HOW DO YOU SCRAP AN ELECTRIC MOTOR?

Winthrop Steel Company

Oct 5, 20192 min read

Electric Motors can be found in a variety of items like vacuums, computers, ceiling fans, air conditioners, and more. Almost anything that requires electricity and has moving parts will have an electric motor inside. They are often collected for scrap metal recycling because they are heavy and contain a large amount of copper wire.

Get the item that has the electric motor inside and begin to dissemble is with a screwdriver or drill. The electric motor itself will sometimes be screwed down inside of the item. Remove the screws from the base and pull the electric motor out.
The electric motor will probably have insulated copper wire connected to it. You can take wire cutters and snip them to remove them from the motor. You can place the wire in your copper wire pile for scrap.
Once you have the electric motor removed from your item, you can add them to your pile of electric motors.
If you have multiple electric motors, it may be a good idea to check the type of metal the wire inside is. Many times it will be copper wire (reddish color) or it can have aluminum wire (silver color).
If you have several (50 or more) electric motors it may be worth your time to take them apart for the copper wire inside. It is not an easy task to do this so make sure it is going to be worth your time to take them apart.
Usually your electric motors will have to be pried open with a hammer and screwdriver to get the copper wire coil from the inside. Once you have it open be sure to set other metals like steel and aluminum or other materials like plastic aside.