I have a question. I was bored one day, so I dismantled a burned out AC electric motor to salvage the copper windings. Much to my surprise the very copper looking windings were in fact not copper at all but likely aluminum (??), colored or plated to look like copper. Is this common and would it not affect the function of the motor? Is this done to imply a quality that is not there?? Any comments and insights would be greatly appreciated. Oh yeah one more thing I too am a copper penny addict.
It is done to save money. Copper is $3.40 /lb and aluminum is $1.00 /lb. A fairly big motor (1/4 to 1/2 HP) can contain up to 1 lb of copper wire. All the old motors I have come across have copper wire.
It is still worth salvaging the aluminum wire. Price is ten times that of the motor iron.
Electric motors
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Posted - 01/05/2010 : 17:39:07
