Chip briquette machine : good idea or not ?

propac_ind · Sep 13, 2020

Hello everyone this is my first post. Our shop produces about 70000 lbs per year of steel chips and we expect to be at over 100000 lbs by this time next year. The bulk of our volume is specifically 4140 and 8620 and maybe a few thousand pounds of C954 aluminum bronze and a few thousand pounds of ductile iron. I was wondering if by pressing the chips into briquettes and carefully sorting them into 8620 / 4140 / C954 / Ductile / other if we could get a considerable premium when selling them. Also if you don't think 70000 - 100000 lbs justify a machine fine but please elaborate. Also where or how should I sell them to get the most for them ???

Milland · Sep 13, 2020

Don't ask us - ask your local scrap buyers whether briquettes will be more valuable when bought by them. They may prefer them if you're proven trustworthy as to cleanliness and not "cheating" by mixing less valuable chips in.

Consider initial costs, annual costs including space, electricity, maintenance, and time for use VS the cost for loose chips (lower scrap value, lost coolant, greater storage space, etc.).

Rob F. · Sep 13, 2020

It seems like you need to look at how much you get for loose chips and compare to how much you can get for bricks. Is the price difference able to buy the machine to make the bricks?
It should be easier to store the bricks since they are more compact than loose chips and that might help get you a better price just by having more at one time?
Edit:
milland types faster... and hit all the bases.

tdmidget · Sep 14, 2020

I spent 25 years in the scrap business. I wouldn't even bid on briquets. Probably wouldn't want them for free. I would not buy the aluminum bronze. If you think you are going to run these on the same machine without steel getting into the bronze you are an idiot. The ferrous you named has no more value segregated than mixed. You have NO volume,1/2 carload/yr at best, so why are you thinking about this? You need something worthwhile to do.

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Chip briquette machine : good idea or not ?

propac_ind

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Milland

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Rob F.

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tdmidget

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