What Is a Cardboard Baler?

A cardboard baler is a piece of electronic equipment designed to crush and compact large amounts of cardboard into a single bale. This can be achieved in a few different ways, depending on the design of the machine, though the resulting bale is usually quite heavy and requires a forklift or pallet jack to move. Vertical balers are machines that are designed with an opening into which cardboard is placed, which can then be closed and a vertical press compacts it all into a bale. A horizontal cardboard baler is designed as a tunnel, into which cardboard is fed, which is then compacted by one or more horizontal presses.

Although there are a number of ways in which a cardboard baler can be designed, they are typically created to serve the same function. The basic purpose of this machine is to use one or more metal plates and a hydraulic arm that pushes the plate down on cardboard with tremendous pressure. A cardboard baler compacts the cardboard into a large, dense cube or rectangular box that is typically held together by its own internal pressure. This bale is then tied with metal wire to secure it together and placed on a pallet, allowing it to be moved through the use of a forklift or pallet jack.

One of the most common designs for a cardboard baler is referred to as a vertical baler, based on the movement of the arm and plate that crushes material within it. There are two different styles of vertical baler, which are referred to as either upstroke or downstroke. This is in reference to the direction in which the arm and plate within the cardboard baler move to crush boxes and other objects within it. These designs are quite popular in warehouses and similar areas in which space is at a premium, since they are typically taller than they are wide.

In contrast to this, a horizontal cardboard baler is usually a fairly long or wide machine that is not very tall. These devices have one or more metal plates and hydraulic arms that crush material together into a bale from the sides of the machine, rather than from the top or bottom. A few different designs for these balers are quite common, including open and closed models that can make the addition of material and removal of the bale easier or more difficult. There is typically a rating or description for a cardboard baler based on the number of tons of cardboard, a measurement equal to 2,000 pounds (over 907 kilograms), that a business needs to crush each day.