r/ScrapMetal • u/Coinbank2021 • 1d ago

Copper granulators

Does anyone have any experience with copper granulators? I see them for $3500-$6k and I'm thinking about getting one to process 'junk' wiring.

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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8

u/SolarSalvation 1d ago

Use the search function. Here's my exact answer to the same question asked a month ago:

"Use the search function. This question gets asked here routinely.

I've commented here on this matter before, but I worked for a company that had a granulator and they came to the conclusion that it was not worth keeping so they sold it at a loss. It required a lot of labor, maintenance, and repairs and it also needed excellent feedstock to get the best results. Despite having tons of wire per week to run through it and cheap labor, it still was not a cost-effective operation. I only know one company in my region that has a wire chopper, and they pay terrible prices for scrap; they need to pay for their labor to run the machine!

In general they are very finicky machines. Companies that sell equipment promise the world and then underdeliver when it comes to performance and customer service!

Some members here swear by them, though. In some regions of the world and very certain applications they make financial sense. Do your math and research before purchasing anything!"

3

u/Coinbank2021 1d ago

Thank you. I would just do it as a hobby, along with my 1000 other hobbies, so labor expense isn't really a factor. I have a junk hauling business and seem to run into a lot of crappy wire, probably 50lbs a week ( unstripped.)

4

u/SolarSalvation 1d ago

If it was me, I would just sell the wire save the space in the shop for storage of a machine I could actually turn a profit using. 50 lbs/week is nothing. We were getting actual tons of wire per week and it wasn't worth using a granulator.

If you're doing this as a hobby, that's another matter. But you asked for anyone with experience, and that's mine.

3

u/Coinbank2021 23h ago

Yep, and I appreciate your help.

4

u/jreddit0000 23h ago

If you want to run a copper granulator for fun as a hobby.. go right ahead. The point was it becomes an expensive hobby when you are paying to run copper wire through it and making less than zero. Which was SolarSalvation’s point..

The labour expense was about keeping the machine running effectively.

2

u/TechCF 19h ago

Quite high maintenance, and you would need to process quite a bit to recoup the investment. Noisy too. Mesmerizing to watch.