Scrap swarf chips in the small shop

[zkling]

I know many of us do some machining at home or on the side. Getting ready for winter and after finishing up a somewhat large production run (for me) of aluminum pieces I did a thorough sweep up and chip pan clean out, boxed up last night and headed to the scrap yard at lunch. The ~1.5 tanks of gas I got in cash made me wonder if it is worth the space, time and effort to save and take scrap on the small scale.

Typically I don't fool with steel since the price/lb is so low, unless they are solid chunks; but those usually get saved for "press tooling". Mostly it is just aluminum or the occasional brass and copper from bushings or jigs. Thinking I might just dump it in the recycle every week and let the scrappers that drive around have at it.

What do you do with your turnings, chips, small cutoffs and the like?

 

[shocwav3]

Zkling,

I run my cnc 50 plus hours a week and run the manual machines just as much. I typically go to the yard twice a month and barely make my gas money back! Like you I only hang on to AL, CU and stainless. The steel gets tossed.

OTOH,
My plate brings my 3 times as much as my turnings, and is deff worth the trip. The problem is I am usually not left with much since I'm being strategic with usage and hopefully don't have much scrap when the pieces become unusable.

 

[bullnerd]

50 Plus? Do you have a product line? I see your thread but haven't seen a website?

Nevermind, found it.

 

[shawnspeed]

to the garbage....unless you are doing it by the ton it is not worth the hassle...I was melting some down in my foundry after it was fired for another project, and it took A LOT of chips/shavings to make 4 -1/4 lb ingots...was not worth the fuel to melt it ...just my 2c Shawn

 

[theknurl]

into the recycle bin......copper and brass chunks get saved

have ~ 75lbs, that's worth a trip to the yard

 

[mjb]

There is a recycle place across the street from my metal supply, so that works out for me.

All chips and steel goes in the recycle can at home.

 

[bad_idea]

I have a cubby hole in the corner of my house/fence that is about the size of a pick up truck bed. It is out of sight and out of mind until it is full. Then I haul it off for around $50-$150 every 6 months or so, depending on the metals I haul in. Leftovers from projects and whatever I come across in my daily life. Nothing to quit my job over, but it's money I didn't have for little effort.

 

[Cedge]

I used to try to save it and recycle, especially the aluminum and brass swarf and chips. It got to be a bit of a hassle so I began bagging it for the guy who picks up our trash. Now the guy will do anything he can for me and I've been surprised at the things that he'll load into his truck if I put it on the curb. (ever try to get rid of a broken couch, curbside?) He's even walked down to the house and gotten the rolling trash bin, when I forget to put it up on the curb. He then returned it back to its original position.

Sort of a nice "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" relationship that I hope continues for years... It's worth saving him a bit of swarf and a few pop cans, for sure. I don't suppose the wife packaging him some homemade peanut brittle, at holidays hurt, things much either...LOL

 

[fnieto]

I went to the scrap yard today with all sorts of tubing,pipe,bar and a bunch of plate drops (CNC plasma) total weight 3120 lbs. My back told me it was more like 5000 lbs.haha
total cash $241.80. I still need a second trip.

 

[A_Pmech]

A dump trailer Is in my near future for chips.

 

[zkling]

Thanks guys, sounds like a new curb recycle bin is in order.

50 Plus? Do you have a product line? I see your thread but haven't seen a website?

Nevermind, found it.

No product line. I mostly do repair work, primarily welding involved with one off machining. Thus I don't have alot of heavy cutoffs. Let's just say I specialize in folks that provide napkin drawings. People that the real shops don't want to fool with

I'm curious, what did you find?

A dump trailer Is in my near future for chips.

Yea, I'm no where near your level in so many ways. Plus my suburbia neighbors would have a hissy fit. I typically keep it out back in a large Rubbermaid container next to the garbage cans, incognito.

to the garbage....unless you are doing it by the ton it is not worth the hassle...I was melting some down in my foundry after it was fired for another project, and it took A LOT of chips/shavings to make 4 -1/4 lb ingots...was not worth the fuel to melt it ...just my 2c Shawn

I'm thinking that is going to be my plan for the future. Not trying to sound snobbish, but the hassle, risk of flat tire (scrap yard has all kinds of junk lying around), time and space to store just doesn't seem cost effective. Back when I first got into metal casting with a flower pot foundry I was melting down aluminum cans, boy was that futile yield. Younger and dumber.

