315 Ton Scrap Metal Shear vs 200T and 400T
Three classes cover most of the small and mid-size scrap market: the 200, the 315 and the 400. Buyers routinely agonize between them, and the agonizing is almost always about the wrong variable. Tonnage pride pushes up; budget pulls down; and the actual deciding factor — the heavy tail of your material distribution — rarely gets counted. This article puts the Q91-315 side by side with the Q91-200 below it and the Q91-400 above it, using the published figures for each class, and gives you the counting exercise that settles the choice in an afternoon.
The Three Classes on One Table
| Specification | Q91-200 | Q91-315 | Q91-400 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rated force | 200 ton | 315 ton | 400 ton |
| Typical output | 20–40 t/day | 25–45 t/day | 35–55 t/day |
| Continuous cutting | Light duty (under 30 mm plate) | 30 mm plate | 40 mm plate |
| Occasional cutting | ~60 mm sections | 50 mm plate | 55 mm plate |
| Duty | One-person, small yards | Two-shift, growing yards | Commercial yards, mixed ferrous |
| Feeding tank | 4 / 4.5 / 5 m | Configured at quotation | Configured at quotation |
| Power options | Electric / generator / diesel | Electric / generator / diesel | Electric / generator / diesel |
Everything above the double line is published data; everything below it is configuration your quotation decides. The pattern to notice: output bands overlap heavily, and the classes are separated less by tonnage than by duty and material boundary. The 200 is a one-person machine for light scrap. The 315 is a two-shift machine for mixed feed. The 400 is a commercial machine for steady sections and plate. Those are three different operations, not three sizes of the same one.
What Actually Changes When You Step Up
Buyers expect the step up to be “more power.” It is not, primarily. Three things change, and only one of them is force.
Duty rating. The build is specified against the shift pattern and feed you declare. A 315 quoted for two shifts on mixed feed has frame, seal and hydraulic specifications the single-shift entry class does not carry. This is the change that matters most and shows up least on a price sheet.
Material boundary. Continuous cutting moves from the entry class’s light-duty band to 30 mm at the 315 and 40 mm at the 400; occasional work moves with it. If your weekly feed includes plate in the 30 to 40 mm range, that row — not the force rating — is what disqualifies the class below.
The yard around the machine. Crane scheduling, blade planning with the regrind cycle inside the week, discharge handling at shift change. The bigger classes assume more of the operation is already in place, and buyers who have not built that yet discover the yard is the constraint rather than the machine.
The Counting Exercise That Settles It
Here is the method we walk buyers through at quotation, and you can run it yourself this week.
- List your heaviest routine pieces. Not the heaviest piece you have ever seen — the heaviest pieces that show up in a normal month. Write down their cross-sections and rough weights.
- Mark the ones that exceed each class’s continuous rating. Plate over 30 mm disqualifies the 200 for daily duty. Plate over 40 mm disqualifies the 315.
- Count frequency, not weight. Weekly heavy events mean the heavy material is part of your business; monthly events mean it is an exception. Size for weekly events; configure blades for monthly ones.
- Check your daily tonnage against the bands. Under 40 a day with light feed, the 200 holds. Forty to fifty with mixed feed, the 315. Past fifty with sections and plate, the 400 — and past eighty with continuous HMS, the 630.
- Declare your shift pattern honestly. The build that comes back should match the shifts you actually run, not the ones you plan to run after the machine pays for itself.
Most yards that complete this exercise land one class higher than their budget assumed and one class lower than their ambition assumed. That is the exercise working correctly.
Three Yards, Three Right Answers
Concrete cases make the abstraction easier.
The small yard. Rebar, light profile, occasional flattened shells, 20 to 30 tons a day, one operator, one excavator. The right machine is a well-configured 200, and stepping up to a 315 buys capacity the yard cannot feed. Our 200-ton guide covers the material boundaries in detail.
The growing yard. Mixed intake with weekly plate in the 30 mm range and sections that push past light duty, two shifts planned inside a year, tonnage climbing through 40. This is the 315’s home turf: the duty rating matches the shift plan, the boundary matches the heavy tail, and the machine does not need replacing when the yard grows into it.
The commercial yard. Steady sections, plate routine past 40 mm, dealers and processors buying loose and selling sized, tonnage through 50 a day. The 400 is the machine, and the 400-ton trading-operation guide covers the margin logic that justifies it.
The Honest Recommendation Rule
Our advice at quotation is deliberately conservative, and it cuts both ways: we will talk a buyer down from a stretched purchase as readily as up from an undersized one. A correctly sized machine outlasts an undersized one by years, and an oversized one costs power, floor space and purchase price every day it runs below its band. The full range from 200 to 2000 ton exists because operations genuinely differ — and the quotation you get back will name the class your numbers support, in writing, whether or not it is the one you asked about.
Installation and Power: What Changes With the Class
All three classes share the same electrical logic and differ in scale. Each is configurable for the voltages your site actually has, with the starting method agreed with your electrician before the build — and the motor ratings climb with the class, so the spare-kilowatt question gets more serious at each step up. A yard that could start a 200 on existing capacity may need a supply conversation for a 400.
Foundation work is the other scaling factor. The gantry frame carries the reaction force of every cut into the floor, and the anchorage specification follows the force class and the duty you declared. Foundation drawings go to your contractor the week the order is placed, with anchorage matched to the duty rather than to the brochure — and the drawings are the same documents your electrician uses for the supply route, so both trades work from one sheet. In practice, foundation and electrical work at your end usually sets the installation timeline rather than the factory, which is why the site work is worth starting before the machine ships.
Transport planning scales too. A 200-class machine and a 400-class machine are different logistics exercises — different crate dimensions, different weights, different route constraints into the yard. Confirm the route the machine will travel into the building at quotation, with the crate dimensions in hand, rather than discovering a constraint at the port.
A Note on Used Machines at This Size
Buyers comparing these three classes often ask whether a used 400 beats a new 315. Sometimes it does — a well-maintained machine with documented blade and hydraulic history is a legitimate purchase, and the inspection points matter more than the badge. Check the frame for weld repairs, the hydraulic system for oil condition and pump wear, the blade seats for damage, and the control system for a service history you can actually read. What a used machine rarely comes with is the configuration conversation: the duty rating, blade spec and power package that a new build is quoted against. If you buy used, buy the inspection report with it, and budget the wear parts as a known cost rather than a surprise.
Buyer FAQ
My tonnage is 40 a day — 200 or 315?
Depends on the heavy tail. If plate over 30 mm or heavy sections show up weekly, the 315. If they are monthly exceptions on light feed, a well-configured 200 holds.
Does the 315 need more power than the 200?
Motor configuration is quoted against your site supply and duty in both classes. Send voltage, frequency and spare kilowatts with the inquiry and the electrical scope is confirmed in writing before the build.
Is the 400 worth the step over the 315?
If your routine feed includes plate over 40 mm or tonnage is past 50 a day, yes — the boundary rows decide it, not the force badge.
Can I start on a 200 and trade up later?
Machines hold value, but there is no trade-in program. Size for the operation you will run in year three, not the one you run today — the duty conversation at quotation exists for exactly this.
What is continuous versus occasional cutting?
Continuous is your daily diet — the material the machine processes shift after shift. Occasional is what it takes when the day allows, without becoming the assignment. Sizing to the occasional rating is how buyers end up fighting their machine every shift.