Can a person use a small volume copper granulator and make a profit?

I don't know the exact numbers or business secrets to this yet but the yard I used to work at has a granulator or two going now. they keep it behind curtains so no one will see. They must be doing ok with it because the owners are a bunch of tight wads who never put money into the business unless they absolutely have to. They buy from a lot and I mean A LOT of electricians and commercial/industrial companies who have huge electrical equipment thats now wearing out, and have had contracts with them for years. But I've also seen a guy on here (High Voltage something or other) appear out of no where with million dollar machines right next to a pick a part in the city of Allentown right after I left for the Army. I went looking for his building like last month since its like a 1/4 mile from my girlfriends and I saw his loading dock but no sign above the door like he has on his Facebook site, no recent posts and his website domain is for sale. So I'm gathering he went out of business trying to spend too much too quickly. I could be wrong about that though. Just make sure you do the math and get a machine that will fit your needs. Don't go too small, but don't get the biggest you can afford and hope it just works out. you'll also probably encounter a lot of hidden costs that you either didn't know about or just forgot to add in as well.
I've been looking into granulating as well but on a way smaller scale with way used or homemade equipment.

Originally Posted by ScrapmanIndustries

I don't know the exact numbers or business secrets to this yet but the yard I used to work at has a granulator or two going now. they keep it behind curtains so no one will see. They must be doing ok with it because the owners are a bunch of tight wads who never put money into the business unless they absolutely have to. They buy from a lot and I mean A LOT of electricians and commercial/industrial companies who have huge electrical equipment thats now wearing out, and have had contracts with them for years. But I've also seen a guy on here (High Voltage something or other) appear out of no where with million dollar machines right next to a pick a part in the city of Allentown right after I left for the Army. I went looking for his building like last month since its like a 1/4 mile from my girlfriends and I saw his loading dock but no sign above the door like he has on his Facebook site, no recent posts and his website domain is for sale. So I'm gathering he went out of business trying to spend too much too quickly. I could be wrong about that though. Just make sure you do the math and get a machine that will fit your needs. Don't go too small, but don't get the biggest you can afford and hope it just works out. you'll also probably encounter a lot of hidden costs that you either didn't know about or just forgot to add in as well.
I've been looking into granulating as well but on a way smaller scale with way used or homemade equipment.

If I remember correctly, High Voltage got the biggest and baddest machine he could find. I remember him claiming he could process 6 inch copper wire and that he was the only one in the states with a machine capable of that. Members questioned the need for something that size, but he had it figured out and claimed to have a warehouse full of that material. Less than a year later, he was posting that he desperately needed THHN.