Car Balers, Made in Italy
Car Crusher, Flattener or Baler?
Roter RR5 / RR6 · 15–20 t/h on ELV
Car Crusher, Flattener or Car Baler: Which Machine Do You Need?
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“Car crusher” is the everyday name for any machine that reduces end-of-life vehicles in volume, but the trade uses three distinct machines: a car flattener presses a shell into a flat slab, a logger compresses it into a long log, and a car baler compacts it into a dense, square-ended bale.
Each output travels and sells differently. Roter builds car balers: the RR5/RR6, designed and built in Ferrara, Italy, bales end-of-life vehicles at 15–20 tonnes per hour.
One Search Term, Three Different Machines
Ask ten yard owners what a car crusher is and you will hear three answers. The confusion matters, because the machine you buy decides the product you sell, how many tonnes fit on a truck, and which buyers will take it.
| Machine | What it produces | What it means for the yard |
|---|---|---|
| Car flattener | A flat slab, crushed from above | Quick to process, but the slabs remain wide and light for their footprint, so trucks fill by volume before weight |
| Logger (logger baler) | A long, compressed log | Denser than a slab; the log format suits buyers and shredder feeds set up for it |
| Car baler | A dense, regular bale | Stackable, easy to handle and load by weight; bales can be sized for mill charging |
The descriptions above are general industry definitions, not specifications of any competitor’s machine. The right choice always depends on what your buyer accepts.
Why Roter Chose the Baler
Roter’s engineers start from a simple observation: what a dismantler really sells is tonnes delivered. A dense, regular bale fills a truck by weight, not by volume, stacks safely in the yard and arrives at the mill in a consistent shape that is easier to price. That is why the RR5/RR6 offers two working programmes, Dense Bale for maximum payload and Bale for Mills for bales sized to steel mill charging.
A car shell resists compression unevenly, and most of all at the end of the stroke. Instead of two cylinders, Roter uses three, positioned asymmetrically to concentrate force where the shell pushes back hardest. The outcome: tighter, more uniform bales and a load shared across the structure. The engineering behind it.
The RR5/RR6 at a Glance
- Throughput: 15–20 t/h on end-of-life vehicles; 8–14 t/h on vans and light mixed scrap.
- Box length: 5 m on the RR5, 6 m on the RR6.
- No foundation in any configuration: fixed, roll-on/roll-off, semi-mobile or mounted on a three-axle trailer. See the mobile car baler options.
- Power: Perkins or CAT diesel as standard, 75 kW electric motor on request, 90 kW option.
- One operator with radio remote control and a 7″ or 10″ touch screen.
- All metals: it bales ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, so one press can handle the whole metal output of a typical dismantling yard.
From Depollution to Dispatch
Whatever you call the machine, it sits at the end of a chain: depollution, parts recovery, then volume reduction.
For the full workflow, read End-of-life vehicle (ELV) processing: choosing the right baler for automotive recycling, and see how dense bales cut freight in how balers reduce transport emissions.
PRODUCT BROCHURE & EXTRA INFORMATION
Request a Quote for Your Car Baler
Tell us how many vehicles you process, what your buyer expects to receive and where you work. Our engineers will recommend the RR5 or RR6 configuration for your yard.
Prefer not to use the form, or can’t see it? Send your details through our quote request page and our engineers will reply with a tailored proposal.
Car Crusher: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a car crusher and a car baler?
“Car crusher” is a general term. A car flattener crushes a shell into a flat slab, while a car baler compacts it into a dense, regular bale that stacks well and fills a truck by weight.
What is a car logger?
A logger, or logger baler, compresses car bodies and light scrap into long logs rather than square-ended bales. Roter does not build loggers; its RR5/RR6 is a car baler.
How many tonnes per hour can the Roter RR5/RR6 process?
15–20 tonnes per hour on end-of-life vehicles and 8–14 tonnes per hour on vans and light mixed scrap, according to Roter’s published data. Real output depends on vehicle mix and feeding.
Does the RR5/RR6 need a foundation?
No. It needs no foundation in any configuration, whether fixed, roll-on/roll-off, semi-mobile or trailer-mounted.