 

[dr_clyde]

I have three 55 gallon drums along the wall. Stainless, aluminum, and mild. When they get full, I take them back. Scrapyard is about 5 miles away.

I usually bring back a couple hundred bucks and treat the guys at the brewery to burgers and brats. It's a good cycle.

 

[dr_clyde]

My friend Mark has a machine shop. He has 17 lathes, 4 mills, a waterjet and a full welding area running 50+ hrs a week. The scrapyard leaves him 3 dumpsters and a bunch of tip hoppers. He scraps about 20k a month. They run a ton of stainless and brass.

Just a perspective thing. His problem is too much scrap. I'll take my 3 little drums once every other month, thanks.

 

[SM Racing]

I have a simple 55 gallon drum, it lives under the welding table, I try to do most of my grinding into the barrel to keep the junk off the floors. I toss all of my scrap into that barrel. When its full, I take it to the scrap yard. If its properly filled I net about 350-400lbs and that pretty much covers my trip over there and some beer money. It works out well for me. I tend to save most of my reasonable size scraps for use in other projects. Sometimes I will sweep my chips and such into the regular trash can as they tend to take up more space than weight.

 

[Todd.Brock]

A dump trailer Is in my near future for chips.

That's asking a lot of the Transamerobird...

 

[A_Pmech]

That's asking a lot of the Transamerobird...

Haha!

The Transmarobird has found a new owner! A local kid expressed interest in buying it, so I sold it to him.

It's time for a change. I'm thinking Firebird...

 

[red92s]

I formally worked for a company that ground carbide tips on bandsaws. All the coolant from the grinders ran through a central filtration unit. We used to pay to scrap the filters out as hazardous waste. We started selling them to a company who could reclaim the carbide slurry out of the filters and recycle it for industrial applications. The used, clogged filters were worth several times what the new, unused ones were.

 

[kazlx]

Mine goes in the trash right now. I don't have enough to justify going. Add that with the fact that you have to separate everything (mostly aluminum, ie 6061, 7075, etc) makes it even more of a pain in the ***. Don't separate and they give you almost nothing. I'd make more money recycling beer cans. Most of my stuff now is one off or less than 10. If I get a CNC, I could see it being worth it.

 

[bullnerd]

"No product line. I mostly do repair work, primarily welding involved with one off machining. Thus I don't have alot of heavy cutoffs. Let's just say I specialize in folks that provide napkin drawings. People that the real shops don't want to fool with

I'm curious, what did you find?"

Sorry, I was referring to Shocwave3, that wasn't very clear.

 

[Kevin54]

I throw my scrap in the trash currently, but I'm going to have to get a couple 55 gallon barrels. Just aluminum alone may fill a large garbage can in a days time.

 

[Nortonscustom]

Made this tote a while back. Throw all my scrap into it, everything from brake rotors and struts to boxes of mill/lathe chips. Once full I just roll it outside. Next day its empty and there's an envelope with some cash sitting in the mail slot. Scrap guy must work 24 hours a day. Have no idea when he comes by but I'll be darned if it isn't empty every time by morning.

 

[shocwav3]

50 Plus? Do you have a product line? I see your thread but haven't seen a website?

Nevermind, found it.

Not all my work is car related. I just don't advertise the other end. Some slow weeks, when Ive got a lot of fabbed parts and not so much machine work I will run 35-40hrs on the machine. But I work 7 days a week unless the wife tells me otherwise hahah

 

[Kevin54]

I did fail to mention that I won't haul y scraps to the scrapyard. I would have to go 20-25 minutes either north or south of me, so it wouldn't pay to Drive the POS Dodge Ram that gets 12mpg. We do have a person here in town that collects aluminum for the Shriners for Childrens Hospital. I'll take the aluminum scraps to them.

And they do collect a LOT of aluminum. They have a deal with all of the bars in town for their aluminum cans. They have a car trailer with 6' racks all around, and it is filled up each month. For a small Podunk town, we have a shitload of beer drinkers I'm glad to see the money goes for a good cause though.

 

[macgyver37]

I don't cut enough metal anymore to warrant a trip farther than the dumpster with any swarf. I do save any pieces that I might be able to use in the future, so it really is just waste by the time I get rid of it. I do fill a 2yd dumpster a week from stuff off the cnc router though. It is mostly plastic or wood byproduct. Wood ships/shavings are hard to get rid of as well. Anyone willing to buy it has to have it separated by species or at least they have to be sure it excludes certain species like walnut so that they have a market for it. It has gotten to be just much simpler to throw it all away.