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

I have seen big volume machines that cost 250 thousand and up . I have seen articles on machines that cost 1.5 million. I have talk to guys that had 250 thousands dollars machine for sale a couple years ago . Say they started baling their wire and exporting it. Could not get enough to feed it . They were on the east coast of the country. Had to much competition. Was wondering about a lower volume machine. That did not have to run everyday. I have seen some big volume guys go under.

I did the math awhile back on a small setup, way smaller than the 250k machine. Could you do a sideline job with it for good extra money? I think so. I just don't think you will be able to really get the volume required to make it viable as a full time thing. Not only that, unless you are basically buying from yards and able to easily get the volume needed in just a couple hours a day, you would have to hire someone to run it while you wrangle wire from the road. That makes it even shadier math.

I was looking at some machines that cost 50 to 60 thousand. That handles 600 to 800 pounds a hour.

We handle a fair volume of wire already. Do not expect to run it everyday. Looking at the future . China is cracking down on plastic and other items.

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.

I think I read or heard that High Voltage Processing. Went out of business or went bankrupt. I hope I am wrong . He posted a lot of good information on here .

I dealt with High Voltage for about a year till all contact stoped, never heard a reason why. I run a MG mid size granulator that we have had for 5 or 6 years. I getting ready to leave for work, I'll post more later tonight.

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.

I look around for High Voltage Processing . All I found was a Facebook page that had not been updated since Dec 2012. Then I found a bankruptcy listing May 2013 . I have been looking at the numbers . Long term it will work .

We dealt with High Voltage for about a year, I don't think he and his partner had what he claimed. The boss and I wanted to visit his place but he was always to busy, RED flag. There only a couple if that that can do 6" wire and he was not one. I've seen one in person that can grind baled wire and that was years ago at Marble Hill in southern Indiana, they went broke, the other is in Fort Wayne, Indiana and we all know who owns that one. As for High Voltage we were shipping them all our fluff with the fines and plastic for free and we paid the shipping cost, 45,000 lbs a load. It was all free money, recovery about 6%, copper was over $3.00 a lb then, plastic a couple cents a lb. Land fill a couple hundred. Shipped them a bale of flat wire (#3 wire) lots of cat5, recovery in the teens, WRONG. #2 wire 30%, WRONG. #1 wire 45% WRONG. We only grind #1 wire right know as it is the best money as comex hit $2.85 today, sold my last load of chops and bare bright, trying to get a load of #1 tube and wire ready to ship. IF ANY BODY is large enough to handle this I have over 200.000 lbs of #2 insulted wire to sale. My beer is getting hot, and this has been a long post, I post more about my granulator tomorrow.

I was starting to think every company on the scrap forum . That was chopping wire . Went out of business. Good to see a few are still here and are making money.

The problem with a granulator is finding enough product and making sure product is clean enough for machine. Most companies that run them also run aluminum wire also thru it but you need end source for material. Most have foundries they sell to or smelt for end user. Here where i live we have john deere. They get their chops for foundry from omnisource and put they put chops in 25lb ziploc bags and just toss them into steel when needed.

I am going to watch a wire GRANULATORS in the next two week. I am not worry about running a large volume of wire threw it . We have a steady volume . I will slowly grow it . It doesn't have to pay for itself quickly .This is long term investment. We have enough other business. We have been in business for over 20 years. We have slowly grew the business by taking baby steps .We make sure when we start doing something new. That we had everything else running smoothly.
This is going to be a sideline. We also don't have any one close offering this service. I have several companies that will buy the finish product.

Do you still get in large volumes of #1 and #2 insulated copper? I'm looking for 120,000 to 160,000 pounds a month.