Can Crusher Project 1 -1

8/11/2019 Can Crusher Project 1 -1

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Can

CrusherProject

4t

Period- Tech

Kartikey Desai, CourtneyJones, Sarah Kasi, and JonKo



Table of Contents

Section Page #

Group Development……………………………………………………………………..…… ..3

Roles and Responsibilities……………………………………………………….…… ..3

Team Constitution………………………………………………………………..……. .3

Timeline………………………………………………………………………………………. ..4-5

Problem Statement…………………………………………………………………………… ..6

Background………………………………………………………………………….…………. 6

Customers………………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Scope……………………………………………………………………………………….… ...6-7

Deliverables……………………………………………………………………………………..7

Brainstorming………………………………………………………………………...………...8

Research and Generate Ideas……………………………………………………….………9-12

Resear ch………………………………………………………………………………9-11

Calculations…………………………………………………………………………11 -12

Criteria and Constraints…………………………………………………………….……… 12

Explore Possibilities………………………………………………………………….…… 13-19

Designs…………………………………………………...…………………………..13-16

Method of Bonding………………………………………………………………….17-18

Nuts…………………………………………………………………………………..18-19

Bolts…..……………………………………………………………………………......19



Selecting an Approach……………………………………………………………………… 20-22

Designs………………………………………………………………………………….20

Adhesives…………………………………………………………………………….…21

Bolts…..…………………………………………………………………………….......21

Nuts……………………………………………………………………………………..22

Developing a Design Proposal…………………………………………………………..….23-26

Bill of Materials………………………………………………………………………….23

Build Process…………………….………………….………………………………..24-26

Test Plan…………………………………………………...……………………………..27

Prototype………………………………………………………………………………………... 28

Test and Monitor………………………………………………...........………………………..29

Refine…………………………………………………………………………………………… 30

Lessons Learned………………………………………………………………………………... 30

Summary……………………………………………………………………………………….. 31

CAD Drawings……..……………………………………………………………………......32-55



Group Development

Role Person Responsibility

Leader Courtney Jones

Keep everyone on task and

assign assignments

Scribe Kartikey DesaiWrite documents and keep

notes of everything

Scribe Sarah KasiWrite documents and keep

notes of everything

Timekeeper Jon Ko

Keep us on schedule and tells

us where we are in our

timeline

Team Constitution

Rules, Regulations, and Expectations

1.

All team members should respect each other and the ideas that are shared.

2. All team members must do work.

3. All team members must help in the building process of the can crusher.

4. We must be open to working outside of class.

5. We must stay on task and focused at ALL TIMES.

6. Everyone MUST put forth their maximum effort.

7. No one dominates the team.

8. All team members must STAY POSITIVE.



4

TimelineCan Crusher

Project Timeline

Group Members: Kartikey Desai, Courtney Jones, Sarah Kasi, Jon Ko Note: All work documented by team scribes or individual task owner

