Gantry Shear vs Alligator Shear: The Small-Yard Choice
The first cutting machine a scrap yard buys is often the wrong one, and the wrongness is almost always the same: an alligator shear bought for a material mix that needed a gantry, or a gantry bought for a yard that could not feed it. The two machines are not competing for the same job — they are answers to different questions, and the small-yard choice between them comes down to material, tonnage and how the yard loads. This article is the comparison from the small-yard side, using the published figures for the entry class and the two alligator models we build.
For the wider framework, the shear buying guide and the alligator buying guide cover each machine in full.
Two Machines, Two Jobs
The structural difference decides everything downstream. An alligator shear is a cantilever machine with a hinged jaw — the operator positions material by hand or with light lifting, and the cut is a bite at the jaw tip. A gantry shear is a portal frame with a vertically driven blade — material is pushed into the cutting zone by a hydraulic feed, clamped by a hold-down, and cut by the descending blade.
That difference produces three consequences a small yard should price before choosing:
- Feeding. The alligator is hand-fed piece by piece, which makes it flexible and makes throughput a function of crew stamina. The gantry is fed by excavator or grapple into a tank, which makes throughput a function of the loading equipment — equipment most yards already own.
- Consistency. The gantry produces uniform cut lengths on PLC presets, load after load. The alligator produces a clean cut whose length depends on the operator’s positioning.
- Labour. The Q91-200 gantry is a one-person machine with the excavator doing the loading. An alligator operation typically ties up an operator at the jaw plus the loading equipment.
Where the Alligator Wins
None of this makes the alligator the inferior machine — it makes it the right machine for a different operation. Our Q43-200 and Q43-250 alligator shears exist because plenty of operations genuinely suit them.
No foundation, no installation project. An alligator shear lands on a flat floor and runs. A gantry needs a foundation conversation, an electrical scope and an installation plan. For a yard that rents its space or expects to move, that difference is decisive.
Low capital outlay. The alligator class costs a fraction of a gantry, and for a yard whose material mix is light and whose volume is modest, that difference is the whole business case.
Mobility. Alligator shears move between sites. A gantry is a fixed installation — which is exactly what makes it a production machine.
Precision on small pieces. For cutting pipe, bar and profile to length in a workshop, the hand-fed jaw is often faster than setting up a gantry cycle — the operator simply positions and bites.
Where the Gantry Wins
The gantry answers when the operation has outgrown hand-feeding. Three signals say a small yard is ready:
Volume past what hand-feeding delivers. The Q91-200’s rated band is 20 to 40 tons per day with a 20 to 30 second cycle. A hand-fed operation plateaus well below that, and the plateau is the crew, not the machine.
Material that needs clamping. Bundles, flattened shells and anything that shifts during a cut belong on a gantry, where the hold-down cylinder locks the material before the blade descends.
A specification to sell to. If your buyer pays for uniform charge length, the PLC presets on a gantry produce it load after load; hand positioning produces it on a good day.
The Decision Table
| Your situation | Right machine |
|---|---|
| Light scrap, pipe and bar; workshop cutting to length; no foundation possible | Alligator shear (Q43-200 / Q43-250) |
| Mixed light ferrous, 20–40 t/day, one operator plus excavator, specification to sell to | Gantry shear (Q91-200) |
| Mixed feed with heavier sections, tonnage climbing past 40 a day | Q91-315 or Q91-400 |
The honest sequence for many yards is alligator first, gantry when the volume or the specification demand arrives. The alligator keeps its value doing light work while the gantry takes over the production duty — and the full range maps every gantry class from 200 to 2000 ton when the step is due.
The Questions That Settle It
- What is your daily tonnage, and who moves the material? Hand-fed operations plateau; excavator-fed operations scale. If you already own the loading equipment, the gantry’s labour case is already half-made.
- Does your buyer pay for a specification? Uniform charge length is a gantry output. If the answer is yes, the comparison is over.
- Can you pour a foundation and run a supply? If the site says no, the alligator answers regardless of volume — and the honest conversation is about the site, not the machine.
- What is the heaviest routine piece? Anything that shifts during a cut needs the hold-down, and the hold-down is a gantry feature.
The Transition Cost, Counted
Yards that hesitate over the gantry decision usually hesitate over the wrong number — the purchase price. The honest comparison includes what the alligator costs to run once the material has outgrown it: the crew minutes per load spent positioning heavy pieces, the pieces set aside and sold at a discount, and the specification the buyer stops paying a premium for. Those three numbers, run for a year, usually exceed the difference between the two machines — which is why the transition conversation is about the material log rather than about the budget.
The reverse count matters too. A gantry bought before the volume exists carries its own cost: installed power for tonnage the yard cannot feed, a foundation sized for duty the operation does not run, and a machine whose published band the yard sits below every shift. Both mistakes are avoided by the same discipline — log the material, log the throughput, and let the log pick the machine.
The Labour Case, Run for a Year
The one-person operation argument is the strongest commercial case the entry gantry has, and it deserves to be run as a number rather than accepted as a claim. One trained operator at the PLC station with the excavator handling loading, against a hand-fed setup that ties up an operator at the jaw plus the loading equipment. For a yard at 20 to 40 tons a day the difference is one to two full-time wages, every month, for the life of the machine — and over a decade that figure is larger than most of the differences buyers agonize over between classes. The Q91-200’s published configuration options show how the labour case and the power case interact at quotation.
The Foundation and Supply Reality
The gantry’s two site requirements are worth pricing before the comparison starts, because they are the two costs the alligator does not carry. The foundation is a civil works item — drawings to your contractor the week the order is placed, anchorage matched to the declared duty, and a schedule that usually runs alongside the build rather than after it. The supply is an electrical scope — voltage, frequency, spare kilowatts and the starting method, confirmed with your electrician in writing before the build. Neither is a reason to choose the alligator if the material says gantry; both are reasons to start the site work early, because in practice the site work sets the installation timeline rather than the factory.
The Excavator You Already Own
The gantry’s labour case rests on an assumption worth checking early: the yard already owns the loading equipment. Most do — an excavator or grapple working the yard is standard, and the Q91-200 is designed to be fed by exactly that machine. Where the assumption fails — no loading equipment, or one shared across three jobs — the gantry’s one-person case weakens and the comparison with the alligator shifts. Check the loading equipment before the comparison starts, because the machine that feeds the shear decides the shear’s throughput as much as the shear does.
Buyer FAQ
Can an alligator shear do a gantry’s job?
At a fraction of the throughput, with hand-feeding, and without uniform cut length. For light workshop work it is the better tool; for production duty it is the wrong one.
Is the Q91-200 really a one-person machine?
Yes — one trained operator at the PLC station, with an excavator or grapple handling loading. That is the labour case that most small yards feel first.
What can the Q43 alligators cut?
Pipe, bar, profile and light section — the workshop and light-yard material mix. For the material boundaries of each model, the alligator guide covers both models in detail.
Does the gantry need a foundation?
Yes — foundation drawings go to your contractor the week the order is placed, with anchorage matched to the duty. If the site cannot take one, that is the honest answer for the alligator.
What if my volume sits between the two?
Send us the tonnage, the material mix and the heaviest routine piece. The quotation comes back within two business days with the honest recommendation — which sometimes is the alligator, and sometimes the gantry class you did not ask about.
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