Could anyone help with some plans? I have made several attempts at it but isn't that easy I have found out. Does anyone on this site have any experience or tips? I can make a lot of things but I seem to be wasting my time with this one. Thanks in advance for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 I hope you're not making ingots to resell. You are losing money if you are on many fronts. Scrappers prefer to have the original scrap so they can identify what it was; a bar can be anything and filled with anything to increase weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how may members are within visiting distance. Unless you're making ingots to melt for casting yourself, you'll be losing money as Steve says. Scrappers will only pay junk metal prices for home made ingots. You also might be put on a "person of interest" list with the police if there has been much copper theft in the general vicinity. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Forget granulating as that just increases the surface exposed to air and copper loves to suck up oxygen-not a good thing. I would make a briquetter instead. Compress them down as small as you can. That way you have less exposure to the atmosphere. Many shops use briquette makers to handle the chips off of lathes and machining centers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hungoversheep Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 Yes I am making ingots for resell but refining them as well. I don't sell them to scrappers at all, currently averaging about $10 a pound right now. I was going to use the Granulator to keep space down but making I like the idea of smashing it down too. Only melt down select scrap wire and pipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 How are you deoxidizing your copper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hungoversheep Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 I use a floating graphite powder during the melt and then phoscopper to Degas it. A lot of it comes down to proper air/ fuel mix. Copper should be melted under reducing conditions due to it absorbing hydrogen and other elements easily. Here is one of my ingots: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 We used Lithium for degassing at the foundry I was at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hungoversheep Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 6 minutes ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said: We used Lithium for degassing at the foundry I was at. I thought of that as an option but was worried about the fumes compared to phoscopper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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