Published September 9, 2026. Last updated September 30, 2026.
What are the main types of metal scrap conveyors?
Metal scrap conveyors are grouped by how they physically move material. Belt conveyors (steel belt and Pivot Belt) carry scrap on a moving hinged surface. Oscillating conveyors use vibration. Magnetic conveyors hold ferrous scrap against a stationary bed. Enclosed and in-floor designs (drag, screw, ScrapVeyor II, and in-floor trough) handle abrasive, wet, or high-volume streams. Pneumatic conveyors move chips by air. A final group (quench conveyors, casting coolers, furnace feeders, and load-out systems) handles hot parts and end-of-line loading. PRAB builds 13 configurable conveyor types across these groups.
This is the first entry in PRAB’s Metal Scrap Conveyors series. It is a field guide, not a buying guide: what each conveyor type is, how it moves scrap, and where it typically shows up on a plant floor. If you already know the categories and want help narrowing them down for your own line, skip ahead to our companion article, How to Choose the Right Metal Scrap Conveyor System.
→ See how a real facility optimized its conveyor system for high-volume scrap handling
Every metal scrap conveyor has the same job description. Collect chips, turnings, slugs, or die scrap where they are made, and deliver them to a wringer, briquetter, furnace, hopper, or trailer. What separates one type from another is the method of moving the material, and that method determines what the conveyor can tolerate.
A moving belt can carry almost anything, but sticky scrap wants to ride along. Vibration never lets scrap cling, but it works best over horizontal runs. A magnet gives you total control of steel and iron, and no control at all over aluminum. Air lets you route chips wherever the ductwork goes. Once you understand the mechanism, the product names start making sense on their own.
A steel belt conveyor is the workhorse of the category. Scrap lands on a heavy hinged steel belt and rides it out of the machine, up an incline, and into a hopper or the next piece of equipment. It takes wet or dry material and handles a wide spread of scrap forms, from bushy wads and long turnings to die scrap, stamping scrap, and small chips. Layout options include straight, Z-style, and L-style runs. It is also the default for non-ferrous or mixed scrap that a magnet cannot hold. You will find steel belt conveyors in machining, die casting, stamping, forging, scrap yards, and finished-parts handling, which is a longer list than any other type on this page.
The Pivot Belt conveyor exists because of one stubborn problem: thin, oily stamping scrap that sticks to a flat belt and gets carried back around instead of dropping off. PRAB’s design uses a Rigidized belt surface that resists sticking, plus pivoting hinges that flip scrap into the hopper at the release point. It is built for trim scrap, stamping slugs, motor laminations, and eyelet press scrap. Outside of stamping, it is rarely the first choice.
An oscillating conveyor has no belt at all. A steel pan vibrates in a controlled motion that walks scrap forward, so there is nothing for sharp or abrasive material to chew through and nothing for sticky scrap to cling to. It moves hot, dry, or wet chips, die scrap, and even finished parts across horizontal distances, and it can sit machine-side or in a pit. PRAB has documented uptime above 98% for oscillating conveyors in stamping operations. The trade-off is geometry: oscillating conveyors are best at moving material across the floor, not lifting it to a high drop-off point, so they are often paired with another conveyor that handles the elevation.
A magnetic conveyor turns the usual design inside out. The scrap never touches a moving belt. PRAB uses a beltless slide design: permanent magnets travel on a chain beneath a stationary stainless steel slider bed, and they drag ferrous material along the top of the bed, including up inclines, until it reaches the release point. Chips, fines, stamping slugs, turnings, and small parts move without carryover. The limitation is absolute, though. If the material is not ferrous, a magnetic conveyor cannot move it.
One point of confusion worth clearing up: a magnetic conveyor is not a magnetic separator. The conveyor moves solid scrap. The separator pulls fine ferrous particles from the coolant. Many cells run both.
This group is built for the ugliest conditions on the floor: abrasive material, heavy fluid loads, and volumes that would bury a lighter system.
Drag conveyors pull scrap through a trough with flight bars attached to a chain. They are specified for severe-duty, highly abrasive material, wet or dry, with cast iron as the classic example. PRAB uses a bolt-free flight bar connection so the flights stay attached under punishing loads, which is usually where drag conveyors from lighter-duty suppliers fail first.
A screw conveyor rotates an auger inside a trough or tube. It is one of the more cost-effective ways to collect and transfer wet or dry chips and turnings, and it has a trick most conveyors lack: it can meter feed, delivering a controlled rate of material to a downstream processor instead of dumping everything at once.
The ScrapVeyor II is a liquid-tight system that collects, transfers, and elevates stamping scrap. Its leak-proof construction keeps cutting fluid on its intended path rather than leaving a trail across the plant, which matters when that fluid is headed for recovery.
In-floor trough conveyors run below the plant floor and collect scrap from a line of machines at once. They suit high-volume, coolant-flow applications and move chips, fines, turnings, bushy wads, die scrap, and tramp metal quietly, while keeping aisles clear of above-floor equipment.
