Magnetic + Mechanical + Sensor Based Sorting & Cleaning Solutions
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Skid steers and track loaders are one of the most versatile pieces of equipment that money can buy, manufacturers offer countless attachments and accessories for them to increase their effectiveness across more situations and tasks. This includes skid steer magnets. There are permanently charged skid steer sweeper magnets offered by Bluestreak Equipment which are best suited to clear large spaces of small to medium sized metal debris that may even be embedded in dirt, as they can be ordered with debris digging rakes that dislodge metal that may be stuck in the ground. Another option for magnetic power on a skid steer is electromagnets, these are typically best suited for picking up and moving large chunks of scrap metal and transferring it between points. These electromagnets are generally for handling larger pieces of metal that are already in piles, like in scrap yards or recycling depots. See the following to learn more about the pros and cons of each type of magnet for skid steer / track loaders.
Requires auxiliary hydraulic power, better for sweeping larger areas and dumping into a dumpster or bin, larger magnetic field to pick up nails from up to 16” away but lower holding power than electro magnets so they are not ideal for scrap metal transfer but great for sweeping rough surfaces as they come with debris digging rakes which dislodge metal that is stuck underground. Picks up metal from greater distances than electromagnets and drops metal into a neat pile when cleaned off using hydraulics to separate the collected debris from the magnet’s field.
So, I’ve shown the clean-off system in the debris pan already on this Sunda magnet, but here’s going to be a little closer view of it. We just got a couple balls on the ground, so it’s not going to be so violent when it cleans off, but it’s picking them up. We got the magnet set at—it’s got to be 7 or 8 inches off the ground, which is really not what we recommend to do.
And it’s still picking up these 20-mil balls, so that’s the amount of pickup performance you’re going to get with this magnetic sweeper. This thing is 7 or 8 inches off the ground easily—maybe 6, I can’t tell from here—but it’s pretty high off the ground, and look at the collection it picks up from that. And there’s your clean-off. That’s just all that is: big hydraulic ram, you can see there, pushing against a giant lever, and that swings your pan down, cleans everything off for you.
So, this is run off auxiliary hydraulics. With anything that’s hydraulic, you get a little bit more—well, rather than our stuff that’s purely mechanical, there is the consideration of having to inspect your hydraulic hoses and make sure your hydraulics actually work. So, there’s your pile you can get with the magnet 7 inches off the ground. They kind of all stick to each other at that point. And then there’s the clean-off. You can see when the balls are on there, it cleans off a ton faster than if there’s nothing on it, because that ram is actually building up pressure and releasing it, kind of like a shot. So, it does drop them in a pretty neat pile, but they do kind of fly out.
So, you see it again here. He’s going to just click hydraulics, and there you go. So, that’s the clean-off of the Sunda magnetic sweeper. It’s just run off your auxiliary hydraulics, hooked up right there. There’s male and female standard adapter plugs, and that allows you to just drop everything in a nice controlled pile. You don’t have to worry about things flying all over the place too much, and it’s a good demonstration of magnetic power here—about all the balls that thing’s actually going to hold before it starts running out of juice. So, it will vary between the size of balls. I believe smaller balls, you’ll be able to fit more on there just because you can pack them tighter, but these 20-mil ones—we’re going to wait in a little bit and see how much, how many pounds of 20-mil balls it’ll actually hold
No hydraulic power required, best for sweeping large areas and dumping collected debris into a pile or bin, they feature bigger magnetic fields to collect nails up to 12.5” away from the magnet with lower holding power compared to scrap magnets for skid steers so they are not ideal for scrap metal transfer but great for sweeping large areas. Can be outfitted with debris digging rakes to help dislodge metal that may be stuck underground. Picks up metal from greater distances than electromagnets. Drops metal off into scattered pile by swinging magnet assembly away from debris pan using gravity.
Higher Gauss than permanent ceramic magnets, auxiliary hydraulic power required for operation. Not Ideal for sweeping as they don’t generally have a lot of sweeping width or large magnetic field, so the magnet needs to be close to the metal you are trying to collect which can be difficult to accomplish as the magnets generally hang on chains and swing, making it difficult to control where you are sweeping. These types of track loader magnet attachments are best for transferring large metal between piles and dumpsters like you would find in the processing section of recycling facilities rather than pulling metal out from large open spaces like in a landfill.
No hydraulic power required, machine needs a charging system capable of powering the magnet without overloading the alternator or battery. Duty cycles limit how long you can keep the magnet powered for but they are very easy to install. Not ideal for sweeping large areas since the magnetic field is smaller than the equivalently sized Ceramic C8 magnet so the magnet needs to be very close to the metal you are trying to pick up. Electromagnets are best suited for separating metal from other materials in piles, like pulling rebar out of a pile of crushed concrete after demolition.
We often get calls from people who are looking for a magnet to move scrap metal with their skid steer or track loader. Bluestreak’s larger models like the Sunda and Sokoke are very powerful and can pick up hundreds of pounds of metal at once, but that is not what they were designed to do. These skid steer sweeper magnets are generally built to stay close to the skid steer’s wheelbase to increase stability which doesn’t lend itself well to moving big piles of metal back and forth like a chained setup that is extended out in front of the machine would. Conversely, the width of Bluestreak skid steer magnet attachments lends itself to picking up metal in large areas quickly whereas electromagnets built to move scrap are narrow and tend to be unstable when moving the track loader or skid steer so they are not optimal for travelling quickly and sweeping. So, while both of these types of magnets (permanent and electromagnets) can do either task, using a scrap magnet to sweep large areas is like using a splitting maul to clear branches on a trail instead of a machete. On the other hand, using a permanently charged magnetic sweeper to move scrap is like using a snow shovel to dig a hole in your yard. Both are possible but its not the best tool for the job.
Bluestreak Equipment manufactures magnetic sweepers specifically designed for many industries and vehicles. This many options can be overwhelming so we have put together a guide to point you in the right direction.
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