TCCA_Final Report

ME 4370: Design I
Team BETA
Tailgate Can Crusher Apparatus
Group Members:
Clint Balch
Spencer Case
Bernardo Cervantes
Khoi Ly
Christian Palacios
Georgia Zarate
Report Submitted to Mr. George Gray
May, 2nd 2016

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary........................................................................................................................ 3
Problem Statement......................................................................................................................... 5
Design Objectives ....................................................................................................................... 5
Constraints .................................................................................................................................. 5
Design Alternatives ......................................................................................................................... 6
Final Subassembly Design........................................................................................................... 10
Casing ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Trailer ........................................................................................................................................ 12
Shredder.................................................................................................................................... 15
Hopper....................................................................................................................................... 18
Power Transmission.................................................................................................................. 20
Final Overall Design...................................................................................................................... 23
Detailed description................................................................................................................... 23
User Manual .............................................................................................................................. 24
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 26
Design Weaknesses ................................................................................................................. 26
Design Strengths....................................................................................................................... 26
Design Future............................................................................................................................ 27
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 28

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Executive Summary
Tailgating has been around since the 1900’s and is an immense and growing part of the American
culture. With this growing trend comes the opportunity for millions of aluminum cans to be
recycled on a mass scale. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Tailgating Can Crusher
Apparatus (TCCA) was developed to revolutionize how cans are recycled while providing the
convenience of mobility for tailgating.
Team Beta was given the task of designing a compact can crusher that can easily be towed around
tailgating sites. In order to maintain the ease of operation to an average-height person, the overall
height of the apparatus is limited to be less than 6’. Also to accommodate the large quantities of
cans at a tailgating event, a continuous operation is required with a high volume input. The recycled
material output must also be 30lbs while still being easily removable. All these constraints led to
creating an ideal can crusher for any tailgating setting.
With the prior constraints in mind, two initial ideas were established to begin the development of
the TCCA. The two ideas were founded behind two different processes for the cans, either
compression or shredding of the can. The ideas were explored in cost, material, manufacturing,
and simplicity. The compressing method is simply two plates compressing the material in between
and giving a cube shaped output, this seemed to be far too complex with the size constraints. It
was determined for simplicity, cost, and manufacturing, the best design would be to create a
shredder design.
Starting from the bottom, the design begins with a small trailer where a storage casing will be
secured. Inside the storage is a bin with a volume of 45 gallons. The bin is easily removed with
wheels attached on the bottom, but yet secured with pins when it is resting in place. At the top of
the storage casing, angle iron is arranged to make a support for the shredder where it will be secured
in place. Secured on the shredder will be a removable hopper, which is also foldable and can hold
up to 80 cans. The hopper is designed this way so that it could be stored in the storage casing when
not in use. Ultimately this design has continuous operation, safety, mobility, simplicity,
convenience, and ability to produce a vast output of recycled material.
The shredder is the most critical component in the TCCA design that directly determines if the
overall apparatus can meet the design constraints and requirements. The shredder design concept,
due to the concern with cost, manufacturability, and performance, shifted from two-shredder-shaft
configuration to one-shredder-shaft configuration, in which fourteen blades shred aluminum cans
against fifteen stationary blades, or fingers. The modification in the shredder design eliminated
excess moving parts, unnecessary components, cost, and manufacturing process without
sacrificing shredding performance. Since the shredder components must be stronger than
aluminum cans, carbon steel is used to manufacture it, thus enhancing the shredding capability and
durability of the apparatus.
The TCCA was designed to promote recycling by making it user-friendly and convenient to use.
Recycling at tailgating events is merely the beginning; with this design it is possible to effortlessly
take the TCCA anywhere: parks, state fairs, concerts, carnivals, or any outdoor event for that

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matter. With the implementation of the TCCA the possibilities are endless and a gateway to a
better society awaits.

