Ocicat Magnetic Sweeper

So we’re doing another pass around this yard with the Ocicat, with the rakes down. Now, this yard wasn’t specifically contaminated with metal debris, but the amount we’ve collected goes to show how much it can accumulate just through standard operation, with pallets breaking, parts being dropped from machines as they’re moved. It all adds up, and it all could give you a flat tire.

We’ve been here for maybe 25 minutes, and we’ve already covered and gotten three good magnet fulls of junk out of the ground, which means less cost to the shop for flat repairs, less time for employees to repair flats,

less angry customers.

You can hear each nail getting collected as it hits the bottom of the sweeper. So we’re gonna dump the debris we’ve collected in the scrap metal bin, which is as easy as lifting the magnet over the bin and hitting the auxiliary hydraulics, which will release everything collected right where it needs to be without having to touch it, right from the air conditioning in the cab. All the scrap metal’s out of the yard and into the bin where it should be.

So Brian’s been running around with the Ocicat magnetic sweeper for the last couple days, cleaning up some areas that have been affected with metal debris. So as you operate, what have you found most useful about the Ocicat?

Well, the thing I like best about it is it has such a strong pickup height that you don’t have to keep the magnet precisely close to the ground. I find if I keep it in sort of a four to seven inch range, and I do one pass and I come back and do another pass, I’ve picked up nearly everything. The only time I find that I get into more debris is if I’m running it without the rake and then I decide to lower the rake down into the ground. And once I start cutting into the ground with a rake, I’m getting that debris that’s lower in the ground that I didn’t get in the first couple passes because it was trapped in by the dirt over top.

One thing I really liked about just the operating of the rake is I can set this magnet down on the stops and the skid steer, and then I can just roll it down to control how far the rake’s into the ground. Because a lot of contours of ground are up and down, and the rake will either start digging in too hard or it comes up out of the ground. I can control it so it’s in the ground about the same amount all the time.

So with the power of this magnet, does it really affect how high you have it as you’re going over bumps? Do you need to constantly adjust while you’re driving?

No, I don’t adjust it at all. The system’s designed so when that magnet’s clicked into your connector, you just set it down on the stops, and that’ll give you about a three to four inch sweeping height, and there’s no reason to feather the magnet up or down. There’s just no reason to do that. The magnet’s strong enough, and within that three to four inch range, you’re really picking up everything.

So you mentioned emptying off the magnet. Can you explain how easy or difficult it is to empty the Ocicat into a bin or onto a tarp or wherever you want your scrap metal?

Well, this is the easiest magnet there is to clean off because you simply use the lift arms on the skid steer to lift the magnet up over top of a bin, and then you can use the auxiliary hydraulics. We’ve got it connected here to the ports, and it’s just a thumb control to lift the magnet up. So you hoist the whole magnet over the bin, you lift the magnet up, and then the debris falls off into the bin. Very simple system, and then plus you’re operating from the comfort of air conditioning and heat also if you want it.

So, could you mention anything about how wide the sweeper is compared to the skid steer? Like, is it going to fit on a smaller skid steer or are there any larger skid steers that this magnet will be too small for?

The magnet is 650 pounds, so it’s been pretty much designed to fit on all sizes of skid steers. The load center is really close to the connection plate also—it’s about 10 inches from where it actually connects to the skid steer. So with 650 pounds and most of it being close to the connection plate, this will pretty much run on any machine except for some really small ones, and you won’t often see a small skid steer on a job site where an Ocicat is necessary.

This thing is meant to clean off large amounts of land quickly and without having to mess around too much with cleaning or adjusting, or maintenance really.

What does this thing need for maintenance, if any?

There’s almost no maintenance to it. There’s a couple grease nipples you can see peeking through the lid here for the main pivot point, but other than that, you just want to make sure you’ve got all your safety decals on it and your hydraulic hoses are in good shape. You can see in some situations these hydraulic hoses could—like, we’ve designed it so it’s not rubbing on anything, but depending on your skid steer, you can get chafing on your hoses. You’ll want to watch out for that, and you just want to check to make sure there aren’t any hydraulic leaks to protect the environment. You can look inside the lid once you open it up to make sure you don’t have any hydraulic leaks inside either once in a while, so just very minimal maintenance checks you could do every day before this thing leaves your facility or goes out to a job site you’re sending it to. Just basically make sure the thing looks like it’s going to work and it will work. The magnet is permanently charged at our facility and it won’t ever degrade, so there’s no operating cost outside of the initial purchase except for maybe replacing a hose once in a while.

All the parts are available for this sweeper on bluestreakequipment.com, and you can order from there, get fast shipping worldwide. So if you watched the video and you found this machine interesting, go to bluestreakequipment.com.