PRAB drag conveyor systems provide rugged, enclosed scrap handling for highly abrasive materials, such as cast-iron turnings and heavy-metal fines. With abrasion-resistant flight bars, a forged-steel chain, and liquid-tight trough construction, these conveyors are built to withstand harsh metalworking conditions while minimizing dust and coolant leakage. Their design supports long service life and low total cost of ownership, making PRAB drag conveyors a dependable choice for machining, grinding, and metal foundry scrap applications.
Our drag conveyors are built for the harshest scrap handling jobs—wet, heavy, sharp, or abrasive. Thick steel flights, heavy-duty chains, and abrasion-resistant liners enable these systems to experience 50% fewer unscheduled failures and up to twice the service life of standard drag conveyors. Whether your plant is located in North America or Europe, PRAB provides the same level of robust engineering, built in the USA or at our European headquarters in Poland, ensuring fast and reliable regional support.
These systems use powerful drag chains with welded steel flights to pull material along a hardened trough, making them ideal for conveying bushy turnings, stamping scrap, die-cast trim, and even dry sludge or fines. PRAB drag conveyors are built tough: the chains and flights are made of wear-resistant steel to ensure long-lasting durability, and the conveyor trough is abrasion-resistant to withstand continuous metal scraping.
Our designs feature sealed construction to contain dust or coolant and can be configured for horizontal or inclined transport, including in-floor submerged applications. They integrate seamlessly with automated scrap processing lines and are engineered to minimize spillage and prevent unplanned downtime, even in harsh, high-load environments.
With minimal moving components and slow chain speeds, drag conveyors deliver reliable, low-maintenance operation even when moving heavy loads or sharp, abrasive scrap. Automotive stamping, metal recycling, and machining companies rely on PRAB drag conveyor systems to reduce manual handling and downtime. Choose a PRAB drag conveyor when you need a proven, robust solution to move large volumes of scrap safely and efficiently.
PRAB offers two models, Series #348 and Series #458, in three configuration styles designed to convey materials for metal scrap recycling ranging in weight and bulk density. This conveyor is also available with in-feed hoppers and metering plates and can be customized with coolant pumps for integration with a metal chip and fluid filtration system.
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Conveyor Solutions
PRAB Builds Equipment for the Toughest Jobs in Manufacturing and Metalworking
Automating the handling of metal scrap and spent fluids is crucial to protecting your workforce.By Mike Hook, Sales & Marketing Director, PRAB Introduction In a report issued during the 2018 National Safety Council Congress & Expo, the Campbell Institute-a respected global thought leader on placing environment, health, and safety at the core of […]
Manufacturers across metalworking, machining, die casting, and foundry operations face continual pressure to reduce operating costs, improve equipment uptime, recover valuable materials, and meet environmental requirements. As these pressures increase, many facilities—large and small—look for systems that deliver measurable results without adding complexity or requiring major infrastructure changes. PRAB provides Scalable Solutions for Manufacturers of any size. PRAB designs equipment […]
Metal Scrap Conveyor Selection Guide: Match Your Scrap, Coolant, and Throughput for Long-Term Performance Selecting the right metal scrap conveyor isn’t just about moving chips from A to B —it’s about reliability, throughput, coolant carry-over, maintenance load, and long-term total cost of ownership. With modern machining, stamping, and foundry operations running at higher speeds and volumes than ever, the wrong […]
A metal scrap conveyor is a system used in manufacturing to transport metal chips, turnings, swarf, and other waste for recycling or disposal. Common types include steel belt, oscillating, drag chain, magnetic, pneumatic, and specialty conveyors—each chosen based on scrap size, abrasiveness, coolant content, or temperature. These systems improve efficiency, safety, and the value of metal scrap while preventing downtime.
PRAB metal scrap conveyors are engineered for 30+ years of continuous operation—with documented installations exceeding 40 years. Systems handle up to 2,000 lb/hr of scrap and integrate seamlessly with metal chip processing and coolant recycling systems. Known for their low maintenance and durability, PRAB metal handling systems are trusted by automotive, aerospace, die-casting, CNC, and heavy manufacturing plants worldwide.
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Durable metal scrap conveyors are engineered with abrasion-resistant components, heavy-gauge steel, sealed bearings, and bolt-free flight connections.
Metal scrap conveyor durability in harsh metalworking environments is required to reduce downtime and extend lifespan. Factors like temperature resistance, magnetic properties, incline, and maintenance requirements should be considered.
PRAB incorporates AR-steel wear bars, NEMA-rated motors, and replaceable side wings in its steel belt and drag conveyors. In high-volume machining environments, these design choices have doubled belt life compared to light-duty competitor units. Documented cases show PRAB conveyors requiring 50% fewer unscheduled maintenance interventions annually.
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Conveyors integrate with metal chip processing and coolant recycling systems by automatically moving metal chips and swarf to downstream equipment such as crushers, wringers, centrifuges, or briquetters. This seamless flow allows for fluid reclamation, cleaner scrap handling, and more efficient scrap load-out.
PRAB engineers metal scrap conveyors to function as part of complete chip and fluid management cells, with built-in integration points for crushers, wringers, and fluid recycling systems. In one aerospace components facility, a full PRAB system increased scrap value by 25% and recovered more than 90% of machining fluids, saving over $120,000 annually in coolant purchases.