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Problem Statement
Sport events, such as football or baseball, are often associated with tailgating events, where
hundreds to thousands of people hang out and consume carbonated and alcoholic beverages. It is
noticeable that, after these events, public recycle bins are so full that streets, grass, and walkways
are scattered with aluminum cans. In a larger scale, according to Lehigh County.Org website, it is
estimated that over the past twenty years more than 11 million tons of aluminum beverage cans,
worth over $12 billion on today's market, were trashed. Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as
much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume of gasoline [1]. However, aluminum can
recycling is gradually becoming a large industry. Recycling can eventually cut air pollution by 95
percent [1]. Since there are more awareness in can recycling in recent years, the idea of crushing
cans for more recycling capacity has been seriously considered and applied not only at home but
also at large social and tailgating events.
DesignObjectives
The objective of the Beta Team is to manufacture a device that can alleviate the difficulties and
inconveniences of post-tailgating aluminum can recycling. Since the purpose of a can crusher is to
crush aluminum cans for easier recycling, the objective of the TCCA design is to improve the
crushing mechanism in such a way that more cans can be crushed at the same time. Moreover, the
functionality of the TCCA should not be limited to any particular tailgating site; the apparatus
should be transportable to different tailgating locations. Robustness and versatility should be the
central consideration in the TCCA design.
Constraints
The design of TCCA has specific constraints in order to function correctly at tailgating sites. Since
sites are large and located at different locations, the apparatus should be sufficiently compact, both
in size and weight, to be easily towed around by a regular car or pick-up truck. In order to reduce
down time and ease the operation, the system should function continuously and have a large hopper
that can accommodate a large quantity of cans all at once. Also, as part of the requirements of
continuous function and ease of operation, frequently emptying the storage container should be
avoided. The container should hold at least 30lb of crushed can before it needs to be removed,
and it should be able to be removed quickly and easily.

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Design Alternatives
The start of the design process was marked with a general brainstorming session to determine
possible can crushing configurations. This allowed all of the members to individually create and
showcase their ideas for the TCCA. Naturally, this created a wide range of ideas. The designs
ranged from small portable devices that could be hand loaded and only crush a few cans at a time
to large hydraulic machines capable of very high output. In order to narrow these down to a
manageable number of ideas, criteria were used to determine their feasibility. The criteria were
different among the members, but the primary concerns appeared to be cost, manufacturability,
weight, ease of operation, and reliability. Using this criteria, two designs became the forefront of
discussion.
The first idea discussed was a large machine that used mechanical compression to complete the
process. Ideally the compression would come from either a power screw or hydraulic ram. The
crushing would take place between a stationary plate and a moving plate. This would create an
output of crushed cans in the form of a cube. At first glance the cube appeared to be a desirable
output, but upon further consideration it became apparent that the cube was somewhat hard to deal
with. The bulky output would be large and hard to stack. To handle this, the machine would have
to make use of a gravity chute or a powered conveyor belt. In addition to the bulky output, the
group also discovered that a large amount of automation would be required to run the machine.
The machine would require doors that opened and closed to allow an input/output of cans in the
crushing chamber. Even if these obstacles were overcome, the nature of the machine would still
prove to be cyclical. Preliminary sketches of this design is shown below.

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Figure 1: Compression Design
The second can crushing mechanism idea is the shredder wheel design. Originally, the working
principle of this design was the gravitational feeding of aluminum cans in between two shredder
shafts, with three shredding plates on each side. The position of the shredding plates were
alternatively stacked onto the two shafts in such a way that the shredding plates on the first shaft
would crush aluminum cans against the second shaft. When similar industrial shredder designs
were compared, it was found that despite different shredder design sizes, the ratios between the
shaft’s diameter, the center distance of the shafts, the blade’s outer diameter, and the tooth length
are the same. The tooth length was chosen to be higher than half of aluminum cans’ radius so that
these cans can be grabbed into the shredder rather than rotate on the shredder blades. All other
dimensions were then determined by the ratios. Figure 2 shows the two shredder shafts design.

