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Hey guys.I was at a local scrap yard Friday and the owner knows me fairly well and knows I build stuff all the time. He asked me to consider a project, it would require me to design and build and come up with a price tag prior to starting.He recycles aluminum cans as part of his business. He wants a LARGE CAPACITY can crusher. He plans to crush the cans and have the machine drop the cans out the bottom into a 55 gallon drum. That way he could just put a drum under the machine, fill a large hopper with cans and turn it on. Turn it off when the drum is full and exchange for another.My challenge is to figure out how to accomplish this.Building a large hopper is no problem and building a stand of some sort to hold it all is also no problem. However I would appreciate suggestions on how to get the cans into the machine with no regard for the orientation and also the crushing mechanism.My first thought would be large rollers that roll together like a washing machine ringer on the old washers. Just make them larger and put some "Grabbing" texture of some kind on them so the cans don't just bounce around and not go in. I also thought that maybe a two stage crusher with a second set of rollers to make the cans thinner.If anyone has seen such a machine, or has any suggestions on a method of crushing cans a thousand at a time and fairly quickly, I would love to hear them.Driving over them or pneumatic one-at-a-time stuff would not work. It has to be large hopper in and large output quantity.Looking forward to suggestions.
Reply:I helped rebuild a few machines that would do cans or bottles by the bucket load then blow them into a semi. My boss built the machines in house before my time and I just got in on the rebuild. A can machine and a bottle machine are different. If this guy only wants to do cans I think I can throw a few ideas your way. How does he plan on loading the machine? Skid loader? Dump the cans out of plastic bags? Shovel?
Reply:I would probably try to build something where you just fill a hopper with cans, and then compact them all at once into a block with a piston/hydraulics. I suppose you could do the same thing with some sort of lever, but hydraulics are just more fun and you could crush more at a time. Does he need the cans individually squished or would a block 'o cans be alright?You could always just get one of these... Attached ImagesWork HARDER, not smarter! ------------------------ Miller Bobcat 250Millermatic 251Lincoln Precision TIG 185Hypertherm PM 600Hobart 135 HandlerOxweld 400 FlameMaster
Reply:Boost,I would think that 90% of the loading will be from plastic bags. Regular people like me bring their cans in bags and that is all I think he gets. Throwing them into a trailer is a good idea if cost effective. He has a flat bed trailer and carries 55 gallon drums of non-crushed cans to get rid of them. Just crushing them would increase his volume dramatically. I am sure if I could build something that shoots the cans into a trailer with an expanded metal cage he would consider that also.ANY suggestions you can make would be very helpful.
Reply:Leadhead,Cubes of 50-60 pounds would be decent but it seems like you would have to fill, crush, refill, crush, refill and crush multiple times unless you had a really large setup. Hydraulics may be pricey as well compared to other options, not sure. Not past consideration, that is for sure.
Reply:I'm wondering if a jaw type crusher would work. If you have ever seen a large jaw type stone crusher, thats what I'm thinking of. What you have is 2 flat plates that crush the material. The one side is fixed and the other moves. The lowest point is the thinest. I believe the bottom of the moving jaw is usually the hinge and the top of the jaw is moved with 2 flywheels and an eccentric, sort of like the wheels on a steam engine in reverse. Motor spins the flywheels.One thing I thought about is when people just squash the middle of the can and bend the top 90 deg. The crusher has to take those as well as intact cans. I see these as being the toughest for a roller system if they fall with V pointing up. Teeth on the roller like a sheepsfoot roller might work, but I'm not sure if it wouldn't just try and shred the cans instead.I think the scrap guy I use dumps them in a cardboard baler like most grocery stores have. Dump them in and when full, cycle the unit and repeat. I'm not sure if they just naturally form as a block, or if he does something different than the standard bale ties to unload it..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Just to throw out and idea. Use two car/truck tires in phase one to do the initial crush to about ¼ to ½" thick. you can cut some slashes on the tires to give them grip.Phase 2 is a couple of 4 or5" pipes. Perhaps covered with a sander belt.Please note: this drawing is rev 0, it need refinement.Remember LOTS of guards and Safety interlock swith and E stop. people put things in cans. the final crusher to 1/16" has to be spring mounted to allow movement when you get to the can that has a rock in it. The thing will get covered in pop/beer. So you need seals where appropriate and lots of paint to protect the metal. It will probably get pressure washed every one in a while so again seals, but, also to make all locations accessible - no crannies that can't be washed. A drip tray underneath the machine for liquids. Attached ImagesLast edited by RancherBill; 08-30-2009 at 01:05 PM.
Reply:I remember when I was younger they took us on a field trip in school and we stopped at a scrap yard and they used a shredder for cans, big tub grinder that they threw whole bags of cans in and it all got shredded up and fed into a bin.
Reply:http://www.ptrco.com/pr_balers.phpI used to work for these guys years ago. This is the concept you want with a few ( quite a few ) modifications to the design. actually, it's the concept you want. Gotta go, have to leave. will talk moreLincoln Ranger 8 Lincoln 175 Drill pressLincoln 225 mig Plasma 8 ft brake 52" jump shear
Reply:For loading, use a conveyor belt with sloped sides to feed into the crusher from the top.For crushing, some kind of drum as these guys have suggested, feeding out onto another conveyor belt and into the storage drums.
Reply:DSW, we did rollers. the ones with teeth were for bottles, they just shredded the cans. will be back later with drawings.
