Guy at the scrapyard changed my mind about cleaning returns

I was over at Apex Metals last Tuesday dropping off some brass turnings and this old timer named Rick pointed at my bucket and said "you're leaving money on the table with all that oil mixed in." He showed me how he runs his stuff through a simple chip spinner he built from an old washing machine motor and now I get almost 20% more per pound. Has anyone else tried making their own spinner or do you just sell it dirty and take the hit?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylanwells3d ago

20% more sounds a little high unless you were running really wet. More realistic is maybe 8-12% bump on average but still worth it. A washing machine motor with a pulley setup works fine just make sure you balance the load or it'll shake your garage apart.

blair_torres703d ago

Wait, you seriously ran a washing machine motor on a grain mill?

torres.riley3d ago

4800 rpm on that old Maytag motor I pulled out of a dumpster behind a laundromat. Thing ran smooth for years before I upgraded to a proper mill. @dylanwells is right about the balance though, I had to bolt a steel plate to the base just to keep it from walking across the floor. The whole setup looked janky as hell but it got the job done for a fraction of what a new motor costs.