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Figure 2: Two Shredder Shafts Design
Two set of three fingers, shown in gold in Figure 2, were mounted onto the shredder casing and
placed in between the two shredding plates, in order to ensure aluminum cans fall nowhere but in
the between the two shafts. In this configuration, each shredding plate had outer diameter of 9 in
and thickness of 1.5 in, and the shredder shaft had inner diameter, outer diameter, and overall
length to be 3.5 in, 3.75 in, and 12 in, respectively.
While the two shredder shafts design enhanced the continuous function of the TCCA, the design
was heavy overall. The weight of more than 120lb of carbon steel used to manufacture the shredder
reduces the simplicity, compactness, and cost-effectiveness of the TCCA design as a whole. In
order to improve the shredder design in terms of compactness and simplicity, without sacrificing
the continuous functioning and the shredder design concept, the two shredder shafts design was
modified to be a one shredder shaft design, with the aluminum cans being crushed against
stationary blades. The detailed description of the design is shown in the Final Design section.
After thoroughly examining each idea, a final decision had to be made. Both of the designs met
our design criteria to some extent. The compactor design was capable of crushing an impressive
number of cans all at once and could do so reliably. This task could be accomplished through the
use of a very inexpensive hydraulic ram and steel housing. The nature of the ram also meant that
it would crush anything thrown in and FOD would not be an issue. Controls on a hydraulic device
are also exceedingly simple and the device could be operated easily. The positives of this design
also proved to come with a number of negatives. The gravity chute required to deliver the cube
output would make the overall height of the design too high to be reasonably loaded. If the
alternative, a powered conveyor belt, was chosen, the cost and complexity of the design would
increase sharply. In addition to the undesirable output, the large amount of automation required to
run the device ultimately made this design a second choice. Our primary design was shown to be

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the shredder design. Due to the continuous nature of this design, very little additional automation
was required. The shredders could simply shred the gravity fed cans into a removable container.
This output was shown to be far more desirable since it could simply stack in a container. Power
input to the machine was also shown to be far less complicated and expensive. Powering the
hydraulic ram would require something such as a gasoline motor generating significant pressure
in a pump. Powering the shredder only required a battery run electric motor. These many benefits
of the shredder design allowed the group to make a concrete decision of pursuing the shredder
design.

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Final Subassembly Design
Casing
The reasoning for the components arouse from the need to be able to contain the thirty pounds of
scrap aluminum cans. To do this we decided that some kind of store-bought storage bin would
work well, as there would be no need to make one. The storage bin chosen to suit this constraint
is the Sterlite 45 gallon bin. This bin will not only allow for a large amount of scrap but it also
comes with wheels that will help with the removability of the storage. To keep the storage secure
while in transport, two small holes in the base of the bin will be drilled that will allow small wooden
doles attached to the wooden planks to hold the bin in place.
Figure 3: Sterlite 45 gallon bin
The base of the casing will be made up of five 2x 6“ planks all cut 48 inches long. These planks
will then be fastened to the angle frame of the casing along with the trailer by ½“ diameter, 3 ¼”
long bolts. The framing of the case will consist of two parts: the main casing frame and the shredder
holder. The main casing frame is made up of all 2x2x3/8” angle iron in the shape of a rectangular
box that will encompass the storage bin dimensions of 36 ½ x 21x 19 ½”es. We chose this thickness
of angle iron because its moment of inertia would keep it from bending under heavy load.
The main frame will be reinforced by three 1 ½ angle iron on the center of the sides not containing
the door. This was chosen to help with any kind of bending deformation. The shredder holder is

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made up of two long 2x2x3/8” angle iron, cut to fit width wise along the casing frame, and two
short 1 ½ x1 ½ x ¼” angle iron cut to 10 inches. These two types of angle iron will be arranged to
encompass the shredder casing in the rectangular box that it will sit in.
For the door of the casing, it was decided that using the 1 ½” by ¼” angle iron would be enough
to hold the weight of the removable storage as it is rolled out. 1x 4’s were chosen to be the base of
the door since it would be sturdy enough to hold weight and thin enough to allow the door to close.
The hinges of the door are 3 inch barrel hinges that will be welded onto the casing as well as the
door. These hinges were chosen because they can be lubricated and are very strong. To lock the
door closed, a simple small cut of pipe that would act as a latch for the door was explored. This
pipe would be ½” in diameter and ¾” long. Four of these would be used to close the door by
inserting two ½”, L-shaped rods into the pipes. To accommodate the gearing and motor we used
two flat bars that would span from the back end of the casing’s top to the shredder holder. From
these two flat bars we attached a motor cradle and a small cut of flat bar to each long flat bar to
support the gear box and motor. Lastly we decided that expanded metal would be too costly and
heavy to use as the screens for the casing frame so we decided to go with lighter and less expensive
wire mess/ Hardware cloth.
Figure 4: Hardware cloth.
Welding would be the main method of fabrication for the TCCA casing and door. For the casing
frame, parts will be cut from the stock material to designed sizes. For the casing frame a 45° cut
will be necessary for correct fit at all corners. Once all the parts are correctly prepared they will be