Plan Date Act. Date

Start Comp Start Comp

Who's

Responsible Task

21-

Mar

22-

Mar

21-

Mar

23-

Mar Jon Start and finish timeline

21-

Mar

21-

Mar

20-

Mar

20-

Mar Courtney Group development and team constitution

21-

Mar

21-

Mar

20-

Mar

21-

Mar Sarah Problem Statement

21-

Mar

21-

Mar

21-

Mar

21-

Mar Sarah Background

21-Mar

21-Mar

21-Mar

21-Mar Courtney Customers

21-

Mar

22-

Mar

21-

Mar

21-

Mar Courtney Scope

21-

Mar

21-

Mar

21-

Mar

21-

Mar Sarah Deliverables

21-

Mar

21-

Mar

21-

Mar

21-

Mar Team Brainstorming

22-

Mar

25-

Mar

19-

Mar 6-Apr Team Research and Generate Ideas

22-

Mar

24-

Mar

19-

Mar

25-

Mar Sarah Overall & Aluminum Can Bin22-

Mar

24-

Mar

19-

Mar

25-

Mar Courtney Lever & Base

25-

Mar

25-

Mar 5-Apr 6-Apr

Sarah and

Courtney Can Crusher Calculations

22-

Mar

22-

Mar

21-

Mar

22-

Mar Kartikey Criteria and Constraints

28-

Mar

29-

Mar

24-

Mar

29-

Mar Team Explore Possibilities

28-

Mar

29-

Mar

24-

Mar

29-

Mar Team Select an Approach

2-Apr12-Apr

28-Mar

11-Apr Team Develop a Design Proposal

2-Apr 3-Apr 1-Apr 1-Apr Sarah Test Plan

2-Apr 5-Apr

14-

Apr

14-

Apr

Sarah and

Courtney Build Process

5-Apr 8-Apr

14-

Apr

14-

Apr

Sarah and

Courtney Bill of Materials

28- 2- 28- 2- Jon and Kartikey CAD Drawings



Mar May Mar May

28-

Mar

17-

Apr

28-

Mar

15-

Apr Jon and Kartikey Bin with Inclined plane

18-

Apr

20-

Apr

18-

Apr

19-

Apr Jon Ko Self-Loading Mechanism

21-Apr

29-Apr

21-Apr

24-Apr Jon Ko Crushing Mechanism

28-

Apr

29-

Apr

25-

Apr

27-

Apr Kartikey Frame

28-

Apr

29-

Apr

21-

Apr

25-

Apr

Jon Ko and

Kartikey Make A-Size for Individual Parts of Bin

29-

Apr

2-

May

29-

Apr

2-

May

Jon Ko and

Kartikey

Make A-Size for Crushing Mechanism &

Frame

4-

May

4-

May

4-

May

5-

May Team Get CAD Drawings checked by Mr. Pritchard

5-

May

18-

May

5-

May

20-

May Team Prototype

5-

May

5-

May

5-

May

10-

May Team Bin

6-

May

9-

May

10-

May

20-

May Team Self-Loading Mechanism

10-

May

11-

May

10-

May

16-

May Team Frame

12-

May

17-

May

12-

May

16-

May Team Crushing Mechanism(Lever)

17-

May

18-

May

5-

May

5-

May Team Prototype section in tech report

17-

May

20-

May

22-

May

23-

May Team Refine

20-

May

21-

May

28-

Apr

23-

May Team Lessons Learned

20-

May

21-

May

19-

May

23-

May Team Summary

18-

Mar

22-

May

18-

Mar

23-

May Team Tech Report

22-

Mar

22-

May

18-

Mar

24-

May Team PowerPoint

25-

May 1-Jun Team Presentation



Problem Statement

Roadrunner Trucking wants us to build a can crusher that will reduce the volume of their

aluminum cans.

Background

We work for Alpha Engineering Company, and Roadrunner Trucking has contacted us

because they have a lot of aluminum can wastes. In order to reduce the waste, we were asked to

create a can crusher that will reduce the volume of the aluminum cans by seventy percent. If they

do not find a way to reduce the volume of these cans they will have to pay a fine of $0.05 per

can.

Can crushers are primarily used to save space and recycling. Can crushers make it possible to

make small stackable piles that save space. There are many designs that can crushers come in.

Some of the designs are pneumatic, hydraulic, aluminum, and wood. Jesse M. Wright was the

man who invented the aluminum can crusher in 1937, but he did not get it patented until August

30, 1938.

Customers

Our two customers are Mr. Pritchard, our ITC instructor, and Roadrunner Trucking Company.

Scope

Our task for this project is to design and create a can crusher that will minimize the

volume of aluminum cans by 70%. The can crusher will be made up of various parts including a

lever, body, and aluminum bin. Sarah and I will be documenting all of the work we do in the

designing and building to create our technical report. We will be composing a Power Point that

will be presented during class. We will be turning in our can crusher, technical report, and Power

Point presentation to Mr. Pritchard at the close of the project.

We will be utilizing different resources throughout the project to successfully complete

our research. We also have the privilege to utilize the following individuals:

Technical – Mr. Pritchard



Math Calculations – Miss Hernacki

CAD Drawings – Mr. Hund

The materials that we will be using for this project are wood, PVC, metal brackets, metal

hinges, screws, and nails. In addition, we will also use many shop tools including the band saw,

claw hammer (to go with nails), drill press / hand held portable electric drill, and sander. Theapproximate cost of all the material we will need to purchase is $40.

