Fun with Chemistry

[jarandhel]

This is a question for people who are better at chemistry than I am... what solvents will dissolve plastics without harming copper?

I have a fairly large amount of old computer power cords.  I originally thought I could use the wire in them for jewelry, but it's a much finer gauge than I work with.  But there's still a significant amount of copper there, and if I could separate it from the plastic coverings I could easily sell the copper as scrap.  I'd rather avoid manually stripping all of it (it's a VERY large amount of old power cords), and I'd also like to avoid burning it for what I hope are obvious reasons, so I'm currently looking at chemical options.

Comments

[netdancer]

I believe you want Acetone. I'm not 100 percent on it, my chem's rusty, but it looks like it'll do your job.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone#As_a_solvent

[arethinn]

I don't think if you soaked a computer cord in acetone that it'd eat through the outer jacket any time soon. Maybe soften it a little. Some plastics resist acetone, too (for example, the bottle it comes in). I don't know if the jackets are always the same plastic or what. (PVC?)

Unfortunately, Jarin, I think manual stripping is probably your option. Methyl ethyl ketone? I dunno, I just can't imagine wanting to deal with the mess and the fumes.

[netdancer]

Yeah, like I said, rusty. :) I do know there's a physical tool for stripping the coating off wires, I've used one professionally. One of those things where you grip the tool on the wire and pull on the wire.