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welded together. Another method that will be used to assemble the casing is by mechanically
fastening all wooden planks to the casing frame and the door frame.
The main concern with the casing was seeing if the holder would deflect enough to make the
design fail. The forces on the casing were modeled in figure 5.
Figure 5: displacement of casing frame.
The load on the casing frame was set to a 200 pound load, this would account for the hopper,
shredder, power transmission, and whatever cans would be in the hopper during operation. By
using the 3/8 thick angle iron the deflection in the holder is almost nonexistent at .004 in.
Trailer
The trailer is designed to perform in a tailgating atmosphere. The trailer can be hauled by any
standard vehicle with a 2” trailer hitch ball and can accommodate an estimated max capacity of
600 lbs. The tires can hold an overall maximum of 1180 lbs. Each tire has a maximum capacity
of 590 lbs. This far exceeds the actual estimated maximum weight of the components, totaling in
at most 600 lb. The casing will be bolted directly to the trailer. Calculations were performed
estimating the center of gravity in the center of the casing, to ensure load on the tires and the
hitch are appropriate (See figure 6 below). It was important to leave a large safety margin if
heavier metal options or additional components are implemented at a later date. It is also vital

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that the trailer will be able to handle the additional weight of the crushed aluminum cans when
the machine is in operation.
The tires that were selected for the trailer are durable and bruise resistant. They will be able to
take any road conditions that are commonly present at tailgating festivities. Any grass to road
transition paths or loose gravel surfaces were taken into consideration when choosing appropriate
trailer tires.
The trailer was also designed to accommodate a 2” channel tongue trailer coupler that can be
purchased. This was necessary so that the trailer can be towed by any standard vehicle or golf
cart. See figure 7 below for references of trailer purchases.
Figure 6: Forces on Trailer

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Figure 7: Trailer Purchases
The trailer will be fabricated predominantly by welded and bolted connections. The trailer frame,
made of 2” X 2” square tubing, will have 45° angle cuts on the ends and the ends will then be
welded together. A 3’ X 5’ trailer frame will be generated, then inner angle iron supports will be
welded inside the frame. The trailer hitch will also be welded to the trailer frame. The purchased
coupler will be bolted to the hitch. The axel will be made from 2” X 2” square tubing and a
purchased axel kit. The kit will provide the spindle, wheel hub and all necessary nuts and bolts to
assemble the axel to the trailer tires (See figure 7 above). The spindle will be welded inside the
axel tubing. The axel will ultimately exist bolted to the trailer frame 24.25” from the rear.

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Shredder
The final design of the shredder has one shaft, 14 blades, 15 blade spacers, a shaft nut, two
washers, 15 fingers and finger spacers, one thin finger spacer, two end walls, one side wall, 2
bearings, 6 standard bolts, 2 finger bolts, and 10 nuts. The full assembly of the shredder can be
seen in figure 8 and the exploded drawing and detailed drawings start on drawing page 3 of the
appendix. The shredder is estimated to be able to shred the full load of cans that can fit into the
hopper (about 80cans) in about 10 seconds. Because of the large number of parts and different
manufacturing processes, each part will be considered separately below.
Figure 8: Shredder Assembly
-Shaft

