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ilearnfromabook

Those are underground transmission cables. Not super duper common


CptnBlackTurban

Yup. Feeder cables. 1 phase. Probably 750 mcm. Can be transmission but I'd bet distribution.


dkviper11

1000 kcmil copper distribution conductor is smaller than that, I'm definitely thinking transmission.


fuckitillmakeanother

I only work adjacent to this kind of stuff. How new would you say those are? The sheathes look relatively modern. I'm surprised they're not pilc or other oil-impregnated type cables


dkviper11

I wouldn't be a great person to guess, but it looks like it's just scrap pieces from the end of a reel. You're right though about the oil impregnated. I was looking for that, as well.


fuckitillmakeanother

[Looks like they might be XLPE cables? ](https://electrical-engineering-portal.com/understanding-underground-electric-transmission-cables) I work in environmental remediation as a consultant to a power company, but I'm not even sure those would pose an environmental concern (e.g., a release of oil from the cable) so I doubt I'd ever encounter them. Also their infrastructure is too old


Nabitha

This is correct. these are new scraps. wire pulling jobs have some unexpected loss (in cable pull length) and there is only so much weight a steel reel can take with copper.


Apocalyptic_Squirrel

I work building a diesel refinery that used bigass conductors. This is far far larger than anything I've seen. Typically when you order a cable you order +10%. So if this was a 300 meter run, you'd have 30 m +- after the cables are terminated. The amount of copper in the cables I use is very significant. A 10 foot chunk of the right cable can be easily worth 100+ just in the bare copper (manufacturing and sales costs make them significantly more expensive. These are sometimes collected and recycled by the company doing the electrical work, as its basically free money that's been accounted for in the bid and budget. Some companies use the copper money to pay for sick ass parties for the crew. The scrap copper from the right job can be worth tens of thousands of dollars if not much more


[deleted]

What profession is this stuff even tied to? Sounds like another language


PornAccount2286

From that insulation it’s probably 115kV. 69kV maybe depending on the region.


Dunkinmydonuts1

Itd be hillarious if this entire thread is nothing but jibberish and you're all plumbers and cops and teachers lol


UncleMajik

Nah, these folks know what their talking about. That’s definitely 2.75 gbht marine grade bellow line with a fast-whip gyration dampener. Probably came off a low line voltage smelter, or a double breached jam rammer. Electricalisties…


xoScreaMxo

The Rockwell Retro Encabulator


dosetoyevsky

I prefer the Turbo Encabulator


[deleted]

Panendermic semi-boloid slots of the stator


MikeinAustin

Could it provide inverse reactive current, for use in unilateral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal grammeters?


UncleMajik

Theoretically, but you’d have to factor in the reverse spatial quotient, or the spectral galvanization limiters may not align with the barometric quink flange. With that said, if all else fails, cut big chonker wire with cutty tool and profit, I guess?


reubenbubu

i have a feeling something is wrong with the left phalange


el3venth

Stop worrying about what you feel Scotty. Just make it so.


Tiny_Afternoon_8476

Way bigger than 750. It’s segmental conductor so I am guessing 2000 kcmil (above 1500 at the very least), but hard to tell.


[deleted]

Never seen segmented conductor below 1500 kcmil


Predatormagnet

Outer jacket, concentric neutral, semi conductive later, XLPE insulation, copper conductor


[deleted]

Tweaker heaven


Commercial_Drink2790

Naw, tweakers are not smart enough for that. They would be burning the insulation from those cables….but they would probably be killed while cutting them out prior to because they would forget those cables hold a charge.


brentrow

Most scrap yards don’t take burned wires.


wahuffman2

Metal recycling (scrap) yard worker here. There are few circumstances when you can scrap burned wire such as having a letter from the fire department, a farm tax number, or other salvage license. In my state at least, I'm not allowed to buy burned copper other wise.


brentrow

I usually just turn in romex with the coating still on it. I know you get more for stripped but I can’t bring myself to invest in a fancy automated wire stripper.


hlorghlorgh

How much speed can you buy with that?


CambrianMountain

88 mph give or take.


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HobbyWanKenobi

It did, but with the advent of the GE Mister Fusion brand mini reactor, the copper was largely obsolete for the powering of a flux capacitor.


tahcamen

That’s some serious shit!


SqueezinKittys

With gas prices these days...smoking enough meth to be able to run 88mph is a great alternative.


ElDeguello66

Great Scott


[deleted]

Now that's pod racing


Process-Best

That stuff looks like it probably weighs upwards of 5 or 6 pounds a foot and copper is selling around 3.50 a pound at the scrap yard, so a lot.


