July/August 1992
While guillotine shears have always been a part of the scrap recycling industry, improved technology is making them more indispensable today.
By Si Wakesberg
Si Wakesberg is New York bureau chief for Scrap Processing and Recycling.
Long before shredders and other scrap processing equipment appeared on the scene, guillotine shears were playing a significant role in the scrap recycling industry. "There have been shears ever since there has been scrap to be cut," says one shear manufacturer. Shears have always been fundamental for the recycling of heavier industrial scrap.
Without them, in fact, I-beams, No. 1 heavy melting scrap, and other bulky material couldn't be processed efficiently and profitably into consumer-acceptable sizes and grades. Today, according to one manufacturer, the majority of scrap recyclers use guillotine shears, and these "standard" pieces of equipment continue to thrive as improved technology has made them more productive, durable, and versatile.
John C. Tombarello, president and treasurer of John C. Tombarello & Sons Inc. (Lawrence, Mass.), can attest to this fact. A few years ago, he could hardly walk through his plant because it was filled with hundreds of large fuel and underground storage tanks that the firm had been accumulating for nearly two decades. "The place was a mess," Tombarello recalls. "We just didn't have the proper equipment to process those large tanks."
In 1990, however, the firm solved its backlog problem by purchasing a shear from Harris Group (Minneapolis) that was twice as large, with twice the cutting force, of its old machine. The new shear, Tombarello says, can process a 35,000-gallon, 12-by-40-foot tank in 14 minutes. "Using this new shear," he remarks, "we were able to process the tanks and clean up the plant within three months. Now our only problem is getting sufficient material."
The Pluses of Power
Almost all guillotine shears are stationary, or static, machines that feature a hydraulic precompression, or sizing, box, which squeezes scrap into a dense log that can be easily pushed by a hydraulic ram into the mouth of the shear. Most sizing boxes operate using a side press in combination with a top pressing lid.
One manufacturer—Vezzani SpA (Peachtree City, Ga.)—however, offers shears that feed material via an inclined in-feed chute, using gravity to move scrap into the shear's mouth. Operators can adjust the opening of the chute to control the quantity of material being sheared, the company says.
Although today's guillotine shears typically range in processing capabilities of 300 tons and 2,200 tons of cutting force, a 1,000-ton shear is capable of cutting "90 percent of the scrap that comes into a normal scrap plant," says Max Zalkin, president of Tampa Scrap Processors Inc. (Tampa, Fla.), which operates a 1,100-ton shear made by Thyssen Industrie AG Henschel (Kassel, Germany). Smaller and larger shears are manufactured—Thyssen Henschel, for example, has made a shear with 3,300 tons of cutting force, reportedly the world's largest—but such machines are the exception rather than the rule.
In the last decade, as shear operators have added new shears to their operations or—more likely—replaced old ones, they have tended to select larger, more powerful models. "While the norm used to be a shear with 500 tons of cutting force, the current industry average is more in the 880-to-1,000-ton range," says one shear manufacturer. One reason for this trend is the continuous search for added throughput capacity. As evidence, a scrap plant manager who operates shears made by Lindemann Recycling Equipment Inc. (New York City) notes that "there's been noticeable engineering improvement in our new shears. The high-pressure hydraulics have added speed to the machines," which increases production.
Bigger shears also offer the ability to process heavier, bulkier scrap, which reduces the operator's need to pre-size material. "These new, bigger, better-designed shears require less torching," one scrap recycler reports. Others back that assertion: LeRoy Stevens, executive vice president of Pacific Hide & Fur Depot Inc. (Great Falls, Mont.), which operates five shears, says that, "previously, we practically had to torch 100 percent of our material, but our new 380-ton shears from Sierra International Machinery [located in Bakersfield, Calif.] allow us to shear about 75 to 80 percent of our scrap."
Likewise, Tombarello asserts that his Harris shear has eliminated 95 percent of the firm's torch-cutting, saving time and money, while also increasing the company's output. And another scrap executive says that his firm's Vezzani shear "has increased production, necessitated a smaller labor force, and totally eliminated burning in the plant."
Larger, stronger shears offer other advantages as well. Aaron Rabinovitz, ferrous manager of Borg Compressed Steel Corp. (Tulsa, Okla.), notes that his firm's new 1,000-ton Vezzani shear not only enabled it to retire two older, smaller shears—one 300 ton, and one 500 ton—but it allowed the company to consolidate its operations from four plants to two. "The Vezzani shear gave us increased economies of operation, which allowed us to consolidate," Rabinovitz says.
Bigger shears are not always better, or necessary, however, Stevens notes. Pacific Hide & Fur has found that its two "smaller but extremely efficient" Sierra shears "are engineered so that they can equal the daily production output of our 500- and 750-ton shears," he asserts.