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The shaft of the shredder is to hold the blades and transmit torque. A hex shape was chosen to
allow the blades and blade spacers to slip on and off easily during assembly and maintenance.
The hex shape also allows the blades to be installed in different orientations. As each blade
contacts and cuts the aluminum cans, a force is applied on the system. Different orientations
allow less blades to be in contact with cans at a time, cutting down the loads placed on the
system while still shredding cans at the same rate of speed. Each end of the shaft has a circular
portion to fit into the bearings. One end also has a small length of threading for the shaft bolt to
screw on. This end extends further to reach the gears, connecting it to the power transmission.
The shaft will be manufactured from carbon steel hex bar. The two ends will be machined into
circular bar by a turing operation. The threads will be machined in the same process.
The dimensions of the shaft was determined more from a workability standpoint than a structural
one. The gears have a 1" bore, so the circular part of the shaft was made to match that. The hex
bar was then chosen as a standard size above 1". This was done so that the shaft bolt can be
made out of the same piece of hex bar and be large enough to bore a hole that will fit the circular
portion. The hex portion of the shaft is meant to be long enough that two cans can sit parallel to
the shaft inside of the shredder at once. However, the exact length should be determined after
manufacturing the blades and blade spacers. The length will then be made to .01" smaller than
all the blades and blade spacers stacked together to allow the shaft bolt to apply pressure to the
first blade spacer. These dimensions are shown to be more than enough to withstand the
expected loads below (yield strength of steel is about 36 ksi).
Figure 9: Stress on Shaft
-Blade
The blades are to cut the cans against the fingers. The hex hole in the middle fits onto the shaft.
The hooked parts are meant to grab the cans and cut them against the fingers. The circular part
overlaps the curved part of the finger so the whole can is cut.

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Each blade will be milled from ¼" sheet metal. Stainless steel was considered to prevent
corrosion but A36 steel was chosen instead to lower costs.
The dimensions of the blades were chosen to ensure the cans will be cut. The two hooked parts
are 2" long so that they are long enough to cut the entire can in 1 or 2 strikes. The radius of the
curved part of the hook should be such that the minimum thickness of the hook is greater than
one inch to prevent the blade from breaking. The diameter of the circular part of the blade was
chosen to extend beyond the blade spacers and overlap the fingers. This will help prevent pieces
of cans from slipping between blades, which will cause the cans to be cut improperly.
-Blade Spacer and Finger Spacers
The blade and finger spacers are to hold the blades and fingers a specific distance apart. This is
important because the blades need to fit between the fingers without any interference. The hex
hole in the blade spacer fits onto the shaft and the holes on each end of the finger spacer fits onto
the threaded bars. The thin finger spacer will be adjusted in width to ensure the fingers line up
properly and span the length between the two end walls.
The blade spacers will be machined from 3” A36 steel circular rod. The finger spacers will be
machined from 1x3/8” rectangular rod.
The thickness of the spacers was chosen to allow a 1/16” clearance between the blades and
fingers on each side. This should prevent any interference after assembly.
-Shaft Nut
The shaft nut is to lock the blades and blade spacers into place. The shaft nut will be tightened
onto the shaft against a washer, which will press against the first blade spacer.
The shaft nut will be machined from the same hex bar as the shaft. The hole and threads will be
machined by a turing operation.
-Washers, Bolts, and Nuts
The washers are to assist in keeping the blades and blade spacers in place. One will be welded
onto the back end of the shaft (the end without threads) so that the blades and blade spacers can
be stacked onto the shaft vertically. The other washer will go on the other side and be tightened
against the first blade spacer by the shaft bolt. The bolts and nuts are used to fix the shredder
onto the casing and the hopper onto the shredder. The finger bolts are long threaded bars and are
to hold the fingers. These parts will be bought from a supplier.
-Finger

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The fingers are to provide the blades with something to cut the cans against and prevent scrap
from getting stuck between the blades. The base is to hold the part in place and form the side
wall of the shredder. The extruding finger portion has an angle of 45° to facilitate cans entering
the shredder. The finger reaches very close to the spacer and curves with it to keep out any loose
scraps.
Each finger will be milled from ¼" sheet metal. Stainless steel was considered to prevent
corrosion but A36 steel was chosen instead to lower costs.
The dimensions of the fingers were chosen to be functional and inexpensive. The thickness is
the same as the blades so that they can be manufactured out of the same stock material. The
length and width are based off of the dimensions of the blades and the outer walls of the
shredder.
-Walls and bearings
The walls and bearings are to support and protect the shredder. The two end walls hold the
bearings, shaft, and fingers. They are fixed to the casing and hopper by bolts, including the finger
bolts. The side wall is fixed to the angled wall of the hopper and has a hinge so the hopper wall
can act as a lid when not in use.
The walls will be manufactured out of ¼" A36 steel. The holes will be milled using a milling
machine.
The dimensions were set simply to encompass and hold the shaft and blades.
Hopper
The hopper is designed with mobility and compactness in mind. Beginning with support, angle
iron is used for each corner. This gives structure and shape to the hopper. To make it compact, a
folding design was integrated; two 360º hinges were used so that three of the hopper walls could
fold flat. A weld-on hinge is used to keep the slanted wall attached to the shredder case. This key
feature creates easy access to shredder maintenance and promotes safety. The attached wall also
acts as a safety guard whenever the hopper is removed. In order to be the most cost effective and
reduce weight, wire mesh will be used to connect the angle iron and act as a case instead of having
solid surface walls, eliminating any significant wind force. Two more pieces of angle iron are
needed on the slanted wall. This is where it will be connected to the other walls, as seen in Figure
10. Now with each wall at a constant height of 12” and length being 9.45’ x 10’, the hopper has a
volume of 1674 cubic inches, allowing it to hold at least 80 cans at one time. With all these
components, the removable part of the hopper has a weight right below 30lbs, so almost anyone
can easily remove it when needed. Having the ability to fold and be removed are the features that
make this hopper unique and a great design.