The key constraints given by our customers are:

Maximum space of 18”×24”×30”

Minimum of one simple machine

Aluminum can must fall into the aluminum can bin once crushed

Aluminum can bin must slide in and out of crusher

Aluminum can bin must hold 20 uncrushed cans

Design must be one unit

Must be manually operated

All parts must be made not bought

There are a few conflicts we have with meeting outside of class. Kartikey and Jon Ko are in

tennis so it will be hard for all four of us to meet after school due to their practices. Another issue

we will face is meeting during study hall. Sarah and Jon Ko do not have a study hall throughout

the week. Also, Courtney and Kartikey do not have study hall during the same period, so they

cannot work together; they can only work by themselves. Other than that,we have no issues inmeeting outside of school.

Deliverables

At the end of this project we will give our customers 3 different outputs.

The 3 outputs are the can crusher, technical report, and PowerPoint presentation. The can crusher

will be composed of the lever, body, and aluminum can bin. The technical report will take us

through the 12-step design process and it will contain our final CAD drawings. The PowerPoint

presentation will be a complete overview of our whole project



Brainstorming

Overall:

o What adhesive should we use? Wood glue? Hot glue? Super glue?

o Will the can crusher be operated by hand or foot?

Aluminum Can Bin:

o What material should it be made of? (Wood?)

o What size should it be?

o

How thick should the material be? (Does it matter?)

o If we can make it hold more than 20 crushed cans, should we? (Or would that be a

waste of material?)

o Should it be really tall but narrow? Wide but flat? Square sides like a cube?

o How will it slide in and out of the crusher? (Like a drawer?)

o Will we need a handle in order to slide it out of the crusher?

o Do we need to do anything specifically so that it smoothly slides out of the

crusher? (Or would this be a waste of material?)

Lever:

o What material(s) should it be made of?

o

What other parts will we need to get? Metal hinges? Screws?o How thick should the material be? (Does it matter?)

o How big / long should it be?

o The longer the lever is, the less input force is required. Is there a way we can

mathematically calculate the length of the lever so that too much input force is not

required to crush the can to 30% its original size?

Base:

o What material should it be made of? (Wood?)

o How big will it be?

o Should we make it so that it could hold something bigger than the size of a

standard aluminum can, or would that be a waste of material?



Research and Development

Overall

o Potential methods of attaching the parts are: wood glue, super glue, hot glue, duct

tape, and screw and nails. Hot glue will be messy, and will not be as strong as the

other potential solutions. Screw and nails will require the use of a drill. Screws

and nails are mess free and do not take drying time. The downside to screws and

nails are that if a mistake is made, it is hard to fix since the holes cannot be filled.

Wood glue and superglue are both fairly strong and will take around 15second to

dry. Wood glue is stronger, and is cheaper. Superglue is strong, but can be messy

and costs more for the quantity we will need.

o

Manual can crushers can be operated by either hand or foot. There are a variety of

different types of can crushers. All of our designs are different, but they are all

hand operated. Designs that require more input force are generally crushed by

foot, and can crushers that require very little input force (such as crushers with

long levers) are operated by hand.

Aluminum Can Bin

o It would be ideal to make it using wood. It can be made of other materials such as

metal, but that would be more difficult and cost more.o The exact size depends on the design. It should be capable of holding 20 crushed

cans. (This can be calculated by finding the volume.) But making it so it holds

way more than 20 crushed cans would be a waste of material. Also, it should fit

in the 18” x 24” x 30” requirement.

o The material thickness will depend on what they have at the store, although,

Home Depot has a variety of wood thicknesses. It should be thick enough so that

it is sturdy, but not too thick that it is both a waste of material and space. 1/2” to

3/4" thick is acceptable.

o The aluminum can bin can slide out of the base like a drawer, but there do not

need to special appliances that help it slide smoothly (that would be a waste of

material).



1

o A handle on the aluminum can bin would be most ideal, to pull the bin out of the

base since it is going to slide out like a drawer. However, the handle should be

designed big enough to fit an adult’s hand, but also as small as possible so save

material. (If using wood, the handle will have to be sanded a lot to prevent

splinters.)

o Although not required on the aluminum can bin, metal brackets would make the

bin more sturdy. If using metal brackets, we must be careful when dimensioning

both the bin and base.

