How should Ben continue building his automatic can crusher? Post your idea + you might get a free Ben Heck t-shirt!

Wow, I came into this late so I'm guessing the can crusher project was  scrapped. But, just to throw in my 2 cents, I would suggest a windshield  wiper motor and an Hbridge high power servo board to actuate and  control the can crusher. Car windshield wiper motors are pre built with a  worm gear, can operate at 5-12 Vcc, and have (usually) 2 or more  connectors to operate at different speeds, plus they have MONSTER  torque! This can be made into a hi power servo by linking the motor to  an Hbridge circuit from Parallax.com which is around 15 bucks. A wiper  motor is about the same price (15 bucks) new, but pulled from grandmas  car (she refuses to drive in the rain anyways, right?) you can get it  for free. The challenge would be mounting a 5V POT to the rotation shaft  of the motor for position feedback to whatever servo controller board  you choose. You could even use a remote control model airplane  controller to make the servo work, or you could ditch the whole servo  idea altogether and take advantage of the parking feature that SOME  windshield wiper motors already come with. This means that the wiper  motor shaft will return to the original position after one rotation of  the shaft and would allow the motor to be actuated with a simple relay.  Just a thought.

Wow, I came into this late so I'm guessing the can crusher project was  scrapped. But, just to throw in my 2 cents, I would suggest a windshield  wiper motor and an Hbridge high power servo board to actuate and  control the can crusher. Car windshield wiper motors are pre built with a  worm gear, can operate at 5-12 Vcc, and have (usually) 2 or more  connectors to operate at different speeds, plus they have MONSTER  torque! This can be made into a hi power servo by linking the motor to  an Hbridge circuit from Parallax.com which is around 15 bucks. A wiper  motor is about the same price (15 bucks) new, but pulled from grandmas  car (she refuses to drive in the rain anyways, right?) you can get it  for free. The challenge would be mounting a 5V POT to the rotation shaft  of the motor for position feedback to whatever servo controller board  you choose. You could even use a remote control model airplane  controller to make the servo work, or you could ditch the whole servo  idea altogether and take advantage of the parking feature that SOME  windshield wiper motors already come with. This means that the wiper  motor shaft will return to the original position after one rotation of  the shaft and would allow the motor to be actuated with a simple relay.  Just a thought.