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Figure 10: Hopper with foldable walls
Welding would be the main technique for fabrication. The main welds are going to be for the
hinges and iron plates. The 360 hinges will have an open area at 6” on the corner where it will
weld to the iron, shown at 1 on Figure 10. Two iron plates will be cut out at 2.25” x 3/8” x 9.45”
and will be welded on the outside of the 9.45” edges, .75” from the edge. The last weld consists of
using a small piece of angle iron that will be welded .75” from the top of the slanted wall. Once
the welds are done correctly, the rest is quite simple; it is just placed on shredder and fastened with
butterfly nuts.
One of the main design constraints is the capacity of 30lb of crushed can. The analysis on an
average aluminum can size and weight provides a background to design the hopper that meets this
constraint. Figure 11 shows the number of cans needed to crush to obtain 30lb, and the container
size to hold this number of crushed cans.
1

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Figure 11: 30lb of Cans
The hopper does not necessarily hold 30lbs of un-crushed cans all at once. If the hopper was
designed to handle all 30lbs of un-crushed cans, the overall size would be large and heavy. An
assumption that people at tailgating sites use home trash bags to collect scattered aluminum cans
before feeding them into the hopper was chosen to facilitate hopper dimension calculation. Each
home trash bag is able to hold approximately 200 un-crushed cans, so the hopper was designed to
hold at least 80 cans; approximately one third of the trash bag capacity.
Power Transmission
The power input to the device was determined to be a small 12v electric motor. This was decided
due to the quiet, continuous nature of electric motors. A 12v motor was chosen because it could
be obtained easily and powered by a car battery. The battery will be able to power the device for
16 hours at no load to just under an hour under full load (this condition is not expected to happen
often). This estimation came from using a free spinning amperage draw of 2.7 amps and full power
draw of 68 amps as well as a 45A.hr rating on a typical car battery. The primary issue with a 12v
electric motor is that they do not produce very much torque in the low cost price range. To solve
this issue, a high rpm motor was chosen. This meant that once a lengthy gear reduction process
was undertaken the motor would produce sufficient torque. The motor chosen produces 0.896 ft-
lb of torque at 2655 RPM. Once a speed of 59.48 RPM is achieved the final torque is 40.0 ft-lb.
This requires a gear ratio of 44.64:1. At first, this reduction was achieved through a series of spur
gears. The problem with this method is that several individual shafts were required along with their
respective bearings. To circumvent this excess complexity and cost, a gear box was implemented.

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Figure 12: Gear Box
The gear box supplied a 14.88:1 gear reduction. To complete the gearing after the gearbox, only
one additional set of spur gears was required to bring the overall gear reduction to 44.64:1. The
input gear inside the gear box is run directly off the shaft of the motor. The output of the gearbox
will drive a 24 tooth gear mated to a 72 tooth gear on the shredder shaft. A cross support on the
casing is used to support the gearbox through mechanical fastening along with a cradle for the
motor.

