Use, Scrap or Repurpose old welding cable

[honcho]

driving out of my neighborhood this past weekend I passed a pile of trash I had to rummage through. I pulled out a bunch of wire and cable, the most interesting was a very nice 220V extension cord about 60 feet long made with 8/3 wire and one strand of 00 gauge welding cable about 75 ft long.

I'm going to keep the 220v extension cord and give it to my son. The question is what to do with the welding cable. The insulating jacket is intact, but with small checking/cracking that doesn't appear to go completely through the insulation along the length of the cable. As mentioned, it is 00 gauge cable. I can give it to my scrapping friends who will turn it into a few bucks for beer or gas money or I can try to find a good use for it.

Just looking for any ideas beyond a killer set of jumper cables although I have a nice commercial set of 4 gauge cables already.

thanks in advance

 

[nine4gmc]

If the insulation is cracking down the full length, I think I would use it for trading material to the scrap guy. My scrap guy trades me good things he finds for scrap metal I have all the time, you would not believe the things they find...

 

[Jason280]

00 is pretty big, I would imagine 75' would be well over 50-60lbs. I would love to have it if you were closer, it works great as battery cable upgrades. And, as you mentioned, would make a hell of a set of jumper cables.

 

[zkling]

I'd use it as a weld cable extension. I take it you don't have a welder?

 

[warmpancakes]

As mentioned, it is 00 gauge cable. I can give it to my scrapping friends who will turn it into a few bucks for beer or gas money or I can try to find a good use for it.

a few bucks???? thats probably 50-60 bucks in scrap, #1 copper is nutty here right now

 

[woody 73]

Make a very nice set of jumper cables for your car or truck and it will pay for itself over and over again.

 

[Jason280]

I would think so, I know the local yard sells copper cable for $2/foot, so they probably pay at least $1/foot.

 

[Strouty]

Around here it is about $1.50 per pound with the jacket still on it. If it was anything but welding cable I would say strip the jacket off and get the $2.50 a pound for it. If you mean 2 ought cable, it should be about ½ a pound per foot.

 

[AndrewV]

Me personaly. I would turn it into something.
Got a wood bench in my fathers shop. I would strip it. Wrap the legs, and clear it. Would look damn good in the sun light.

But if times were tough. Scrap it.

 

[2oolhound]

Advertise it on cl in the welding section. OO welding cable sells for $5 -$8 a foot new so even at $2 per ft it $150 in your pocket.

 

[wrenchguy]

While we're here do any of u guys melt ur cooper into ingots? I heard if u can it'll bring best price, but don't know how much. thanks.

 

[91bronc300]

Advertise it on cl in the welding section. OO welding cable sells for $5 -$8 a foot new so even at $2 per ft it $150 in your pocket.

A little less than $2.50 a foot for 2/0 here in the US right now. 75 feet of copper 2/0 would weigh about 38 lbs, or I would guess around 32 lbs stripped. Copper has dipped a bit the last couple weeks so bare bright is bringing about $2.50 lbs, maybe $2.60 at a generous yard. So you've got about $80 in scrap copper.

 

[91bronc300]

While we're here do any of u guys melt ur cooper into ingots? I heard if u can it'll bring best price, but don't know how much. thanks.

Where'd you hear that? Yards don't want ingots because they don't know what it came from. If you bring in plumbing, or wire, or bus bars it's obvious what it is. But an ingot could be a bunch of melted pennies.

 

[K-Dog]

Look for a sound and lighting company. They might buy it to use it as feeder cable.

 

[justme-]

If the insulation is checking/cracking there is limited safe use for it as a cable carrying it's capacity. I'd use it as a ground for a welder but that's about it outside of scrap. It's not safe as a feeder, jumper cables, etc.

 

[Lx460]

If the insulation is checking/cracking there is limited safe use for it as a cable carrying it's capacity. I'd use it as a ground for a welder but that's about it outside of scrap. It's not safe as a feeder, jumper cables, etc.

That's what I was thinking. I need to get a long ground to make my spool gun more usable. I have a 30 foot cable for the gun and a 6 foot ground clamp...lol.

 

[bwringer]

If the insulation is checking/cracking there is limited safe use for it as a cable carrying it's capacity. I'd use it as a ground for a welder but that's about it outside of scrap. It's not safe as a feeder, jumper cables, etc.

Yep -- most people here are missing that point. If the insulation is not in good shape, it's a hunk of fairly valuable scrap.



After the old gent's expiration date, I pulled an enormous WWII-era welder out of my Grandpa's garage. The original cables were, of course, badly cracked and large chunks of the rubber were long gone.

His solution was to push lengths of old garden hose over the cables and keep using the welder...

 

[gearhead1]

I'd use it as a weld cable extension. I take it you don't have a welder?

+1 on the welding cable extension.

 

[1950mercury]

Jumper cables, plow truck wiring, hotrod battery wiring. Etc. If the ins. Is to far gone peel it off and get full price for clean copper at the scrap yard

 

[wrenchguy]

Where'd you hear that? Yards don't want ingots because they don't know what it came from. If you bring in plumbing, or wire, or bus bars it's obvious what it is. But an ingot could be a bunch of melted pennies.

i saw them at the scrap yard check-in turning in cans. i asked what it was, he said copper some guy brings in 4 premium bucks. i should of asked 4 more info, but didn't.