Lever

o The lever should be made of metal, wood, or aluminum. Plastic would not work

because it is not sturdy enough to exert that much pressure. Wood seems to be the

best option. It is highly available in a variety of sizes, and our customers will let

us use wood. In addition, it will be strong enough and easy to work with.

o The material should be thick so it can stand against a lot of force. 3/3” to 1” thick

is the minimum. 2” by 4” wood is a potential option.

o The lever should be long, not short, so we can use less input force. Since it is a

simple machine, the longer the lever, the less force required.

o Depending on the design, the lever may require other parts such as hinges. Metal

hinges, such as the ones that are in doors, are easily available.

Base

o The materials that we are allowed to use for the base are wood, aluminum, plastic,

and metal to construct the base of the can crusher.

o The size of the base will be decided by the group, but the maximum space it can

occupy is 18” in length and 24” in height.

o The frame does not need to be too thick, only a ½” to ¾” thickness is necessary if

using wood.

o Metal brackets would help the strength of the base. Metal brackets would help

prevent the base from falling apart while crushing a can. They will also help align

parts when gluing things together. The can be installed using screws or nails.



1

o We should make the base larger that the size of twenty uncrushed aluminum cans

to ensure that it will hold all of the cans. By making the base larger, it allows the

cans to fit in a way where they are not closely packed together where they cannot

be moved.

Can Crusher Calculations:

Can Dimensions: 2.625in in diameter (1.3125in in radius), 4.875in in height

Volume – 1 uncrushed can

V = πr 2h

V = π x 1.31252 x 4.875

V = 26.38in3

Volume – 1 can reduced by 70%

V = πr 2h x .3

V = π x 1.31252 x 4.875 x .3

V = 26.38 x .3

V = 7.914in3

Height of a crushed can (height reduced by 70%)

h = 4.875 × .3

h = 1.4625 in.

Volume – 20 uncrushed cans

V = πr 2

h x 20

V = π x 1.31252 x 4.875 x 20

V = 26.38 x 20

V = 527.66



1

Volume – 20 cans reduced by 70%

V = πr 2h x .3 x 20

V = π x 1.31252 x 4.875 x .3 x 20

V = 26.38 x .3 x 20

V = 7.914 x 20

V = 158.28in3

Criteria and Constraints

Criteria:

o

Self-loading

o Inexpensive

o Reliable

o Not time consuming

o Simple

Constraints:

o Maximum space the design can occupy is 18”x24”x30”.

o Materials that can be used are wood, PVC, metal brackets, metal hinges, screws

and nails.

o Minimum of one simple machine.

o Crushed aluminum can must immediately fall into the aluminum can bin without

human intervention.

o The aluminum can bin must slide in and out of the crusher.

o The aluminum can bin must be sized to hold 20 crushed cans.

o

All parts of the can crusher must be fabricated.

o The design is to be one unit.

o Must be manually operated.



1

Explore Possibilities

Design

Kartikey’s Design

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Simple Used incline plain wrong

Dimensioned well No thickness

Self-loading Requires a lot of input force



1

Courtney’s Design

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Multi-view and isometric drawings not dimensioned well

Follows all size constraints No binVery neat Lever too complicated and would not work



1

Sarah’s Design

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Aluminum can bin is really tall (all space will

be taken upBin may tip over when crushing a can

Follows all constraints complex

Very neat Not self-loading

Uses a lot of material



1

Jon Ko’s Design

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Detailed Confusing

Good dimensions Materials used are expensive

Followed most constraints Aluminum can bin does not slide in and out



1

Method of Bonding Parts

Wood Glue

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Sticks to wood Hard to fix mistakes once glued

Strong Dries a yellowish color

Inexpensive

Dries quickly

Hot Glue

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Clear Messy

Dries quickly Takes up space when dried

Inexpensive Takes time to heat up

Super Glue

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Dries quickly Can be messy

Strong Expensive for the quantity we need

Not as affective on wood

Screws and Nails

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Reliable Hard to repair mistakes made with nails

Works well with brackets and wood

Inexpensive and common

Easy to repair mistakes with screws



1

Duct Tape

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Does not need to dry Comes off

