Every cutting, machining and sawing operation makes two products: the part you ship and the waste you have to get rid of. When chips, trim and offcuts are shoveled, swept or carried by hand, they cost labor, crowd the floor around the machine and create cut and slip hazards. A scrap conveyor system takes that waste from the point of generation to a bin, dumpster, trailer or downstream process without anyone handling it.
Custom Conveyor & Equipment Corporation designs and builds scrap, chip and dust collection conveyors in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for machining centers, lathes, laser cutting stations, saw lines, shredders and flat glass breakout tables. Each one is engineered around the material, the machine it serves and where the waste has to end up, then fabricated and assembled in the same facility where it was designed.
Talk to an engineer about your scrap stream
Tell us what the machine throws off, roughly how much and where it needs to go. We offer on-site or remote engineering consultations and help gather the data needed to validate a concept.
Scrap Types and What Each Demands From a Conveyor
The right waste conveyor starts with an honest description of the waste. Piece size, shape, weight, sharpness and whether it arrives wet with coolant or mixed with dust all change the design.
| Waste stream | What makes it difficult | Conveyor styles to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Fine ferrous chips and shavings | Small, sharp and often coolant-wet; packs into belts and pinch points | Magnetic conveyor, steel hinged belt |
| Stringy or bushy turnings | Tangles, bridges and wraps around shafts | Steel hinged belt with cleats |
| Laser skeletons, slugs and sheet trim | Heavy, sharp-edged and irregular | Low-profile steel hinged belt |
| Wood trim, offcuts and saw waste | Light and irregular, with dust mixed in | Grip-top or cleated belt, slide bed belt |
| Plastic trim bound for a shredder | Bulky for its weight; needs a steady feed into the shredder | Belt conveyor matched to the shredder infeed |
| Dust and fines | Spreads at every drop and transfer point | Covered or enclosed runs with sealed transfers |
| Waste flat glass | Sharp, heavy and abrasive | Glass breakers feeding belt conveyors |
Conveyor Choices for Chips, Trim and Scrap
No single conveyor style handles every waste stream. We choose based on the material, the volume and the space under and around the machine.
Steel Hinged Belt Conveyors
Overlapping steel hinged belting stands up to sharp, heavy scrap that would cut a fabric belt. We built a 24 in wide by 20 ft long low-profile steel hinged belt conveyor that carries scrap from a laser cutting station into a dumpster, and a steel hinged belt chip conveyor that lowers into the pit below a machining center, with its lifting eye placed at the center of gravity for installation.
Magnetic Chip Conveyors
In a typical magnetic conveyor, magnets travel beneath a closed bed and pull ferrous chips along the top surface. Our magnetic chip conveyor removes fine metal shavings without exposing its moving parts to the material it carries, which is what gives it long life and minimal maintenance.
Slide Bed Belt Conveyors
Lighter scrap and trim often need nothing more than a guarded belt running over a flat slider bed. A compact slide bed belt conveyor we built carries scrap from a processing machine into a bin, and moving that bin gave fork trucks direct access for exchanges.
Drag Chain, Flighted and Grip-Top Conveyors
Heavier bulk streams such as steel chips and wood chips can be pulled through a trough by drag flights or carried on flighted and cleated belts, all technologies we use for bulk material. Our guide to drag chain conveyors explains where they fit. On a saw line, we used a grip-top belt to carry wood scrap up an incline into a mulcher feed bin.
Loading Bins, Dumpsters and Trailers
Where scrap ends up matters as much as how it moves. A conveyor that discharges somewhere a fork truck cannot reach only moves the problem, so we plan the discharge first and work back to the machine.
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Bins and hoppers: keep the discharge clear of the machine so full bins can be swapped without stopping production.
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Dumpsters: a low-profile conveyor can collect under the machine and discharge into a dumpster.
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Trailers: a central loadout lets one conveyor fill a trailer from several collection points.
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Downstream processing: shredder and mulcher infeeds need a steady feed rather than surges.
In glass plants, our cullet systems break waste glass at the breakout table and carry it to a central loadout that fills bins or bulk tractor trailers. One connects eight glass breakers on four breakout tables, with controls monitoring breaker torque, belt motion and trailer fill level. For bulk material, our beltwall conveyor lifts material from a trench to a bin or trailer.
Dust Collection Conveyors and Fines Handling
Sawing and machining wood and vinyl window components produces fine material that a dust collector gathers, and that material still has to leave the building. A dust collection conveyor moves it to a trailer or container. We built a dust collection trailer fill system for a window manufacturer and have modified saw waste collection for a window and door manufacturer.
In general practice, conveying dust and fines well comes down to containment and access:
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Cover or enclose the conveyor wherever fines can escape, especially at transfer points.
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Seal the connection between the collector discharge and the conveyor.
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Provide cleanout access so buildup can be removed before it becomes a hazard.
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Review combustible dust risk with your safety team and dust collector supplier, since many wood and plastic dusts can burn.
Retrofitting Scrap Conveyors Under Existing Machines
Most scrap conveyors go into plants that are already running, where the machine, pit and floor space are fixed and downtime is expensive. The conveyor has to fit the machine, not the other way around.
We start by measuring the envelope: clearance under the machine, pit dimensions, where chips and trim actually fall, discharge height and the path to the container. Then we design for installation and service: lifting points, cleanout access and nip-point guarding (see our overview of conveyor safety standards). Our engineers and fabricators run validation tests before shipment, while the design is still easy to modify.
We have also completed maintenance modifications, bin fill conveyor modifications and a slide bed retrofit on existing equipment, and we supply custom-made replacement parts for the equipment we build for as long as you own it.
Scrap Conveyors We Have Built
Our scrap and chip conveyors serve machining cells, laser cutting stations, wood processing lines, plastics processors and flat glass fabricators.
Scrap, chip and dust conveyors we have built
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24 in x 20 ft low-profile steel hinged belt conveyor carrying laser cutting scrap to a dumpster
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Steel hinged belt chip conveyor lowered into the pit below a machining center, with a center-of-gravity lifting eye
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Magnetic chip conveyor for fine metal shavings, with its moving parts kept out of the material
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Slide bed belt conveyor moving machine scrap into a bin with direct fork truck access
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Grip-top incline conveyor carrying wood scrap from a saw line into a mulcher feed bin
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Dust collection trailer fill system for a window manufacturer
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Scrap wood conveyor and saw waste collection modifications for a window and door manufacturer
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Shredder feed conveyor for a plastics processor, and a lathe chip conveyor
Scrap and Dust Conveyor FAQs
Related Resources
Explore related pages from Custom Conveyor.
Industries:Machining Laser Cutting Wood Processing Recycling
Related equipment:Steel Hinged Belt Specialty Conveyors
Project examples:Magnetic Chip Conveyor Scrap Removal Conveyor Grip Top Incline Conveyor Scrap Bin Conveyor
Guides:Drag Chain Conveyors
Get scrap off the floor and out of your operators’ hands
Send photos of the machine, a rough layout and a description of the waste stream. Our engineers will help define the need, then design, build and test the conveyor in Cedar Rapids before it ships.
Scrap, chip and dust conveyors engineered around your machines and your loadout.