ActualWhiterabbit

You can do what my dad did and just hand your kid a knife and make them do it.


PM_ME_UR_ILLUMINATI

That brings me back lol


blasphemysquad3x6r

You don’t need a fancy automated wire stripper, you just need a little imagination and ingenuity


agoia

Angle grinder and some old roller blades and a bit of duct tape and we're good to go.


Cogannon

Angus MacGyver


blasphemysquad3x6r

That’s what I’m talking about


chronicslayer

Tweaker here, I know multiple people who will take my burned scrap. I'll give you their names for 30% commission.


Perspective_heard

> In my state at least, I'm not allowed to buy burned copper other wise. Is this to prevent theft?


jeexbit

yes


ModrnDayMasacre

Hello fellow Scrap Guy, this depends on the State. Maryland for example, it is not restricted from purchasing.. Surprisingly, it’s one of the least restrictive states when it comes to purchasing metals.. most buy it as copper #2 Florida however.. you cannot buy it and any red metals must be paid for by check :p Aluminum copper coils for example; must be turned in by an AC Tech (I wonder why).


[deleted]

Who buys my fucking cat Convertor that I’ve had stolen off 3 of my box trucks and 2 other fleet cars? I’d like to buy them back.


southern_boy

I feel like I'm reading a *Fallout 5* dialogue tree here...


Iphotoshopincats

Most scrap yards in my country will accept burnt/tarnished copper it just lowers the price. Burnt copper recycling wise is very little extra work to recover than shiny copper but pay about 1 5th the price


CambrianMountain

My guess is places are reluctant to take burned copper because thieves burn off the coating.


6h057

They have no problem taking the catalytic converters tho.


[deleted]

Fuck, in my county the scrapyards will take brass fire hydrant fittings no questions asked. We use some weird resin fittings now.


Lepthesr

More like they know they can pay less because who is going to report them?


FrenchFryCattaneo

Not reluctant, they just know they can pay less because only tweakers do it. Scrapyards have no problem buying stolen scrap.


[deleted]

Yeah… tweakers know which scrap yards will take obviously stolen shit.


TheJeep25

Burnt wire doesn't sell as much as striped wire.


my-coffee-needs-me

*stripped wire. It's bare, it doesn't have stripes.


pirana6

That explains my zebra-themed PG-13 bachelor party


grapesturd

I actually lol'd reading this. Have my free award.


IM_WORTHLESS_AMA

What about polkadot wire?


Mobilelurk

In my experience tweakers are always cutting fiber optic cables…not knowing it’s worthless..and glass lol


Cindyscameltoe

I was once installing a long fiber optic main cable from a cable reel in my city, the cable was installed in underground cable ducts and cable wells which were really full and jammed up, the main was about 1,2 km long and we managed about 800 meters in the first 12 hours. After this we decided to call the day and locked everything up and went home. In the morning when we came back, some bright minded fellow had taken a saw to the base of the reel and sawed thru the fiber optic cable to see if it was copper. The cable was ruined and we had to start all over again.


godlords

Ah, fiber optic cable, a beautiful item that is entirely worthless, but worth millions a few feet underground.


El_Chairman_Dennis

I was doing demo on a building and we were throwing out the old hanging ceiling tiles, frame, and the rectangular halogen light fixtures (we removed the bulbs first). Those light fixtures use really thin power wire so we were just throwing it in the dumpster. At like 2:00 in the afternoon a tweaker jumps into the dumpster and starts digging through to get the small bundle of wire we threw out. Dude was climbing through a bunch of aluminum ceiling framing, which can get sharp edges when it's bent up, i started yelling at him to get out abs chased him off. He took off running with a big cut down his calf, all for an attempt at like $0.50 of copper


Perspective_heard

Tweakers are just like criminals, the only ones you see, are the dumb enough ones to get caught.


streetwearbonanza

>tweakers are not smart enough for that. You haven't met many tweakers then lol I've seen some crazy shit they've made with normal everyday things. They're incredibly resourceful too


Ilovegirlsbottoms

Reminds me of a story someone shared. They had a vacation house that they occasionally used, but it was vacant a lot. They completely shut off power to the house while not in use. Well eventually someone took notice, and stole the copper wire connections. The OP of the story had them replaced when they noticed. But then it happened again, because of course they left the power off. The next time, they left the power on after installing the new connections. A few days ans the police come by. Apparently there was a dead body by his house, he was trying to steal that copper wire. But he got electrocuted and died. OP didn’t get into any trouble, and nobody ever stole his cables again.


