# Can Crushers



## Oldmechthings (Jan 23, 2008)

Almost every large antique machinery show that I attended there was at least one person with some kind of an aluminum can crushing machine that they had built in order to give their faithfully restored old antique engine something useful (?) to do. Is it any wonder that I should want one too. Except I had some different thoughts on powering it. I envisioned a lot of potential power going to waste in spectators who were walking around looking at the exhibits. So I proceeded to build a crusher designed around a crank wheel that I had acquired at an estate sale of a deceased friend. He had been a florist and the crank wheel had been used to open and close the ventilators on his greenhouse. Shown below is a couple grandsons giving the crusher it's initial testing and workout after being completed.








My theory was correct. Spectators would stand in line to get a turn at turning the wheel and crushing a can or two. And when I would run out of empty cans they would bring their own. Conditions have not changed. We still have the crusher here at the house and people come just to crush cans. We do not even drink canned pop, but friends and neighbors do, and keep us well supplied with empty cans.
Then our son in law, one of those computer programmer guru guys, thought that they ought to have a crusher at the office where he worked. Apparently programming takes a "Lot" of brain food which pop provides. Only he wanted one with an electric motor on it, so I obliged. Being conservative and not wanting to over power it, I fitted it with an old sewing machine motor, as seen below.






His machine has some ups and downs. The down side is, that it takes about 3/4ths of a minute to cycle through crushing one can. While the motor and belt is whoring, the gears, grinding away, the crank and ratchets clicking and the can crinkling and moaning under all that pressure, all in syncopation.
The up side is, that it is very entertaining to those who are mechanically defunct while it is doing it.
     Birk


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## mklotz (Jan 23, 2008)

Birk,

I see that you trained at the never-use-one-part-when-ten-will-do design school. 

You've just got to get some videos of those (especially the electric one) up on this board.

Your next task, should you wish to accept it, is to add a die to whatever ram does the crushing to press a suitable design into the crushed can so the spectators can carry them away as souvenirs.


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## Kactiguy (Jan 23, 2008)

Here is a video of Birk's crusher powered my 5(yrs old)hp son.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOYxvsnvAUo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOYxvsnvAUo[/ame]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOYxvsnvAUo[/youtube]
And another view powered by my 12 hp son.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujcJkJs_smY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujcJkJs_smY[/ame]


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## BobWarfield (Jan 23, 2008)

Can crushers are cool. Someone had one on HSM (I think?) that was quite automated with a feeder slot you dropped 'em into.

I was briefly in an interesting discussion about a chip compactor one time. It turns out that with a hydraulic press you can compact chips to hockey pucks that make them easier to recycle or at least dispose of. I did a drawing:






The idea was to create something you could dump chips in the top of, compact with a regular H-Frame press, and get a hockey puck from.

Cheers,

BW


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## Hexbasher (Jan 26, 2008)

whats wrong with a forehead and the palm of ones hand????


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## BobWarfield (Jan 26, 2008)

First the organziation post and now this one. Tatoo, I'm begin to understand your thinking. It's scary! LOL

BW


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