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

Just use the same Idea you have but I think you need to diminish the resistance from the can before you crush it so I came up with this

so in the same motion you first apply the lateral crush then the central crush with less resistance so it can be faster and will require less power from the central piston to crush it!

or you can improve it with a pneumatic or electric central piston like the one inside a nail gun!

that is proven faster and you can regulate the PSI!

I had a similar idea, but I don't think you need a door to activate; the full-size can wouldn't drop through the slot for a crushed can, and the can wouldn't drop until the piston removed pressure from the can.  Gravity could do the rest.  I thought of the hopper idea, but how would we get it to automatically orient the cans so they would enter the crushing cylinder properly?

Another thought on this, you could just use rollers to crush them flat; two sets.  First set to pre-crush, second set to smash it completely flat.  A single set would have to be considerably bigger to get the angle incident on the edge of the can to grip it well, so the two sets would be a method to reduce the overall size of the thing.

Pneumatic cylinders are great for something like this. The electromagnetic ram can work but it really needs to have a tight tolerance betwwen the plunger and the coil. Better yet If the coil is seperated into many segments and the plunger is actually a rare earth magnet then you could control the series of coils to rapidly accelerate the plunger/magnet. The same concept is used in rails guns. The control is not easy as you have to switch the high currents very quickly and in a manner that will sequence the electromagnetic force so that it will properly accelerate the projectile. Some feedback sensing to help in the control would be required to do it effectivly. Yeah a rail gun can crusher would be a significant step up in cool.

He could use the solinoid idea but make it so the sides of the can get pushed in so the can can be crushed easier.

or he could use a hydraulic based device to crush the can slowly.

I would use a simple shift screw attached to a single stage gear reduction. It would be slower, but far more effective then attaching the motor directly to the mechanism.

The screw could be attached centrally to two platforms. Two shafts acting as stablizer bars on each side should keep the two platforms in place while the screw extends and contracts the upper platform.

With a screw and single stage gear this would allow the motor and other assortments to be attached on the back of the unit for a very clean and minimal design.

Ben should use the very old ding don bell structure to quickly crush the CAN, All it need is an electromagnet and movable piston

within a fraction the CAN is crushed , The amount of power needed will also be small as comapre to motor ideas the needed specs are

all suffice by this idea

1: force                 should be great and momentarly

2:Power               Only at the actuating the electromagnet

3:Standby            Nil

4:Counitng           shouild be easy enough

5:Batteries          can be used with capaciotrs banks ,to store the required energy

Thanks

Manish jain

Guys--

Some great ideas here! Just a reminder that we are going to keep this open for just a couple more days. If you can help Ben figure out how to complete the auto can-crusher, post them here + I'll enter you into the t-shirt giveaways.

Cheers,
Sagar

Ben, how bout if the automaic can crusher was power by a hydraulic cylinder?

Spring load the solenoid and trigger power to wack it four or five times.