Air-Operated Can Crusher

[wilbilt]

Not necessarily automotive related, but handy around the shop.

I try to buy beverages in aluminum cans because they crush and store easily and have a better return by volume that plastic or glass bottles when recycling them. I have a manual crusher mounted on top of a 55-gallon plastic drum, but crushing the cans was becoming a chore and I would tend to let them pile up. Then the wind would kick up and blow them all over the yard.

I bought this on Amazon a few months ago https://www.amazon.com/ATINY-Automatic-Pneumatic-Eco-Friendly-Recycling/dp/B0CTKHYMP2/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2BC9RY9A7BITT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jLdHdcDWwr-aHg8FUHN0DHnDqbfwhvy-plhlzRPsSpSEoIm4Fk6SRFSq8qkYEECsDHcSPh_p-135d6TCaz9WcjO0RJcVOJtsXl6snX8cegyV2o7XZ_rVK4IGtyaKfZQIbKaXUAjoQgdOM9Qgl0dpugYZyO_J3zND9QJuLw-SZLIVCRNLeIoYX3cwsr-ba-7KrDCPPsfq29hKPNU2SN-Hb_er7iAr5Nd0Iz8QPuz7VB3VOfOPcDx-KE7o1rZuPuOm4G9fPoAlzHYYZgaxQH8oLLw0Oi2e1UzTQhfq0dWlaho.KI4HdUWVFVW1IHjezzX_SBZOP4SMF3PyyLmNkbx1SrE&dib_tag=se&keywords=can%2Bcrusher&qid=1746732536&sprefix=can%2Bcrusher%2Caps%2C355&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

I wish I could just upload a simple photo. Sorry.

Of course, it is Chinesium and mostly flimsy. The assembly is pretty fiddly with tiny screws and nuts. The assembly instructions seem to have been written by somebody who never actually assembled one.

However, the air cylinder and valve seem to be pretty robust.

This thing is amazing. It operates on about 90 PSI. It holds 8 cans in the hopper and takes about 10 seconds to crush them. It takes no more effort than using a turn signal.

I now have about $200 worth of crushed cans ready to recycle. That could be a new torque wrench!

I wish I had seen this years ago.

[goodfellow]

Seems like a darn good buy. If you recycle a lot of cans it can be readily beefed up. Maybe the ultimate customer would be a bar or restaurant where aluminum recycling could make a difference in the "bottom line".

[wilbilt]

Seems like a darn good buy. If you recycle a lot of cans it can be readily beefed up. Maybe the ultimate customer would be a bar or restaurant where aluminum recycling could make a difference in the "bottom line".

Here in Kommifornia, the CRV (California Recycling Value) is 5 cents per can (by weight). 20 cans=$1.00.

In many years, when scraping by, those cans provided grocery and gas money. Making it easier to crush them is even better.

Now, I just need to bag them up and take them to the recycler while hanging out with the homeless and the tweakers who are stripping their stolen copper wire in the parking lot.

Buy hey, It's a living LOL. 

[goodfellow]

Seems like a darn good buy. If you recycle a lot of cans it can be readily beefed up. Maybe the ultimate customer would be a bar or restaurant where aluminum recycling could make a difference in the "bottom line".

Here in Kommifornia, the CRV (California Recycling Value) is 5 cents per can (by weight). 20 cans=$1.00.

In many years, when scraping by, those cans provided grocery and gas money. Making it easier to crush them is even better.

Now, I just need to bag them up and take them to the recycler while hanging out with the homeless and the tweakers who are stripping their stolen copper wire in the parking lot.

Buy hey, It's a living LOL. 

That's a great price per can. You could make some darn good money on that. Go to any Moose Lodge, American Legion post, or any other number of fraternal organization and just collect the empties. We have the Moose and VFW close by and I can tell you that after a weekend there are mountains of aluminum cans piled up and ready to be trashed.

[wilbilt]

Yeah, I see people that likely work at the various venues usually on Monday mornings bringing in truckloads of glass bottles.

The problem with glass bottles is that they are heavy and they don't compress. I guess it could work if you are doing it weekly.

I prefer the cans as they are lighter and easier to transport. By redeeming them here in CA, you are just basically getting your deposit back.

It is like a redneck savings account, LOL.

[Hickory n Steel]

We had a recycling operation at the grocery store here in town, but when they left my recycling was piling up so I started to let my boss's kid have it all.
They drive somewhere to recycle them and he uses the money to pay for his sports equipment.
Somebody just recently opened a recycling operation at the grocery store again, but I'm still going to just let the kid have them so I don't have to deal with it.

[wilbilt]

Seems like a darn good buy. If you recycle a lot of cans it can be readily beefed up. Maybe the ultimate customer would be a bar or restaurant where aluminum recycling could make a difference in the "bottom line".

Here in Kommifornia, the CRV (California Recycling Value) is 5 cents per can (by weight). 20 cans=$1.00.

In many years, when scraping by, those cans provided grocery and gas money. Making it easier to crush them is even better.

Now, I just need to bag them up and take them to the recycler while hanging out with the homeless and the tweakers who are stripping their stolen copper wire in the parking lot.

Buy hey, It's a living LOL. 

That's a great price per can. You could make some darn good money on that. Go to any Moose Lodge, American Legion post, or any other number of fraternal organization and just collect the empties. We have the Moose and VFW close by and I can tell you that after a weekend there are mountains of aluminum cans piled up and ready to be trashed.

I need to correct my post, it is "California Redemption Value", not "recycling value". Consumers pay that 5 cents per can or bottle when buying any beverages. Recently, a law was passed here to include the CRV on wine and liquor bottles.

The aluminum cans provide the best bang for the buck, as the CRV redemption price is much greater than simple scrap aluminum, which brings about 10 cents per pound.

It has helped to keep the roads cleaner, as the homeless scour the roads and ditches collecting cans, because they represent easy cash.

[Heiny57]

That thing is pretty slick.

[wilbilt]

That thing is pretty slick.

It really is.

It turned what used to be a chore into actual fun! 

I keep racking up cans and soon will run out of barrels and drums to store them. Maybe I'll buy more barrels.

[AbiggerGarage]

Does the neighbor have any barrels?

Instead of potato cannon, crushed can cannon.

[skfarmer]

my buddy is a fluid power salesman he has made several and i have one.

he has built most using items from his "salesman sample pile" no can rack but it works the same.

[wilbilt]

my buddy is a fluid power salesman he has made several and i have one.

he has built most using items from his "salesman sample pile" no can rack but it works the same.

I had been contemplating building one using an electric motor and a flywheel for decades. I had a 50 lb. barbell weight and numerous pulleys and belts but never got around to it.

Then I saw this thing and bought it. Now if I can just figure out a linkage and cam to auto-operate the air valve, I'll be going places LOL.