Printable View
Looking for some input here!
I have a vested interest in opening up a small scrap yard in the near future with a friend of mine.
What are the most critical pieces of large equipment that you cannot work without? As you can imagine, we are limited in the capital we have to start up the business.
We have 1 Vertical baler and a 5k scale (5x7).
We are also looking into purchasing 12" alligator shears.
Will this suffice as a bare minimum?
Thanks a bunch
I started a response but I'm not a scrap yard. I'm interested in hearing from yard owners, too. I can't imagine this as even a bare minimum for a scrap yard.
I've been researching and there are a bunch of gadgets and toys that we are very interested in purchasing...
A wire stripper, A granulator, plasma cutter, a horizontal or dual ram baler, can densors... the list goes on and on.
I have the luxury of operating in a 25k sq. ft. facility so we plenty of room to grow.
We're looking into expanding into E-Scrap as well as plastics recycling as well!
We have about 3 months out until opening but we are just trying to float our head above water as our initial first quarter there will be a lot of cash being paid out with out any returns coming in until we can establish truck load quantities to send out.
btw. I'm not sure how popular this would be here on this thread but we would be mostly concentrating on non ferrous metals...
It sounds like you are talking mostly of non-ferrous with those machines and also talking about a facility.
Although your questions looks specific, it isn't. It's like wanting to open up a restaurant and asking "how big of a place do i need? What should we make? Who should I hire? What equipment do I need in the kitchen"
There is a phrase, you can't get where you are going if you don't know where to go.
Do you have a Fork lift? A truck to get materials to market? When my father first started his scrap yard all he had was a 3500sqft building and a forklift, baler and some banding equipment. His business grew and he was able to grow to 4 different locations and never had an alligator shear, wire stripper, or any of your above listed Items. As he expanded he had more metals coming in he was finally able to purchase things like a plasma cutter, and trailers, new balers skid steers and the list goes on and on. I guess the real question is how much are you able to invest into the company to start off, I sure would not take out any loans to buy all that equipment.
Keep it simple.
My local yard has a pallet sized 1 ton (2200lb) digital scale, a heap of steel gaylord sized containers, some hand tools, and a cash window. Thats it! they have been going for 4 years, and only got a forklift 12 mths ago, the rest they did with pallet jacks..
Granulator?? why bother...way to big of an expense at this stage, especialy as there are companies like "High Voltage Processing" around who buy wire from yards...
The key for you will be, get it in, then QUICKLY get it out...
p.s if looking at a heavy duty bailer (copper pipes etc..) that will do double duty for sheet and domestic alluminium and cans too. Also I would start to collect some pallets and gaylords before you get going..
Thanks to those who posted with informational feedback! Greatly appreciate your input and responses.
We do have 2 Forklifts and I have a good stockpile of gaylords and pallets handy.
I know its not the best time to enter into this business but, we are excited to get up and running!
All I need is to get the doors open and this show on the road.
Every day I come on this forum and pick up new things.
Any advice and information is always welcome.
Cheers to all.
One of the yards I go to has a radiation detector. I've never seen that before but my experience is limited. They said they wouldn't take microwaves because they set off
the detector. Has anyone else seen a radiation detector at a yard?
never. my yard takes microwaves no problem
We have:
a LOT of hand tools
sawzall
hydraulic shears inside
welder (I know, but sometimes we have to put stuff back together:D)
plasma
compressed air
2 scales
1 scale outside
a skid steer
forklift
huge bucket loader
Senneboggen w/ grapple
Terex w/ magnet
Terex w/ shear
tri axle yard truck
baler out back
2 huge buildings
1 huge yard, and plenty of storage for refuse and extra material, vehicles, and boxes
our own maintenance bay
7 workers
we get pallets from a company we do biz with
some tools are bought, but honestly, I am out every morning picking through the pile to see what I can find. Most of my personal tools I found in the pile.
huge purse to draw from
But we push everything we buy to a bigger yard.
Oh, and Octane on Sirius XM
Even if no one brought in anything, we have several contract where we get the company's scrap from processing. We get diesel engine blocks and everything associated with them, aluminum radiators, stainless steel in very large quantities, aluminum extrusion, and a couple more smaller accounts which we get lots of different materials.
That's strange. My yard uses a radiation detector on every load that goes across the scales and they take microwaves. I've brought em quite a few and its never been set off by them. This just goes to show the differences between the yards. But then, I also scrap out all the goodies of those microwaves first. Maybe I'm holding onto the parts that have the radiation? Man I hope I don't start glowin in the dark. lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Scrapette
Yards here in Denver have them but I don't think they are to detect microwaves.
I am no yard owner, but below is what I have noticed at my yard.
A scale big enough and long enough to hold an 18 wheeler
a scale inside the non ferrous building.
gay lords (multiple ones for all the different types of non ferrous of course)
50 to 100 pallets
4 to 5 roll off dumpsters (a lot of their non ferrous like big pieces of stainless and aluminum go in these)
2 sometimes 3 cranes used to pick up big chucks of metal to load into the crusher, and to take vehicles and other large objects off your trailers
A bull dozer to push all the dropped off metal into a big pile
1 forklift used to put non ferrous gay lords onto an 18 wheeler for transport, and to move things around in the non ferrous building
Some time of machine that is used to crush/compact all the radiators, and sometimes their copper and brass.
Normal tools like angle grinders, screw drivers, pliers, cutters, etc.
I hope not too!Quote:
Originally Posted by skylinejackjr
I just opened a small yard, I don't buy huge items (school Bus's, combines,etc.). I do cars,trucks,RV's,MC,trailers to 30 ft,and non-ferrous. I contract with a bigger yard to haul the steel and focus on harvesting non-ferrous from cars/appliances/unsorted goodies from one-time scrappers. The bigger yard provides me with a forty yard rolloff that I put one car into then fill in around it. I don't make much on the steel, but I don't have to truck it. Trucking can be a huge expense not to mention exposure to DOT (they kill small business owners in CO..that is not an exaggeration). I have sawzaw,grinder,"A" frame with chain falls, hand cart, hand tools, bench with vise, dodge 350 Van and tow dolly, 2 pick-up trailers. I got rid of the torches, the refill is too pricey anymore. Lots of chains/boomers. I am trying to hit the sweet spot where I actually make money, not pour 1/2 of what I make into truck/loader repair and gas. I have seen yards enter a death spiral of growth where they lose their business's to the next fish up the food chain. You end up pushing very large sums of money around with incredible overhead.
Those should be supplied by the company (or bigger yard) their selling to.Quote:
4 to 5 roll off dumpsters (a lot of their non ferrous like big pieces of stainless and aluminum go in these)
Possibly not needed dealing with non ferrous only.Quote:
2 sometimes 3 cranes used to pick up big chucks of metal to load into the crusher, and to take vehicles and other large objects off your trailers
The yard I go to, only sells to their end buyers..all the other yards around, sell to the yard I go to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechanic688
I never stated that cranes was needed for non ferrous...they are only used for the big steel piles.
You can go as big as your wallet lets you. At my yard we have a baler, skid steer with clamp, loading dock, 2 loaders, 2 excavators, 82 yard box,m 50 yard box, 40ft scale, pallet scale, flatbed, fluid evacuators and any kind of tool you can think of. When running equiptment your going to break stuff daily so be prepared to be creative when necessary. I would like to get a hook truck and some rolloffs but thats a expensive adventure. You can tie up a insane amount of money in heavy equiptment in no time.
Good luck with your yard , had mine for 17 years now, alot of hard work needed but its well worth it.