Hello, PrepHoleness man posting here for the first time.
I own a CNC machine shop and annually I have been recycling/throwing out around 2000-3000lbs of 6061 aluminum shavings. We started working with a company that is paying us 0.25 per pound, but after doing a bit of research we realized there’s people selling shavings on eBay for $1-$5/lb which is a significant increase.
I was wondering if anyone here could suggest to me anything else I could possibly do with these shavings? Having it melted down is actually expensive and the aluminum has high levels of humidity because of the coolants we use, so it would require an additional process to purify it
Swarf goes to the swarf man for 0.25c a pound
The opportunity cost to spend manpower on handling/cleaning/selling/shipping would be largely moronic.
I doubt you'll be able to sell as much as you produce, plus you have to factor in shipping costs and labor associated with packing and shipping, plus the fees taken by ebay.
So is it really worth all that effort just to make a tiny bit more money on your scrap? It would probably make more sense to get a separate bin for aluminum only instead of giving them mixed metal scrap.
Sell shavings on eBay for $5/lb.
Well, if we're being real, it's just garbage, right? It's garbage that, with some effort, can have some value, but it's still garbage.
The jobs you do should cover materials costs, and if figured right, calculate in any waste factor. So the recycled chips is just an added bonus.
You basically have three options, two of which you already know about:
>Keep doing what you're doing.
Throw the shit in a hopper and some guy hauls it away, paying you for the privilege. Lowest amount of invested effort possible, thus providing the maximum return.
You can shop around for a better price, and maybe get another few cents or a nickel per pound, but if you think there's someone out there that's going to give you a million dollars for 1/2 ton of aluminum chips once or twice a month, you need your head examined.
>Clean them up, package them, and sell them by the pound on ebay.
Like you said, there's people buying, and even garbage is worth whatever someone will pay for it. But you do recognize that someone will have to clean/prep/weigh/package and ship them to wherever. Way more effort involved, but will give way more return. Still, you'll be lucky to break even or maybe get what you were already getting from the scrapper.
>Build/buy a furnace with a practical enough capacity and melt the shit into bars/ingots yourself.
You still have to sell them and ship them, but it's probably easier to move bars/ingots than it is chips. I've been following this guy on israelitetube https://www.youtube.com/@NOBOX7/videos He's built a multi-fuel furnace with a 400lb capacity. Still got to pay a guy to run it and do the work. Would have to minimize mixing between 2000, 6000, 7000 series aluminum. Maximum effort invested, but would undoubtedly provide the maximum return.
Are you a recycling plant?
Are you a foundry?
No?
So stick to what you do and not waste time going outside the scope of your business.
>poor man thinking
Poorhomosexual PrepHole thinking, vs actual business thinking
Believe it or not, people who own shops and make actual money arent graveling on the floor trying to make money with their trash. Thats for NEET diyers
Maybe OP should go around and pull the soda cans out of the employee trashcans and turn them in for cash too. Great use of his time.
I keep suggesting to my boss that we should make organite on the side to sell to nutjobs but I think he thinks I'm joking.
Sounds like too much effort just get the free pizza money
Small smelters exist for the scrapping industry but when you generate that much money in chip you don't need the scrap money and chasing it is a false economy.
Machining is like that. Ignore the little shit, make bank on the big jobs. Sell your chips the the Ebayers for half what they sell the shit for if they want it.
>there’s people selling shavings on eBay
you will need to hire at least one person to do the same
how many lbs of swarf do you need to sell simply to pay their salary? and also the space necessary to store and pack it?
i can't speak to the economics of selling but rather than melting it down you can compress the waste into briquettes, they keep together surprisingly well
Good idea here. Some sort of hydraulic press baler would compress them for easier handling. Could also stockpile them and wait for scrap prices to go up before unloading them.
>and wait for scrap prices to go up
>Find a scrap man and sell for cash.
People ITT need to understand its not normal scrap, its swarf. Every chip is contaminated and covered in industrial chemicals.
Its considered hazardous waste, and you have to pay a hazardous waste company to come and remove your old coolant.
Likewise you cant just take chips covered in said waste to a normal recycling house and turn it in.
Thats why there are specialized companies that take it for pennies, it takes lots of work to clean it up before it can be scrapped.
>Its considered hazardous waste
Not true for every coolant, I just had this done and my coolant was not considered hazardous waste.
>Its considered hazardous waste,
Bullshit.
>aluminium shavings not hazardous
try putting your hands in it and rummaging around through it.
Nah, dump it in the grass and tell your local EPA office you did it. Theyll get a kick out of it.
Its quite simple really. Get a defense contract for selling radar jamming dust.
I'm actually building a turbine-powered furnace. Dehydration in the furnace would just make additional power from steam for the unit. Oil would then burn for more power and additional heat to melt the aluminum. I'm saving up stainless slag from welding, so you could also use said aluminum in a thermite reaction to reduce more valuable metals like chromium.
based
Find a scrap man and sell for cash.
Get into gold machining to increase the value of your scrap.
coins have ridges
>Hello, PrepHoleness man posting here for the first time.
>I own a CNC machine shop and annually I have been recycling/throwing out around 2000-3000lbs of 6061 aluminum shavings. We started working with a company that is paying us 0.25 per pound, but after doing a bit of research we realized there’s people selling shavings on eBay for $1-$5/lb which is a significant increase.
>I was wondering if anyone here could suggest to me anything else I could possibly do with these shavings? Having it melted down is actually expensive and the aluminum has high levels of humidity because of the coolants we use, so it would require an additional process to purify it
Sell it as shavings for orgonite for 5$ a bag
The best seller on Ebay has been selling for over 2 years, and has sold approximately 250 pounds of aluminum chips.
Just because its on Ebay doesnt mean its selling.
You literally arent going to make back the wages spent cleaning packagaing and shipping the shit, not to mention the 15% ebay fee and the insane cost of shipping nowadays.
Lord help you, if you actually run a shop with so little comprehension of shoptime cost
Even IF hell froze over and you moved ALL 3000 pounds at 5bucks a pound, after fees and shipping you are only looking at maybe $10,000 a year.
Its literally a losing proposition for 99% of shops out there.