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Plasma table water and slag disposal

jmanatee

Aluminum
Joined
Dec 2, 2013
Location
New Hampshire
I saw the thread about water jet disposal and it got me thinking....

Is Plasma table water or slag considered hazardous material?

We usually air dry the slag and dump it in the metals bin
 
I havent cleaned mine yet or talked with scrap yard, but did read on a plasma forum that most scrap yards pay good money for the dried out slag. Not sure what good money is these days but should be better than the dumpster. Thats probably assuming no aluminum etc, just steel.
 
I havent cleaned mine yet or talked with scrap yard, but did read on a plasma forum that most scrap yards pay good money for the dried out slag. Not sure what good money is these days but should be better than the dumpster. Thats probably assuming no aluminum etc, just steel.

Did they actually say that the slag was worth money or is it more like the slag and drops are worth money. I can't imagine that the slag would be worth very much since it is an oxidized material. The drops are where the value is.
 
I have been putting the dried drops/mud/slag from the bottom of my plasma cutting tank in the barrel that gets taken to the recycling steel yard since 1992. They have always taken it, no complaints, and given me the dollar three eighty they pay.
Of course, its mixed in with other drops. But it is mostly steel.
I let it dry, so I am not trying to sell em water, but its not like taking sand to the dump- its going straight down to my friendly neighborhood Nucor mill, and being remelted into new steel, and any heavy metals that are in it are being taken care of by Nucor, and their fume management systems.

Unless you are cutting berylium, or something radioactive, I cant see how mixing it in with the steel rems is going to be a problem.
 
We have two plasma tables(not liquid beds) and we will take the slag and slats right into the scrap dumpster.

We also have an independent guy come and pick up our drop sheets, which means we don't have to cut any of our leftover sheets into pieces that will fit inside the dumpster. Even at a discounted price, You will make money for some guy to buy these drops and haul them away. He will make money off it, and your sitting good by the time you figure torch gases and labor to cut the sheets up. Just drag that leftover sheet onto a pallet next to the table and get the next sheet cutting.
 
Got a 20 yard bin for scrap and do whatever I can to make sure it's graded as "#1 prepared" since many shop extras are purchased with the proceeds. The scrap yard seems more concerned with me not putting in machine shop shavings and misc odd stuff from someone's home cleanup project than they do about the slag.

Walter
 
No one really answered the question. Is the water considered hazardous? And in any case, how does everyone clean and dispose of the water? Especially if your table is used for aluminum.
 
No one really answered the question. Is the water considered hazardous? And in any case, how does everyone clean and dispose of the water? Especially if your table is used for aluminum.

Looks like most evaporate it off.
 
yup, evaporation takes care of it- my problem is always having to put MORE water in, not getting rid of it. Although my cat does like to drink it, too. Maybe I should give her geritol for iron poor blood instead.
 
No one really answered the question. Is the water considered hazardous? And in any case, how does everyone clean and dispose of the water? Especially if your table is used for aluminum.
After the heavy's have settled out of suspension in the water we have the blessings of the city to dump into our drain.
We have started to switch to down draft tables, they work great for us and our application with no mess of water.
 
yup, evaporation takes care of it- my problem is always having to put MORE water in, not getting rid of it. Although my cat does like to drink it, too. Maybe I should give her geritol for iron poor blood instead.
Mine drink from plasma and waterjet table.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk
 
yup, evaporation takes care of it- my problem is always having to put MORE water in, not getting rid of it. Although my cat does like to drink it, too. Maybe I should give her geritol for iron poor blood instead.

Gives 'em a shiny coat.....:D
 
I made the mistake of asking a foreman at a steel recycling mill if they had to pay to have the big piles of slag hauled off, and was it considered hazmat? Guy looked at me like I was crazy and proceeded to tell me heck no it was valuable! When they finish a melt, they run some samples and strip test the batch, if it comes in higher tensile than whatever their order requirement is, they add a few ton of slag, like soy flour to hamburger, as filler. No damn wonder some of this steel creates fireworks when you cut or weld it!
 








 
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