Inexpensive Sticks together

Hard to stick edges together

Not the best option

Nuts

Wing Nuts

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Easy to turn without a wrench Takes up a lot of room

Inexpensive

Available in many sizes in stores

Can go anywhere on the bolt

Hex Nuts

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Inexpensive


Small – does not take up too much space

Can be used with most wrenches

Can go anywhere on the bolt



1

Cap / Acorn Nuts

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Can be used with most wrenches Cannot go anywhere but the end of the bolt

Available in most sizes in stores

Does not take up too much room (but is still

bigger than the hex bolt)

Inexpensive

Bolts

Hex Bolts

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Can be used with almost all wrenches

Inexpensive


Carriage Bolts

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Inexpensive Cannot be used with many wrenches


Square Head Bolts

Pros(+) Cons(-)

Inexpensive Does not work with some wrenches

Can be used with some wrenches Not available in many sizes in stores



2

Select an Approach

Designs:

Criteria

Potential Designs

Kartikey’s

Design

Courtney’s

Design

Sarah’s

Design

Jon Ko’s

Design

Self-loading 5 1 1 3

Inexpensive 4 3 3 3

Reliable 4 1 3 5

Quick to

build

4 3 3 3

Simple 5 3 3 3

Ease of use 3 2 3 4

Total 25 13 16 21

Scale: 1 -5; 1 being the worst, 5 the best

Although Kartikey’s design scored highest, we will be combining Jon Ko’s design and

Kartikey’s design. The reason we will be doing this is because we liked that Kartikey’s design

was self-loading and that Jon Ko’s design had a reliable lever that would crush the can

effectively. Sarah’s design had a lever similar to Jon Ko’s, but Jon Ko’s dimensions would work

better with the design of our crusher.



2

Method of Bonding Parts:

Criteria

Potential Adhesives

Wood Glue Hot Glue Super Glue

Screws

and

nails

Duct

Tape

Dries quickly 4 5 4 5 5

Inexpensive 4 4 3 5 3

Sticks to our material 5 2 4 5 3

Ease of appliance 3 1 3 3 2

Cleanliness 4 1 3 4 1

Reliability 4 2 4 5 3

Total 24 15 21 27 17


We are going to use screws and nails as it scored the highest. Moreover, screws and nails

will work well with other materials we may use such as wood and metal brackets. If we run into

a circumstance where screws and nails are hard to use, we will use wood glue or duct tape.

Bolts:


We are going to use hex bolts because they can easily be used with wrenches. Most wrenches

will work with hex bolts but many are not suited for carriage bolts and some do not work with

square head bolts. Also square head bolts are hard to find in some sizes

Criteria

Potential Bolts

Hex BoltsCarriage

Bolts

Square

Head Bolts

Can be used with wrenches 5 1 3

Inexpensive 4 4 4

Availability in store 5 5 3

Total 14 10 10



2

Nuts:

Criteria

Potential Nuts

Wing Nut Hex NutCap / Acorn

Nut

Inexpensive 5 5 4

Ease of tightening /

loosening5 5 5

Doesn’t waste space 2 5 4

Can go anywhere on the

bolt5 5 1

Availability of sizes in

stores5 5 4

Total 22 25 18


We are going to use the hex bolt because it is fits all our criteria. Unlike the wing nut,

which takes up a lot of room, the hex nut does not waste space. Also, the hex nut can go

anywhere on the bolt unlike the cap nut.



2

Develop a Design Proposal

CAD Drawings (See Attachments)

BILL OF MATERIALS

PARTPART

DESCRIPTIONQUANTITY

UNIT

PRICE

TOTAL

PRICE

WOOD

.75 × 2 ×4 PLYWOOD 1 $8.97 $8.97

.75 × 2 × 2 PLYWOOD 1 $6.97 $6.97

SCREWS 2” LONG 1 PACK OF 50

SCREWS$5.37 $5.37

NAILSCROWN BOLT

FINISHING NAILS

1 PACK OF 40

NAILS$1.24 $1.24

WOOD

GLUE

TITEBOUND WOOD

GLUE8OZ. BOTTLE $2.78 $2.87

METAL

HINGES

NARROW UTIITY

HINGES 1-1/2”

