Then & Now - Baling Scrap Metal

THEN

Visitors to scrap facilities and recycling plants have become accustomed to seeing scrap move uphill toward the hopper and charge box as it enters a baling system.

This uphill journey once frequently started out as a downward drop, when pit balers and balers configured to let scrap fall into the charge box were more common.

A brochure from several decades ago for Logemann Brothers Co., the Milwaukee-based baler manufacturer, includes several black-and-white photos of the company’s heavy-duty balers in action.

These photos, taken at an auto stamping plant and other industrial facilities, show baling systems where scrap heads down into a pit (or to a lower level of a multi-level industrial plant) to be baled and eventually conveyed back up in baled form for shipment.

The Logemann brochure defines the initial stages of the operation of its self-contained triple-compression units this way: "When the press-box is filled with scrap, the air-operated cover closes over the charge, locking down tightly by means of wedges, front and back, to prevent escape of scrap during compression."

After the gathering ram, intermediate ram and vertical ram do their work, the brochure states, "After final compression is made by the vertical ram, [the] cover is withdrawn and the bale elevated to ejection position for the cover to move it off when it closes over the next charge."

Smaller pit balers, rather than heading to auto plants to handle stampings, were often used by nonferrous recyclers for the light metals that came into their facilities.

Pit balers can still be found at work at recycling facilities throughout North America and the rest of the world. At the nonferrous facility operated by Liberty Iron & Metal in Erie, Pa., the company has installed a baler made by Harris, Peachtree City, Ga., in a pit baler configuration.

Seeing metal scrap pushed into a pit for baling purposes is nonetheless not as common as it used to be, with most recyclers now baling nonferrous clips, sheet metal or light metals in above-ground units, where bales emerge at ground level to be carried off by forklifts.

NOW

There is no one baler configuration that has cornered the market for the purpose of compressing metal.

In terms of what has been replacing pit balers that were once employed at indoor nonferrous facilities, however, the two-ram baler has become a common choice.

Nonferrous metals recyclers value two-ram balers because of their reputation for durability and flexibility.

Durability is a requirement for virtually any type of machine used in the scrap environment, but flexibility offers a trait that is of particular interest for nonferrous recyclers, who handle any number of metals and alloys that may arrive at their facilities in a variety of shapes, sizes and compression abilities.

For MRF operators who are baling not only aluminum and steel cans but also plastic bottles and a variety of paper grades, a two-ram baler’s flexibility again offers advantages.

Two-ram balers are often configured with a fairly large hopper and a sizable conveyor to feed that hopper. To some extent, that means the two-ram baler has been able to emerge as a favorite at the same time the nonferrous recycling sector has grown into an industry that includes larger overall facilities.

With baling systems that can include hoppers some 5 feet wide by 9 feet long, the footprint needed can be significant. The good news, though, is that productivity can also be significant, meaning incoming material can be baled in times likely not possible with older machines.

Manufacturers and owners of two-ram balers also commonly sing the praises of the sharply defined and well-shaped bales produced by two-ram models. Uniform bales can offer advantages that include consistent weights and stackability, each of which can be helpful as recyclers plan their shipping schedules.

"With my two-ram, I don’t have to worry about the bale sizes—they are perfect every time, and that makes shipping a snap," one recycler told Recycling Today for a previous feature story on balers.

Such positive experiences are likely to keep two-ram balers on the job at recycling plants for some to come.