A baling press (or baler) is a machine that compresses things into bales. A well-known form is the baling of hay and straw into bales in agriculture, but there are also balers to bale paper, cardboard, tin, plastic, foil and general waste. Naturally, baling presses are most often used in waste processing and agriculture. The very first baling press was designed in 1936, after a long period of manually cutting hay and using forks to gather the grasses in sizes the ensure the susceptibility of the rotting procedure.
Waste baling press vs presses for agricultural purposes
In the waste industry, a baling press is used to reduce the volume of waste. It is also a common method
of separating recyclable materials from the rest of the waste. There are different types of press machines. From large and small balers, waste presses, briquette presses and container presses to bag presses. The most commonly used drive types are hydraulic, electro-mechanical or pneumatic. In the agricultural sector a baling press is used in the following manner. First, the machine picks up the hay or straw with the pick-up. It then enters the bale chamber where it is pressed into a large bale under high pressure. Finally, strong cords or a net are wrapped around this bale. When the bale is pressed to the desired dimensions, it is ejected from the bale chamber. Usually it is first wrapped with plastic foil so that the bale is airtight. This allows the grass to be stored for a long time, there is no rotting process, but a preservation process similar to silage grass. Just as with the waste baling press, there are multiple agricultural balers in the market. These are the following:
- round baler
- large rectangular baler
- small rectangular baler
First, the round baler is the most commonly used baling press around. This baler is mostly used for compressing grasses and hays and produces, as the name might already reveal, round bales. Because the bales can roll away on uneven grounds, they require some special attention when transporting and handling them. Large bales are difficult to move because of their heaviness which includes the necessity of moving equipment. Small bales on the other hand, are easily moved by hand. Second, the large rectangular baler compresses the materials into cubes, making them easy to transport and store vertically. Don’t underestimate their weight though, the large rectangular cubes produced by this baler can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms. The final type of balers overcomes this weight issue. The small rectangular baler produces bales that weigh up to 27 kilograms and are therefore most commonly used for compressing animal food.
industrial baling press
Finally, there are the industrial balers. This type of baling press is used to compress materials like plastic, paper and cans and are used to prepare material for recycling companies. These balers are designed to process materials into small, dense cubes that contain only one type of material. Thereafter, the cubes are tied by a thick wire pushed to exit the baler. If you are looking for the right type of baler to serve your purposes, there are many different suppliers of balers. These suppliers generally specialize in either hay balers (or other agricultural materials) or industrial balers. Therefore, it is wise to do some thorough research before conducting your purchase!