1 PACK OF 2

HINGES$2.27 2.27

NUTS ⁄ ” HEX NUT 8 $0.70 $5.60

BOLTS

⁄ ” HEX BOLTS 6 $0.82 $4.92

⁄ 8” HEX BOLTS

1 $2.11 $2.11

SUBTOTAL $37.96

TAX (9.5%) $3.61

TOTAL $41.57



2

Build Process

Aluminum Can Bin Outside

o Obtain the wood (.75” thick).

o

Trace the outline parts A, B, 2 c’s, D on the wood. (Preferably larger to giveroom to sand)

o Cut the wood.

o Sand the wood.

o Drill a hole (diameter = .375) in the center of the piece that has to be cut out

of part D

o Cut out the piece of part D with the jig saw

o Assemble pieces to ensure they fit.

o Screw pieces together

o Nail pieces together

Aluminum Can Bin Inside


o Trace the outline of parts E, 2 F’s, 2 G’s and I (Preferably larger to give room

to sand)

o Cut the wood.

o

Sand the wood.


o Screw part I onto one of the part E’s.

o Screw the rest of the parts together.

o Check that the bin inside fits into the bin outside.

Crushing Mechanism

Frame


o Trace the outline of parts N-Q on the wood. (Preferably larger to give room to

sand)

o

Cut the wood.



2

o Sand the wood.


o Drill 1 hole on part N and 1 on O where it is marked

o Using the crosscut miter saw, make cuts along the line for the long slot on

both part N and part O.

o Drill 2 holes (diameter = .375) on N and 2 on O at the ends of the long slot.

o

Cut out the material for the long slots on part N and O with the jig saw.


o Screw the pieces together.

Lever

o

Obtain the wood (.75”, 1.5” and 3”thick).

o Trace the outline of the part J on 3” thick wood, and 2 part K’s on 1.5” thick

wood, 2 part L’s on 1” thick wood. (Preferably larger to give room to sand)

o Cut the wood.

o Sand the wood.

o Drill 2 holes for part J (refer to CAD drawings):

o Drill 2 holes with a drill bit smaller than .375 with the drill press

o Drill 2 holes .375 in diameter with the drill press

o Put part J into the frame to ensure it fits.

o With a jig saw, cut out the extra material on both part K’s.

o With the drill press, drill the holes for all K and L parts.

o Attach parts J-L to the frame, with nuts and bolts, to ensure they fit.

o Remove parts J, 2 K’s and 2 L’s and all the nut and bolts

Self-loading Mechanism


o Trace the outline of parts R-T on the wood. (Preferably larger to give room to

sand)

o Cut the wood.

o Sand the wood.




2

o Screw the pieces together

Denting Mechanism


o Trace the outline of parts U and V on the wood. (Preferably larger to give

room to sand)

o Cut out part U and cut out V in the shape of a rectangle

o Sand parts U and V.

o Chamfer part V with the sander

o Glue part V to part U

o Nail part V to part U

Assembling all of the subassemblies together

o

Assembly the self-loading mechanism, denting mechanism, crushing

mechanism, and bin outside together, ensuring that they fit.

o Screw the self-loading mechanism to the crushing mechanism.

o

Screw the metal hinge to the denting mechanism.

o

Assemble denting mechanism onto the frame to make sure it is in exactly the

right spot

o Screw the other side of the hinge to the crushing mechanism.

o

Line up the hole on the crushing mechanism bottom ( part Q) to the hole on

the bin outside (part D)

o Nail the crushing mechanism to the bin outside.

o Re-attach parts J-L onto the crushing mechanism with nuts & bolts

o Slide the bin inside into the bin outside



2

Test Plan

Test Criteria How Tested Expected results Actual Results

Reliability Crush a can,

measuring size

before and after

crushed

The can will be

crushed to 70% of

its original height

Durability Crush a can, open

and close the

drawer of the bin

that storesaluminum cans

The aluminum can

bin will slide in and

out with ease

Bin Must Hold 20

Crushed Cans

Put 20 cans crushed

in the bin

All 20 cans will be

crushed

Self- Loading Put 3 cans into the

self-loading

mechanism and

crush all three cans

The crusher will be

able to self-load

appropriately

without any

complications

Can Must End-up

In Bin After Being

Crushed

Crush a can and see

if it falls through

the appropriate hole

into the bin

The can will fall

through the hole

into the bin



2

Prototype

Our work process worked okay at first, but we should have added more detail in it to

make the parts easier to build. As we got deeper into building, we noticed how unreliable our

build process was. We were constantly making changes to our build process. By the time we got

to the building of the crushing mechanism, we stopped using the build process all together. We

believed that our build process was not reliable because we made it too simple. We should have

made it with more detail.