Reply:A multi-chain flail rotating inside a cylinder would be simple, not to mention cool. It could be fed by a grain augering mechanismEsab Migmaster 250Lincoln SA 200Lincoln Ranger 8Smith Oxy Fuel setupEverlast PowerPlasma 80Everlast Power iMIG 160Everlast Power iMIG 205 Everlast Power iMIG 140EEverlast PowerARC 300Everlast PowerARC 140STEverlast PowerTIG 255EXT
Reply:here is a real crappy sketch. The top one is what we actually did, the bottom one is how I would do it for cans if we were to do it over. For the top one with rollers, we added teeth to grab and puncture plastic bottles then crush them. The rollers were actually many plates bolted together so the teeth on one roller actually was accepted by a groove on the other. Worked great for bottles but really liked to shred the cans and wedge the pieces into the rollers. The rollers were 24" in diameter, and 24" wide. The crushed stuff was then blown through a long tube into a semi trailer. The trailers were then brought to the scrapyard where I worked and all the cans or bottles were put into a big baler. The bales weighed 6-8k. The belt Idea is how I would make a machine for cans only. We did have a few machines with that type of mechanism, but were spring loaded and didn't always work correctly. The fans on these things were huge too. 36" if I remember right. Attached Images
Reply:I was thinking along the same lines as your first drawing you did. To keep it simple however, loose the fan and just have a bottom discharge which would drop the cans into a bin below. If he plans on loading them into 55 gallon drums, those could just be placed underneath.Thermal Arc 210Thermal Arc 95SLincoln Weld Pak 100
Reply:Originally Posted by steve_o1989I was thinking along the same lines as your first drawing you did. To keep it simple however, loose the fan and just have a bottom discharge which would drop the cans into a bin below. If he plans on loading them into 55 gallon drums, those could just be placed underneath.
Reply:Great ideas. Do you think welding ribs across the rollers would work for grabbing the cans but not holding on to them after being crushed?If belts were used, what kinds of belts? Treadmill belts? The conveyor makes sense for steady but not overwhelming feed.
Reply:Bob, there was a recycler here that used a gadget almost exactly like you described. It had a hopper made of expanded metal over a set of rollers. Dump the cans in the hopper and they came out the bottom flattened. I am pretty sure the rollers were chain driven. I can't give you any details because I never looked at it closely but it did work.
Reply:Originally Posted by Bob WarnerGreat ideas. Do you think welding ribs across the rollers would work for grabbing the cans but not holding on to them after being crushed?If belts were used, what kinds of belts? Treadmill belts? The conveyor makes sense for steady but not overwhelming feed.
Reply:An old man that I know was in the scrap business when there wasnt alot of crushers around. He had 2 car tires that were on spindleds that ran together. . The adjustments were made with tire pressure. his was one tire on top of the other and he had a thin wall 10 inch pipe to aim it with and a hopper on the back. He would de bag the cans as they cam in and put them in cardboadr barrels and dump a barrel at a time in the hopper. He could fill an 18 wheeler trailer almost full. I built one for a scrapper 2 years ago with some forklift tires and spindles. It dropped into 4b4by8 baskets. I didnt put in may saftey features other than the dead man switch.
Reply:Originally Posted by BoostinjdmI helped rebuild a few machines that would do cans or bottles by the bucket load then blow them into a semi. My boss built the machines in house before my time and I just got in on the rebuild. A can machine and a bottle machine are different. If this guy only wants to do cans I think I can throw a few ideas your way. How does he plan on loading the machine? Skid loader? Dump the cans out of plastic bags? Shovel?
Reply:You can get sheet steel and plate, just about any length, my brother orders it 40 feet long for his push and tug boats. So if you know someone with a power roller, that does heavy plate, you can order one piece per roller you wish to make. Roll them, weld the seam, and weld the end plates on. I would put a bolt on blow plate on one of the ends if it was mine. Whether it be over heating and steam, someone going to repair a little leak in the roller without draining it, or an electrochemical discharge at least the tank will not explode. It will blow the plate off. Or look into buying a replacement roller already made. The nice thing about water is that it absorbs a lot of the vibration. And strengthens the face of the roller many, many times over. Sincerely, William McCormick
Reply:one recycle center here has a shredder, dump in the cans and they are shredded and blown into a semi trailer. If there is somthing in a can like rocks it will kick it out. Not sure how it is set up never really looked at it that close. The other center has a crusher that compacts them into three foot cubes.I do know Alcoa will not take them unless they are in cubes, they say if you dump loose cans into the smelter they will burn up before they get a chance to melt.miller... 225g, s32p, 250x, 304, 12vs, MSW41 victor o/a thermal dynamics cutmaster 50 lenco panel spotter hobart hf-boxG3 Farms.....raising cattle, hay, kids and hell, ...oh yeah I'm a fire sprinkler contractor by trade.
Reply:Hello to All,This is my first reply/post. The can crusher using the belting is a good design. A good place to source the belting is at your local farm implement dealer. Use the replacement belt for those round balers. Or, if your looking to go cheap, find somebody who is changing out their old belts.Chris Hurley
Reply:Bob you might be able to turn a roller with hydraulics. Like the car wash brushes. But they use a large electric motor that has a listed run amps of 40 amps. Probably around ten horse power to drive the pump. Three phase for sure. That is big stuff. Considering what you wish to do, you might have to up it to fifteen horse or more. The piston hydraulics system would not need that kind of horse power. A two stage pump, could get the piston going fast. And then when it hits the cans it could switch to the second stage and slow down a bit. But I do like the idea of high speed water filled rollers. Just instantly flattening the cans. You could mount them horizontally. And pour the cans into the rollers, that could be going, along at about twenty miles an hour. Those cans would just get flattened. But they might not pack so nicely in the drum. Sincerely, William McCormick |
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发表于 2021-9-1 00:04:41