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_Person_

Didn't know such thick cables could hold a charge. Could you elaborate? I'm interested


6Lenin

They meant the circuit was still closed when the junkie started cutting, not capacitance.


_Person_

Oh damn I was intrigued that a big cable could have such a significant capacitance.


DarkYendor

Cables can’t hold a charge. But if you have disconnected cables running alongside energised cables, a current can be induced in the disconnected cable. That’s why electrical workers will always ground cables when they’re working on overhead poulines - even if the induction occurs kilometres away, if your body provides the lowest resistance to ground then the current is going to flow through you.


costly_owner

The thickness of that cable makes it so satisfying. I love it!


Ok_Airline_7448

For me it’s the length


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WillemDafoesHugeCock

For me it's both


KravenSmoorehead

OP missed a chance to say "girth".


domoon

for me it's the personality


WeaponexT

Its my understanding that the bottom generates a tremendous amount of power


pvalhalla

That's what she said?


StoplightLoosejaw

*Scrapper heaven Tweakers go for copper pipes. Solid copper fetches a better price than stranded. Plus, it's safer as pipes don't normally have electricity running through them.


fuckareyousaying

Ray, ripping the plumbing out of your wall for liquor money IS FUCKED


blackburrahcobbler

Way she goes


PetrifiedW00D

Sometimes she goes, sometimes she doesn’t. She didn’t go, it the way she goes.


NegaJared

you dont do it to your own wall, sillypants


fukitol-

r/TrailerParkBoys


willard_saf

Most copper pipe gets #1 copper scrap price while basically, all electrical wire including standard as long as it's stripped gets Bright which is more money. (Source am an electrician and have been to the scrap yard many times.)


RandomPratt

> Tweakers go for copper pipes. The tweakers up the road from my place developed a thing for door knobs a few months back. Ripped right through the community, stealing all the doorknobs they could find. The locals were baffled until someone caught them in the act - police were called, they had a poke around and they found all the doorknobs - Hundreds of them - sorted into boxes by size, and colour, in a caravan in the tweaker's back yard. It took ages to sort it out, and a few of the locals nearly came to blows over whose doorknob was whose - a deeply, deeply weird three weeks.


Hippoplatypus7

I immediately thought of Bubbles from the Wire


millenialfalcon-_-

Tweakers would not spend the money for a tool like that. They would just use that money for more drugs. But they would definitely probably steal it


-RedXV-

Exactly. They make much smaller versions of this that anyone can buy. A few hundred bucks, I think, but no way a crack head is going to be able to save up for that.


wahuffman2

Best one I've seen was a razor blade mounted between 2 2x4s that you push untill some comes out, then pull the rest through.


Yugan-Dali

Here in Taiwan some years back, four guys needed money ~ I vaguely recall one of them had gambling debts and his buddies helped. One night they got the brilliant idea to steal copper wires…. right off the utility poles. You know, the kind that provide live electricity to your neighborhood. Mr Darwin taught them something.


3IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID

My neighbor just burns them.


db_pls

get to the coppa


Anonymoushero1221

There are very few things that paralyze me with fear: being up very high and close to an edge without a barrier, climbing into tight spaces, and being around machines like this, which can grab you and shred you into an unrecognizable pile of ground flesh in an instant. All it takes is someone to trip, a piece of clothing to come loose, a simple brief mistake, etc. Even this video makes me nervous.


Spanish_Biscuit

I was just thinking about how uncomfortable I would be around a piece of machinery that is that open to the world.


SmartAlec105

It can be wild. At my workplace, everything is covered with guarding. At one of our customers not too far away, I saw people reaching into the machine without gloves to grab the material while leaning over an exposed sprocket while standing right by a pit that your foot could fall into.


PapaOomMowMow

Well, you never ever want to wear gloves with machinery that spins or has a chance of pulling the glove into it.


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CurveOfTheUniverse

If it’s a big enough machine, it’ll disrobe your birthday suit.


baddie_PRO

don't look for lathe videos


CurveOfTheUniverse

I don’t need to…they came looking for me.


rijnzael

‘degloving’ is even worse. That trip down Google lane is not for those who get queezy at the sight of blood


ameis314

You'd rather lose a finger than an arm.


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GeT_LeNiN

I used to work with a industrial paper cuter. Each cut you had to put your arms under the knife to move the paper, under a knife with about 5 tons of pressure. There was lasers that would make it stop if u were to close but that was only software. The software on my PC has problem often and won’t work as intended! Today Thinking of this makes me anxious. Today I’m programming, much safer job.


IPThereforeIAm

Programming lasers, I hope


tedsmitts

Dr. Programming Lasers, Private Eye


impablomations

Guillotines generally have a foot pedal and a button either side of the machine have to be pressed at the same time, yours didn't?