We had to make various changes in our design to ensure that it would be able to work.

Some of the changes we made to the crushing mechanism were we ended up putting the walls on

the opposite sides because we found out that it would be able to crush the cans easier. For our

outside bin, we made the hole that the cans would fall through bigger because, at first, the hole

was too small and the cans barely fell through.



2

Test and Monitor

Test Criteria How Tested Expected results Actual Results

Reliability Crush a can,

measuring size

before and after

crushed

The can will be

crushed to 70% of

its original height

(It will be 1.5” tall)

The can was

crushed to 1.5” in

height

Durability Crush a can, open

and close the

drawer of the bin

that stores

aluminum cans

The aluminum can

bin will slide in and

out with ease

The aluminum can

bin slid in and out

with much ease

Bin Must Hold 20

Crushed Cans

Put 20 cans crushed

in the bin

All 20 cans will be

crushed

Bin could hold 20

cans and still had

some space

Self- Loading Put 3 cans into the

self-loadingmechanism and

crush all three cans

The crusher will be

able to self-loadappropriately

without any

complications

The self-loading

mechanism held 3cans with about an

inch worth of space

at the top

Can Must End-up

In Bin After Being

Crushed

Crush a can and see

if it falls through

the appropriate hole

into the bin

The can will fall

through the hole

into the bin

The can fell into the

bin with ease



3

Refine

In the refining stage, we had to remake the lever sides because the hex bolts would rub

against other lever arms when we would try to move them. To fix this problem, we cut off part of

the lever where the hex bolts were to where the head of the hex bolts were lined up with wood

piece. This helped us crush our cans with much more ease because the pieces were not clashing

with the hex bolts.

For the crushing mechanism, we decided to take out the handle that was connected to the

upright lever pieces because we found that the crusher worked better without it.

For the outside bin, we made the hole bigger for the crushed can to fall through. The

original hole was barely large enough for the crushed can to fall through. To ensure that all the

cans would be able to fall through every time with ease, we made the hole approximately one

inch larger.

Once we were done making all of our changes, we made sure that all CAD drawings

matched the changes. In our CAD drawings, we noticed that all the holes that were meant for

bolts to go through were .25” in diameter; we changed them to .375” in diameter because we got

bolts that were .375” thick.

Lessons Learned

We learned to effectively complete a large number of tasks at once without having to re-

do them by dividing and assigning the tasks, but also helping each other. We realized that we had

to assign people to do certain things, but the person would only be the leader for that task, and

other group members would have to help complete that task.

We also learned to use a lot of hand and power tools in the tech lab such as the crosscut

compound miter saw. Unlike our previous project, which had required very few tools, to build

our can crusher, we had to use a variety of tools.



Summary

At the start of this project, we did not know much about how to build a can crusher. Our

first priority was to research can crushers in how they work, how to build them, and we had to

make sketches of a frame, bin, and crushing mechanism. Once we got in our group, we noticed

how different our designs were and we started picking which design we would like to go with.

Once we had our design picked out, we were ready to go through and make all decisions that

were necessary to finish and complete our project successfully.

When we were ready to build, we started with the bin inside and outside parts. Once done

with building the bin parts, we started to work on the frame of the crushing mechanism. We

saved the building of the crushing mechanism for last because we knew it would take the longest

to build.

Ultimately, this was a project that served as an important learning experience for all four

of us. We were able to complete the project by a given date, coming in during study hall, before

and after school. We also managed to polish a lot of the skills we attained while working on the

Gel Electrophoresis project. Overall, our project was quite successful and we were able to meet

our goal at the close of the project.

Documents

Can Crusher Project 1 -1