How to Build a Robot That Compacts Recyclable Items
In a national climate of environmental awareness, recycling your reusable materials has become an expected standard practice. Aluminum cans, paper products, and certain kinds of plastics all are able to be re-purposed into useful resources, thus cutting down on the wear and tear on our planet.
However, to spare our arms and backs the wear and tear it would take to compact an entire household- or business'-worth of recyclable materials, why not simply construct a robot to do the job for you?
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Things You'll Need
- Manual material-compacter (capable of handling the materials you have in mind)
- Electric-driven pistons
- Mounting hardware
- Commensurate power source
- Requisite-gauge wire
- Photocell and trigger circuit
- Foam adhesive
- Soldering iron
- Solder
Instructions
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1
Mount your manual compactor the way you usually would, with the included hardware; i.e. above some sort of material-receptacle. Be sure to leave room on the sides for added components that might extend beyond the original dimensions of the compactor.
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2
Attach the electric-driven pistons to the moving arms of the compactor with the mounting hardware, and in such a way that, when activated, they will drive the compactor in the same fluid crushing motion that a human operator would. Ensure a solid contact between the piston-heads and the compactor, accounting for any weak points in the compactor's structure.
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3
Position the power source somewhere on or near the compactor, and attach the requisite-gauge wire to the leads of the power source. This should leave two wire ends unaccounted-for, ready to be attached to other components.
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4
Mount the photocell to the side of the compactor with the adhesive foam. Gauge carefully where you position the photocell, as mounting it too high will result in shorter materials not triggering the crusher, while mounting too low runs the risk of constantly activating the crushing mechanism.
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5
Solder in the trigger circuit, away from the main crushing area if at all possible, and mounting on the compactor with the foam adhesive.
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6
Power your creation by attaching the remaining wire leads to the photocell. Run separate, shorter leads from the photocell to the pistons, and test for correct activation by inserting a piece of recyclable material. The photocell should trigger the pistons to begin the crushing motion, reversing when they reach a certain range, dictated by the trigger circuit.
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Tips & Warnings
Be sure your solder and foam adhesives are forming strong connections; the crushing procedure can often involve sharp jostles which can shake weak connections loose and damage the robot.
Very important: Be sure your solder is cooled and hardened before attempting a test run. Hot or liquid solder can fail extremely easily, damaging your robot and potentially causing injuries to those nearby.
Be sure to obtain the correct power source for the power-to-work ratio required. Too high a power source will result in a sudden, dangerous crushing motion.