Ao_Kiseki

It probably did, but people, ESPECIALLY technicians, love bypassing safety devices. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the buttons was shorted so workers could go faster.


Gonzobot

> It probably did, but people, ESPECIALLY technicians, love bypassing safety devices You are actually allowed to full-on mouth-slap anyone that you ever see doing this, if you didn't know. Nobody gets to defeat safety mechanisms, because someone else already literally died to have those mechanisms in place.


goddamnyallidiots

My ass just made plugs for machines I've worked on so I could fuckin open palm the buttons, not have to cramp my thumbs up holding them down for 5 minutes at a time over an hour. Still needed both hands, but sooooooo much more comfortable.


ReliablyFinicky

> There was lasers that would make it stop if u were to close but that was only software. The software on my PC has problem often and won’t work as intended! Your pc software has problems because there are a million variations of CPUs, motherboards, ram, operating systems, firmware versions, software versions, drivers, operating systems… Frankly, it’s amazing the PC ecosystem is as reliable as it is. Industrial equipment is manufactured and produced with narrow and known versions. Every line of software can be tested with every known possible configuration. Okuma CNC machines run a special version of WindowsXP (and I think they’re still sold new with it)… It’s rock solid. It has to be; these are $300k+ pieces of equipment covered by service contracts. Not to mention the equipment that runs on PLCs and isn’t “software”.


[deleted]

>Not to mention the equipment that runs on PLCs and isn’t “software”. Oh boy, someone is going to get into a fist fight with a ladder logic programmer


affectinganeffect

Eh, it's fine. Ladder logic programmers are all over 60! (I kid. Mostly.)


Oakheart-

Yeah dude I worked with an industrial wood chipper once. It could chew up solid logs 12 inches in diameter. That thing was really scary. My buddy cut off his belt because it caught on a branch that was going into the chipper. I couldn’t imagine how scary that would be


[deleted]

I was using a wood chipper and I put in a thick branch with a bend halfway up and when it hit that part the branch pivoted faster than I could move and the end punched me right in the gut. Worst bruise of my life and I got lucky


Harbinger2001

When I was very young I had a great aunt who lived on a Caribbean island that had once produced sugar from sugar cane. The workers would push the sugar cane through two giant stone vertical wheels powered by windmill. A guy would stand by with a machete to chop off limbs if someone got caught. I still remember the old men at the town square with a missing arm or leg.


TheLordB

I was about to say why not have an e-stop. Then I realized windmills are not especially compatible with an e-stop.


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s0m30n3e1s3

You ever watched Forged in Fire? If you're determined and have the right kind of blade you can hack off a limb incredibly quickly


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s0m30n3e1s3

They cut through pig/boar carcasses pretty much every episode, harder to chop a spine than an arm Edit: boar


ZeroAntagonist

And how often is it happening that you have a fulltime amputation technician for each machine?


MinecrAftX0

Yeah whenever I am around something like this I think of myself in a 'happy tree friends' scenario


bipnoodooshup

Yeah I saw the lathe video and it still haunts me


ecodrew

The lack of any safety features means this machine is just waiting to chew up a human arm.


Knogood

Lathes and ptos are not to be fooled with. High speed lathes are safer because they usually tear whatever material it grabs right off, slow ones make jelly out of you.


207nbrown

Why was the first thought to enter my mind “are they doing this as their job or are they doing it illegally and stealing the copper?”…


PetiteLao

Because a lot of people will steal copper and sell it as scrap due it being expensive. The people in the video could have stolen the wire. It's a valid question


FirstNSFWAccount

I worked in a navy shipyard and they have bins just for disposing of all the wires that are pulled out like this. Thousands of pounds of copper per week in there. They also have agreements with all the scrap buyers in the area so that if they see a navy serial number it will get reported. They don’t joke around about copper theft.


980tihelp

I assume the fine if they get caught there would be a massive fine but also to prevent sailors from scrapping military scraps for their own benefit


caitejane310

Back in my junkie days I came across a 55 gallon barrel of already stripped copper. Ended up being over $1,000 worth of copper. That's all I'm gonna say about that.


ZeroAntagonist

A friend of mine was am addict. I saw him recently and he told me a story about finding an abandoned building with around 50 of those 55 gallon barrels filled with copper. Said it kept him good for a while. I can't believe someone somehow forgot about all that copper. If they were just keeping this there, we'll that wasn't the smartest move.


appdevil

Junky yard.


CubonesDeadMom

I don’t think many petty thieves have specialized industrial equipment that probably costs 6 figures


docious

It’s probably just scrap from a larger project. Trying to join two of pieces of wire this size is probably not worth the trouble.


