The welder is a Linde VI-600. Heavy bugger. I got the case off and blew it out and saw bus bars everywhere instead of cables. I was good with that until I realized they were all aluminum, uh oh. When I got the main 3 phase transformer out and broken into 3 individual transformers each of them proved to have one of its windings was sheet aluminum, dag nabbit.
I don’t know how much the welder weighed originally. The guy I got it from thought 800 pounds. I only got about 60 pounds of copper out of it, and that after several hours of work which left a big mess.
This was my first time scrounging copper out of a welder. I don’t think I’ll be doing it again. I’m going to make a profit but it will be a small to middle single digit hourly rate, not worth it in the end.
I’m not trying for sympathy. Just wanted to put this out there so you all can consider it before you decide to scrap out a welder.
metalmagpie