Q91Y or Q43: which shear fits your yard
Most buyers start by looking for “a shear”. The two families that come up first — gantry shears and alligator shears — do different jobs at different scales, and buying the wrong family is more expensive than buying the wrong model within the right one.
What each machine actually does
A gantry shear (Q91Y series) is a fixed installation with a loading table. Material is pushed into the shear head, held by a clamping system and cut by a horizontal blade against a bed knife. Because the table is long and the force is high, it takes bulky, awkward scrap: car bodies, structural steel, plate, mixed yard material.
An alligator shear (Q43 series) works like a giant pair of scissors. A moving blade pivots down onto a fixed bed knife. It is compact, often has a short conveyor or feed table, and is usually fed with smaller, prepared material.
The comparison that matters
| Gantry shear | Alligator shear | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical feed | Bulky, mixed, long sections | Pre-cut sections, bar, pipe, sheet |
| Loading | Table + grab or magnet | Manual, conveyor or small grab |
| Cut length limit | Blade length, up to 2,000 mm | Usually shorter, material may need pre-cutting |
| Footprint | Large — table, foundation, approach | Compact |
| Power | 48–333 kW across the Q91Y range | Typically far lower |
| Best for | Yards processing mixed heavy scrap daily | Workshops, smaller volumes, prepared feed |
Four questions that decide it
1. What is the longest piece you handle?
If it is longer than the blade, an alligator shear will not take it without pre-cutting. That pre-cutting is labour you pay for every day.
2. What is your daily volume?
Low and steady suits an alligator shear. High volume with awkward material pushes you to a gantry, because the table and the loading method — not just the force — set the throughput.
3. How will you load it?
A gantry shear expects a grab or magnet feeding the table. If you have no material handler, the machine will sit idle and your cost per tonne climbs.
4. What does the material go into next?
Shear output feeds a baler, a shredder or a mill. If the downstream step needs a specific size, size the shear to that — not to the biggest number on the datasheet.
The mistake we see most often
Buying on shearing force alone. A 6,300 kN machine with a 1,600 mm blade and a 6,300 kN machine with an 1,800 mm blade are the same “size” on paper and different machines in the yard. The blade length, the table length and the loading method decide how many tonnes you actually process in a shift.
That is why our selection note is written around material and output, with the model as the conclusion rather than the starting point.
Common questions
Can one machine do both jobs?
Not well. A gantry shear can cut small material, but it is slow and wasteful for it. A yard that handles both usually runs a gantry for bulky scrap and keeps a smaller machine for prepared stock.
Do I need a foundation for a gantry shear?
Yes — a reinforced base sized to the machine. The layout drawing comes with the machine; the civil work is local. Plan it before the container arrives, not after.
What if my volume grows?
Buy the table and the blade length you will need in two years, not the force. Force is easy to oversell; table and blade are what constrain throughput.
Let’s put the right machine to work.
Tell us your material, required output and destination. We’ll discuss a suitable configuration with you.