Originally published in http://empoweringpumps.com/proco-inspecting-expansion-joints-marine/ 

The recycling rate of copper material is higher than that of any other metal, with an estimated trillion pounds of copper currently in circulation around the globe. Copper Recovery, based out of California, is a manufacturer of wire and cable recycling equipment. Their machinery is used by scrapyards and recycling facilities to recover yards of copper wire and return this commodity back to the manufacturing sector.

These wire cable chopping machines are used by scrapyards who are recycling over 1000-pounds of scrap insulated copper wire every single day! Since the scrap copper wire is insulated with plastic around it, these machines chop the copper wire down to the size of a grain of rice, and effectively ‘blow away’ the tiny bits of plastic sheathing so that the clean, pure copper can be recovered.

In 2016, Copper Recovery made a major change to their machines to incorporate WEG motors and gear boxes into the recycling equipment they manufacture. Beau Janzen, Product Manager for Copper Recovery, worked with a mechanical engineer and CAD designer in 2015 to review the machine design and make improvements. “In looking at the machine’s design, we really wanted to make it better, so we decided to move away from ‘chain and sprocket’ drives to helical bevel gear boxes. While the helical bevel gear boxes were more expensive, they were a more robust solution that would greatly enhance the machine’s performance.”

The two major changes involved the shredder motor and the dosing silo gear box.  For the shredder, WEG 60HP motors are now used to spin the main cutting rotor of the shredder. This motor takes a lot of abuse and requires a sturdy, durable motor. WEG was the natural choice. The dosing silo buffers the output of material between the shredder and the final cutting mill. First the scrap wire goes into the machine and the shredder cuts that to 1-inch pieces; however, the copper pieces are still wrapped in plastic sheathing, so the 1-inch pieces go through a second machine, a cutting mill, which then cuts the pieces into ‘rice-grain’ sizes. At that point, the copper is liberated from the plastic, but because the cutting mill is a much smaller machine, the dosing silo acts as a buffer between the two with a variable speed output.


Shaft Motor, 60Hz

Screw Motor, 60Hz


KUS 13 6D


Rated Speed

1,745 RPM

1,145 RPM

Rated Torque

8.2 Nm

13 Nm




Not only are the machines performing better, we greatly appreciate having a single source of supply,” shares Janzen. “Our manufacturing facility is in Europe, and because WEG has a global presence, we have a single point for service – both in Europe and here in the states. If we ever need a replacement motor here in the U.S., WEG has a distribution center in Ontario, California, which is close to our location in Huntington Beach. They maintain quite an extensive inventory, so it just works out really great for us because we know our machines are being manufactured with the highest quality motors and drives.