Scrap metal shredder
A scrap metal shredder, also sometimes referred to as a metal scrap shredder, is a machine used for reducing the size of scrap metal. Scrap metal shredders come in many different variations and sizes.
Applications
Some examples of scrap metal materials that are commonly shredded are:
- Waste paint pot
- Aluminum cans/Aluminum waste
- Tin box containers
- Tin
- Iron
- Copper tube skin
- Coins
- Metal drum
- Refrigerator
- Television sets
- Washing machines
- Waste electrical
Auto shredders are large machines that turn a car into a large bucket of scrap metal and the rest of the car into non ferrous materials. Often the profit from the non ferrous materials covers the operating cost for the auto-shredder. The glass, fabric, plastic, and all other non ferrous materials are separated by eddy current magnets in place of heavy media separation.
Types
Scrap metal shredders can be equipped with different types of cutting systems: horiontal shaft, vertical shaft, single-shaft, two-shaft, three-shaft and four-shaft cutting systems. These shredder designs can be high speed, medium speed and sometimes slow-speed systems, they always include hammermills of a vertical and horizontal shaft design, and can also include in contrast to hammer mills slow speed technology which are also used to process or shred metal and plastic and other waste materials encountered in the scrap metal industry.
The largest scrap metal shredders in the world often have 10,000 hp and are made by a wide range of companies which all originated their designs from the 1966 patent applications of the Newell Group and the Williams Group and the Eidal Group as the first patented vertical and horizontal designs for auto shredding or scrap metal shredding. Often cited is the 9,200 hp shredder from the Lynxs group at the Sims plant at the mouth of the River Usk in Newport Wales with access by road, rail and sea, but they are not the first in this high hp range design and historically the Schnitzer Steel group installed a 10,000 hp unit that they made on their own in 1980 and there are many Newell Shredders that have these high hp designs. All large mega shredders can process 350 to 450 cars per hour.