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Figure 13: Final Gear Assembly

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Final Overall Design
Detailed description
The overall design of the TCCA consists of the five major components groups as describe above.
These components groups consist of the casing, trailer, shredder, hopper, and power transmission.
The casing of the TCCA consists of the frame, the storage bin, and the door. The bin is a Sterilite
45 gallon wheeled storage bin that will be the removable storage. This bin comes pre-fitted with
wheels that allow it to be moved with ease. To keep the bin station while in motion two small
holes, ½” in diameter each, will be drilled to the bottom to allow wood inserts from the planks to
hold the bin in place. The door will consist of 1 ½ x 1 ½ x ¼” angle iron welded together to make
the frame of the door. The door will be seven 1 x 2 boards cut to 22 5/8”. These boards will be
mechanically fastened to the door frame by fourteen ¼” bolts. The frame of the casing is made up
of two types of angle iron, 2 x 2 x 3/8” and 1 ½ x 1 ½ x ¼ “. The base of the frame is made up of
five 2 x 6” wood planks that are cut to a length of 48”. Two of the planks on the corners are cut to
fit within the corner supports on the inner side of the angle iron. The 1 ½ angle iron will be used
to make the lateral parts of the shredder holder. Lastly the planks are mechanically fastened to the
angle iron by 20 ½” x 3 ¼” bolts, where 16 of them will allow fasten the casing to the trailer frame.
The frame of the casing will also have wire mesh to keep scraps in and debris out.
The trailer can be deconstructed to two parts, the frame and the fastened parts. The frame of the
trailer is made up of 2” square tubing along with 2 x 2 x 3/8” angle iron. The parts will be welded
together to make the frame of the trailer. The auxiliary parts of the axle, the wheels/ spindle, and
the hitch. The axle will also consist of 2” square tubing, this will be mechanically fastened to the
trailer frame using ½” bolts. The wheels that were chosen are two 16” tires that will operate at low
speeds. The hub and the spindle of the tires will be bought from a do it yourself kit, then the spindle
will be welded to the interior of the axel. Finally the trailer hitch will consist of a 27” tongue that
is welded to the front part of the frame at its center. A latch will be bolted to the tongue to allow
for towability of the TCCA.
For the shredder design, it was decided to go with steel plate ¼” thick for the rotating blades and
the stationary blades. The blades are inserted onto a 1 ½” hexagonal shaft that expands past the
shredder casing walls. The blades will be separated by 3” diameter spacers made from 3” circular
rod. The shaft of the shredder will have threading to allow fastening of one end to tighten the
blades and spacers together. The walls of the shredder casing will be 1/4” thick plate metal. Two
of the walls will have cut outs to allow for all connection points for fasteners and the shaft. The
bearings will be mounted on these two walls by fasteners. One wall will consist of the stationary
blades and rectangular spacers all connected by a long road with threads at the end to allow
connection for to the hopper and casing.
The hopper of the TCCA was designed to accommodate a large amount of cans at one time. The
hopper is made of 1 ½ “x 1 ½” x ¼” angle iron and expanded metal. The hopper is separated into
the foldable section and the permeant section. The foldable section is made up of three sides

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connected by 360º hinges, while the permanent section is a single side of the hopper that is fixed
to the shredder casing by a hinge. This wall also acts as a cover for the shredder. The foldable
section, when folded, will be able to fit within the casing for ease of portability.
Lastly, the power transmission of the TCCA will be supplied by a 2500 RPM motor. Since the
motor operates at such high RPMs, there is need for a lot of speed reductions. We accomplished
this by using a set of spur gears and a gear box. The gears reduce the speed by a third and the gear
box bring it down to about 60 RPM. Another addition to the gear box is that allows for a secondary
motor input to give considerably more torque to the shredder as the need arises. The gears connect
directly to the shredder shaft.
Figure 13: Full Assembly
User Manual
Operational Procedure
The overall flow of the operation consists of steps that, when followed, will result in efficient use
of the apparatus.
 Make sure connection points between components are secure and all components present.

25
 Turn on machine with the switch, allow for motor to reach correct RPM for cutting speed.
 Pour aluminum cans into hopper. Allow sometime between full capacity and next load.
 While in action, observe apparatus for irregularities such as stoppages or fractures.
 Allow for all scrap and debris to pass through shredder before stopping operation.
 Turn off machine with kill switch.
 Clean and inspect apparatus for defects or scrap not in removable storage.
Maintenance
Even well designed devices require maintenance, so here are tips to help with this.
 Always follow operating procedure for apparatus.
 Make sure all scrap and debris have vacated the grinder before activating kill switch.
 Clean and inspect device for defects.
 Make sure motor and battery locations are secure and covered along with correct wiring.
 Add lubrication to moving components to maximize rotation shearing torque.
 If there is a defective or worn blade within the shredder, remove hopper and shredder casing
and slide off the blades and spacers to remove defective blade, then replace.