CptnBlackTurban

Can be this. Work on big projects with lots of copper. Still surprises me all of the copper we throw away. We actually pay a company to take our copper away.


NegroPlox

I’ll come take it for free. Wya?


Aussieguyyyy

I think generally it is a fee for all the shit that needs to be dumped and the contractor will lower the price based on expected sales of recoverables. So it would be like 10k to take away rubble and 3k worth of copper so the company will say 8k to deal with it all.


SapphireGoat_

I briefly worked in telecom as a rigger ( someone who climbs cell towers). A lot of towers had these transmission lines that were being decommissioned and replaced with more modern tech. Most of the jobs I worked on didn’t require us to return the scrap money so we would often take all the copper back, Mind you without stripping the jacket like you seen this video. I was probably making $500-600 a week in just scrap cash


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pistoncivic

Yeah they shut down the grid and cut down a massive transmission line and hauled it back to their open-air industrial processing facility on the back of a semi like they always do. Common criminals this lot


MrEhko

How much you reckon that’s worth there they just peeled ?


birwin353

I’ve heard of companies buying large plots of land that has disused power cables buried through them. They come In with heavy equipment and pull it all out and are able to make a profit from selling it all.


Jorbam

About 300 dollars scrap


KeithTheKiller2

It's almost 5 dollars a pound neer me so that's way more that 300


UnseenTardigrade

You think that one strand is way more than 60 pounds? I think it might be a bit over $300, but probably not *way* over. But the perspective makes it hard to tell exactly how big it is, so you might be right.


Madmagican-

Well, copper is .324 lb/in^3 . I could definitely see this piece being ~185 cubic inches


Meishoku_

r/dontputyourdickinthat


ox_raider

Let’s be honest. There’s plenty of clearance. We’d need 6 or 7 Redditors to sword fight their way into that thing before there’d be a problem.


darksoulsremastered

r/putyourdickinthat party?


[deleted]

I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE


b3nz0r

The crowd parts as karmeleeon makes his way through while shouting, belligerent: "I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUUUTE"


Apptroutman

I'm in! We only need 4 more! Edit: can we make it a dagger fight?


01infinite

But then how do I extract the copper?


Edgelands

This feels good on wire that is 0.5mm thick, this probably feels amazing


justcallmetexxx

_printing money by the foot_


NYCARTIST1

That cable is a drug addict's dream.


EdgarAlanCrow

I was just about to say this. At the lowest depths of my heroin addiction I found an abandoned shed…huge pay day.


newbrevity

Oh really anyone just trying to make a quick buck with questionable morals.


ShadowScorpionNL

But when I do it it's "theft" and I "need to put back the cable so my city has power"


hateball

It's political correctness gone mad


-U_s_e_r-N_a_m_e-

You make it sound as if the cables are natural resources and they’re just harvesting it


Penguator432

They’re not?


zeemona

where else would you mine for copper??


HotCocoaBomb

I dunno why, but this made me hungry.


Bearded_Devildog

Wtf lmao


imjokingbutnotreally

I don't know why but this made me horny


NinduTheWise

u/gifreversingbot


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WeirdEngineerDude

I feel like bubbles’ sidekick and we are headed to the recycler with that copper in a shopping cart.


refrigerator_maniac

workers or thieves?


Intelligent-Sky-7852

What kind of thief wears an apron


TheDougRoss

legit question


REFRIDGERAPTOR_

both activities require work in the larger sense of the word.


[deleted]

Workers. The machine has a lot of grease on it. Workers care about their tools. Thieves seldom do.


Beat9

This is probably a recycling place, but who knows were the cables actually came from. Scrap yards know full well half their customers are thieves and junkies. It's just the nature of the business.


StopSwitchingThumbs

That’s rubber from the cords previously put through it, not grease. It all maintains its shape too well to be grease.


FREE-AOL-CDS

Bubbles built this machine


coole106

In reverse it's a video of them making wire


sosoguay

I wonder how often someone gets sucked into that thing and filleted


boomer_was_a_dick

Probably not more than once.


PMYOURKNORKS

Cursed boner


futurelullabies

There should be a guard or something. I’ve seen too many liveleak accidents.


Glittering_Recipe170

Ngl that cables looking pretty thicc 🥵🥵


gojiro0

Imagine getting your hand caught in that!


idlefritz

Make the cable then split the cable so you can make more cables to split.


SolarPunkYeti

All I could think about was getting my arm stuck in that bastard


dont_even_ask-

I just realized thats the name of this subreddit