Pneumatic conveyors move wet or dry chips through piping using air. They are typically used to pull chips from CNC machining centers to a central chip processing system or load-out, especially when the route runs long distances or overhead. Their biggest advantage shows up years after installation: when the floor plan changes, piping can be rerouted far more easily than a mechanical conveyor can be relocated.
The last four types are less about removing scrap from a machine and more about what happens to hot parts and finished scrap afterward.
Quench conveyors are liquid-tight conveyors that cool parts and scrap where air cooling is not sufficient or practical, common in die casting, heat transfer, parts cooling, and coating operations. Casting coolers do the opposite: they air-cool hot die castings, which eliminates the misting and air-quality issues that come with water quench. Furnace feeders meter abrasive die scrap directly into a melting furnace, either batch-loaded or as the final stage of a scrap-to-remelt system. Load-out systems sit at the very end of the line and fill large trailers or railcars as completely as possible, so you pay to haul scrap, not air.
| Conveyor type | How it moves scrap | Handles best | Typical applications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steel Belt | Hinged steel belt | Wet or dry; turnings, bushy wads, die and stamping scrap, small chips | Machining, die casting, stamping, forging, scrap yards, finished parts |
| Pivot Belt | Rigidized belt with pivoting hinges | Oily, thin-gauge trim scrap, slugs, laminations | Stamping |
| Oscillating | Vibrating pan | Hot, dry, or wet abrasive chips, die scrap, parts | Machining, die casting, stamping, scrap yards, finished parts |
| Magnetic | Magnets under a stationary slider bed | Ferrous chips, fines, slugs, small parts | Machining, stamping, finished parts |
| Drag | Chain-driven flight bars in a trough | Highly abrasive, severe-duty scrap, wet or dry | Machining, scrap yards |
| Screw | Rotating auger | Wet or dry chips and turnings; metered feeding | Machining, scrap yards |
| ScrapVeyor II | Liquid-tight collection and elevation | Stamping scrap carrying cutting fluid | Stamping, die casting, scrap yards |
| In-Floor Trough | Below-floor trough serving multiple machines | High-volume, coolant-heavy chip streams | Machining |
| Pneumatic | Air through piping | Wet or dry chips over long or overhead routes | Machining |
| Quench | Liquid-tight conveyor with liquid cooling | Hot parts and scrap that air cannot cool | Die casting, forging, finished parts |
| Casting Cooler | Conveyor with air cooling | Hot die castings, without quench misting | Die casting, forging, finished parts |
| Furnace Feeder | Metered feed to the melt furnace | Abrasive die scrap headed for remelt | Die casting |
| Load-Out System | End-of-line container loading | Filling trailers and railcars to capacity | Machining, die casting, stamping, forging, scrap yards |
Most plants end up with more than one of these. A stamping line might run a Pivot Belt at the press, an oscillating conveyor in the pit, and a load-out system at the dock. The selection question is less “which type is best” and more “which type belongs at each point in the line.” Our companion guide, How to Choose the Right Metal Scrap Conveyor System, walks through the variables PRAB engineers evaluate before specifying a conveyor. If you would rather see results on your own material, PRAB’s free Materials Testing program runs your actual scrap before you commit to a purchase.
How many types of metal scrap conveyors are there?
There is no single industry count, but PRAB builds 13 configurable types: steel belt, Pivot Belt, oscillating, ScrapVeyor II, screw, drag, pneumatic, quench, casting cooler, furnace feeder, magnetic, in-floor trough, and load-out systems. Most start from standardized heavy-duty core platforms that are then configured to the plant.
What is the difference between a quench conveyor and a casting cooler?
Both cool hot parts, but with different media. A quench conveyor uses liquid, which is necessary when air cooling is too slow or impractical. A casting cooler uses air, which avoids the misting and air-quality issues that come with water quench.
Can a magnetic conveyor move aluminum chips?
No. Magnetic conveyors only move ferrous material. Aluminum, brass, and other non-ferrous or mixed scrap typically go on a steel belt conveyor instead.
Which conveyor types are designed to keep cutting fluid contained?
The ScrapVeyor II and quench conveyors are liquid-tight by design, and in-floor trough conveyors are built for coolant-heavy applications. Containing fluid on the conveyor is the first step toward recovering it downstream with wringers and centrifuges or a Guardian Coolant Recycling System.
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Next in this series: Metal Chip Processing 101, covering what happens once scrap leaves the conveyor.
About the Author
Paul Montgomery is the Marketing Leader at PRAB, Inc., a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based industrial equipment manufacturer. He brings more than 20 years of B2B marketing leadership, including CMO and VP roles across industrial manufacturing, SaaS, and InsurTech, where he led cross-functional teams and drove revenue growth of up to 300% year-over-year. At PRAB, he leads digital strategy, content, demand generation, and SEO/AEO across the company’s metal scrap conveyor, chip processing, fluid recycling, and industrial process water product lines.
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