Metal scrap conveyors eliminate manual scrap handling, reduce forklift traffic, spill risks, and operator injuries. They improve workplace safety by keeping floors cleaner, reducing slip hazards, and improving workflow efficiency.
PRAB conveyor systems have helped facilities cut forklift scrap transport by up to 80%, reducing accident risk and freeing floor space for production. In one metal stamping plant, installation of an in-floor trough conveyor system reduced housekeeping labor by 15 hours per week, improving both safety and productivity metrics.
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Choose a metal scrap conveyor supplier that offers documented performance guarantees, preventive maintenance programs, and long-term parts availability.
Every PRAB conveyor is backed by the Performantee® Guarantee—verifying ROI through lab testing and throughput verification before shipment. PRAB also offers a Managed Maintenance Program, which, in one machining operation, reduced unplanned downtime by 40% over 18 months through scheduled inspections, OEM parts, and 24/7 technical support.
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Consider scrap size (fine chips vs bushy turnings), material (aluminium vs steel vs cast iron), coolant content (wet vs dry), and elevation/incline.
PRAB’s engineering teams conduct scrap and coolant testing before specification, ensuring conveyors meet throughput and wear requirements. In one stamping plant, a PRAB pivot belt conveyor reduced carryover delays by 35% and improved scrap evacuation speed by 28%. This data-driven selection process extends belt life and minimizes energy use.
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A magnetic conveyor and a magnetic separator both use magnets to handle ferrous material, but they perform opposite functions. A magnetic conveyor is a material handling device that transports solid ferrous chips and parts. A magnetic separator is a fluid filtration device that pulls ferrous fines out of coolant. One moves metal. The other cleans fluid.
| Magnetic Conveyor | Magnetic Separator | |
| Primary job | Transports solid ferrous scrap | Removes ferrous fines from fluid |
| Acts on | Chips, slugs, turnings, small parts | Coolant or cutting oil |
| Category | Material handling and conveying | Fluid filtration |
| Typical position | Machine side, feeding downstream processing | In the coolant loop, often as a pre-filter |
| Output | Scrap delivered to a bin or processor | Cleaner fluid returned to the process |
The difference is what they act on. A magnetic conveyor transports solid ferrous scrap such as chips, stamping slugs, turnings, and small parts from the machine to downstream equipment or a container. A magnetic separator removes suspended ferrous fines and sludge from a fluid stream so the coolant or oil runs cleaner. A conveyor is used for material handling. A separator is fluid filtration.
A magnetic conveyor moves ferrous material cleanly and without carryover. PRAB uses a beltless slide design, with permanent magnets on a chain beneath a stationary stainless steel slider bed that grip the material and carry it to the release point, including up inclines. It is the right tool when the goal is to reliably move fine or thin ferrous scrap to a wringer, centrifuge, briquetter, or bin. See the full magnetic conveyor product page for models and configurations.
A magnetic separator removes ferrous contaminants from liquid. PRAB separators use a rotating drum fitted with ferrite or rare-earth magnets. As contaminated coolant or cutting oil flows across the drum, ferrous particles are captured and carried out of the fluid stream, and the cleaned fluid continues on. It is commonly used in grinding, honing, and gear cutting, and often runs as a pre-filter ahead of other fluid filtration equipment. PRAB ferrite models remove up to 97 percent of ferrous particles larger than 40 microns, and rare-earth models capture down to 15 microns, per PRAB published specifications.
Choose based on the problem you are solving. If solid ferrous chips are piling up at the machine and need to be moved away cleanly, you need a magnetic conveyor. If your coolant is loaded with fine ferrous particles that hurt tool life and surface finish, you need a magnetic separator. Many operations end up using both because moving the scrap and cleaning the fluid are two separate goals.
Yes, and they often work as a pair. A magnetic conveyor handles the solid scrap leaving the machine, while a magnetic separator keeps the coolant clean in the same cell. Both feed the larger goal of recovering fluid and scrap value, which is where coolant recycling systems complete the loop.
No. A magnetic conveyor is a conveying and material handling device, not a filtration device. It can help the coolant drain off the scrap as it moves, which reduces fluid carried away with the chips, but it does not filter the fluid itself. Removing particles from the fluid is the job of a magnetic separator or other fluid filtration equipment.
Both use permanent magnets, but are configured differently. A PRAB magnetic conveyor uses ceramic magnets, with rare-earth available, mounted on a moving chain under a fixed slider bed to grip and carry solid scrap. A PRAB magnetic separator uses ferrite or rare-earth magnets inside a rotating drum to attract fine particles out of flowing fluid. The conveyor holds and transports. The separator attracts and extracts.
For non-ferrous or mixed scrap that a magnet cannot hold, a steel belt conveyor is the appropriate transport choice instead of a magnetic conveyor.
Start by separating the two questions: how do I move the scrap, and how do I keep the fluid clean. For the scrap side, use PRAB’s conveyor selection tool or browse the full conveyor lineup. For the fluid side, the surest path is to test your actual coolant. PRAB offers free fluid testing for separator sizing and free materials testing for conveyor selection, so the equipment is matched to your real material rather than a generic profile.
Not sure which one fits, or whether you need both? Contact an expert at PRAB, or explore magnetic conveyors and magnetic separators to compare them side by side.
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