26
Conclusion
DesignWeaknesses
The TCCA design was possibly constrained or weakened by cost. When presented with this
project, the lack of budget and sponsorship led to the end result of a lean, realistic, and cost
effective design. Design changes along the way were primarily made to minimize material cost or
material need. Material alternations such as plastic and wood alternatives were extensively
discussed to try to limit some of the heavy metal purchases that would be necessary. Price did
contribute to a large portion of the possible flaws in our design by limiting our overall big picture
options but it did not prevent us from creating a design that met our objectives.
The need to be cost conservative often led group discussions away from more extensive design
discussions. For example, ideally the end design would have had many parts galvanized and treated
to withstand corrosion and variable environmental conditions. Options like galvanizing or
selecting stainless steel were often high cost solutions that the group was forced to opt out of. This
leads to the likelihood that many components do not have maximized useful lives. Maintenance
and replacement needs are necessary, possible at an annual rate, depending on operations, because
of our material selection and price limits.
With the TCCA design, another possible flaw present is FOD concerns. It will be very necessary
to have clear signs as well as possibly an operator’s presence to ensure machine jamming and
failure due to FOD is limited. The shedder design is made specifically for aluminum destruction.
Implementing a physical sensor into our design to combat this problem would have been ideal, but
ultimately did not seem realistic for our price constraints.
Along with FOD, excess liquid accumulation is a possible vulnerability in the design. Our design
does not include a drainage solution. Excess liquid is likely to be an additional output. This is will
also require operator awareness to remove excessive liquid accumulation in the removable bin in-
between operations. The solution to this problem may be as simple as drilling holes in the storage
bin but this will be addressed during the testing phase of the machine after assembly.
DesignStrengths
The TCCA project was accomplished with the user in mind. Specifically, the simplicity of the
overall design is a major strength. The design is compact and the operation is user friendly. Any
adult of average height should not have issues accessing the input of the hopper. It was always
very important during project discovery conversations that the height of the overall design be
limited whenever possible. The total apparatus is less than 6 feet tall.
The TCCA design was created to be easy to maintain. In every step of the way, as the group
discussed fabrication, it was important to stop and reflect on if maintenance was possible. In the
shredder assembly, the blades are not permanently secured to the shaft. It will be easy to replace
blades if necessary. The hopper is also designed to be easily removable, this makes accessing the
shredder if there is a jam easy for the user.

27
Along with a user friendly concentration, the design maximizes safe practices and promotes
recycling. The aluminum scrap output is compact and can be transported to a recycling center with
ease. Safety and the environment were considered with the utmost respect when designing TCCA.
The shredder is not exposed during operation and when the hopper is removed there is still one
wall in place to act as a blade guard. Also, when in use, the shredder is not in reach of the user or
any bystanders. There will be a cover or lock in place to ensure only the appropriate user can place
the machine in operation.
DesignFuture
The future of the TCCA design is to accommodate tailgating participants, reduce waste and
encourage recycling. Together, Team Beta was able to brainstorm and eventually implement
creative thinking into a practical and meaningful solution. The design is compact and user friendly.
The shedders operate continuously and can accommodate the large quantities of cans that are
produced at tailgating festivities. The design serves the community and promotes recycling and
safe practices.
In the fall of 2016, Team Beta will reunite to begin the next phase of TCCA. Over the summer and
early next semester there will be great efforts put in by the team to obtain the funds necessary to
begin production. The Team will reach out to local companies and organizations as well as to the
College of Engineering leadership to accomplish this goal. When fabrication begins, the majority
of the design will be completed in house and performed predominantly by group members. There
will be a large amount of outside material purchasing but few components will be manufactured
by outside sources. The TCCA design has great potential to be implemented into Texas Tech
tailgating tradition as early as fall of 2017 and is likely to return many seasons to follow.

TCCA_Final Report

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