Fewer Worries, More Options
Today's "new generation" of shears provides other benefits to scrap recyclers, mainly in the areas of fewer operational problems and greater versatility. "There have been design improvements to make modern shears hydraulically more efficient, featuring fewer movable parts and requiring less maintenance," says a shear maker. One scrap recycler says that his Vezzani shear has only four moving parts, which reportedly cuts the machine's maintenance costs in half. Of course, compared with shredding and grinding equipment, "shears have always been one of the lower maintenance items in scrap plants," possessing only one continuous routine maintenance requirement—the replacement of blades approximately every other week—another shear manufacturer notes.
While the vast majority of guillotine shears are stationary machines that focus exclusively on shearing, some manufacturers offer more versatile shears. Five years ago, Sierra, for instance, introduced a shear that also serves as a logger/baler. This three-in-one machine is geared toward smaller scrap operations that don't have enough material to operate a shear exclusively. When not shearing, the recycler can simply use the machine's precompression box to log or bale material.
Some manufacturers are also offering portable guillotine shears. These shears—not to be confused with mobile shear attachments—are usually mounted on flatbed trailers and are limited in size from 200 to 500 tons of cutting force due to highway weight restrictions. The advantage of portable guillotine shears over mobile shear attachments is that they can precompress scrap, thus producing a product similar in density to a stationary guillotine shear, notes one shear manufacturer. Nevertheless, he adds, "While there's a place in the market for portable guillotine shears, it's not as lucrative as it once was."
Another variation on the basic guillotine shear is Harris's Guillogator, which combines features of both guillotine and alligator shears. These machines feature extra-wide shearing mouths—up to 12 feet wide—as well as extra large charging boxes—up to 12 feet wide by 50 feet long—and they can process whole railcars without using precompression, according to Danny Coleman, plant manager of Mansbach Metal Co. (Ashland, Ky.), which operates two 1,000-ton Guillogators.
And—in a unique twist on shear applications—Metro Metal Recycling Corp. (Port Newark, N.J.) operates what may be the nation's only guillotine shear mounted on a barge, according to Jay Zimmern, the firm's general manager. The 1,000-ton Thyssen Henschel machine, christened the Sea Shear, "travels around the port and prepares scrap at different locations," Zimmern says, adding, "I think it's pretty unique."
As an added benefit, new shear developments have also brought about more purchasing options for scrap executives. There are so many varieties of guillotine shears—Harris alone offers more than 30 models—that buying one today is like shopping for an automobile, says Gerald Mansbach, president of Mansbach Metal. "You can get a shear in any size or design to fit your needs."
Weighing the Shearing Question
For recyclers who already operate guillotine shears, the virtues of these machines are well-known. For the few that don't, however, these shears may represent new processing possibilities. Considering the many ways to process scrap, the essential question to consider is when material should be sheared instead of baled or shredded. Recyclers and manufacturers concur that the answer boils down to two factors: economics and the type of scrap being processed.
All agree that shears are more cost-effective than shredders in the processing hierarchy, but shears can't match the tonnage capacity of shredders. Baling is acknowledged as the most economical processing method of all, but many scrap executives note that, except for No. 1 bundles, bales are a declining package today.
On the material side, some types of scrap—auto hulks, for example—are reportedly better shredded than sheared. "When it comes to car bodies and lighter iron scrap," says one shear manufacturer, "shredding appears to be the way to go, particularly when you consider the necessity of separating the plastic, aluminum, and other mixed ingredients." When it comes to heavy, bulky scrap such as No. 1 and No. 2 steel scrap, however, most industry executives note that the material must be sheared. "Shears exist to handle the heavy stuff," one manufacturer asserts. Rabinovitz points out that Borg has used its Vezzani shear principally to cut No. 2 steel scrap, but the machine has also expanded the firm's ability to process No. 1 heavy-melting steel, as well as plate and structural scrap.
While shears are usually associated with ferrous scrap, they are being used to process other types of scrap as well. For example, Keywell Corp. (Baltimore) uses a guillotine shear in its Detroit operation to process stainless steel and nickel alloy scrap, says Louis Vari, a senior vice president based in the firm's West Mifflin, Pa., offices. "In stainless, we don't have the volume to depend on shearing. It's certainly not a prime purchase item on our agenda." But, he says, when torching becomes too costly, having a shear on hand is beneficial.
On the Horizons
Looking ahead, what's in store for shear operators and manufacturers? Few expect to see any breakthroughs in shear technology—certainly nothing on the order of "advancing from a covered wagon to an automobile," says one manufacturer. Most see shears continuing to sell more on a replacement basis than as new installations. But all see shears maintaining their importance to the scrap recycling industry, although their role may become more narrowly focused on the heaviest materials in the scrap stream.
Whatever the vagaries in the scrap recycling market may bring, however, "shears are here to stay," one shear maker states. "They definitely have a home." •
While guillotine shears have always been a part of the scrap recycling industry, improved technology is making them more indispensable today.