Alright, so I’ve been tinkering with this idea I had – I’m calling it the “emanator of cans.” Basically, I wanted to make something that would, well, emanate cans. I had so many empty soda cans lying around that I thought I am going to find something that can make them useful.
The Idea Phase
First, I brainstormed. What did I want this thing to actually do? Just spit out cans randomly? That seemed a little boring, and it made no use of the cans I had, I had to change my initial thought. So, I decided it needed a target. It needed to do something a bit more, to be more useful.
- Option 1: A can-launching turret. Kind of like a silly defense system.
- Option 2: A can-stacking machine. Neat, but also kind of pointless.
- Option 3: Something that would chuck cans into a recycling bin. Practical!
I went with option 3. Seemed the most useful, and I’m all about not wasting stuff. It means that my “emanator of cans” will have a goal, to place cans in recycling bins.
Building the Contraption
This is where things got interesting. I grabbed some scrap wood, a broken leaf blower I found in the garage, and a whole bunch of duct tape. I’m not gonna lie, it looked pretty janky at first.
I started by building a simple frame to hold the leaf blower. It was basically just a box with a hole for the blower’s nozzle. Then, I fashioned a kind of ramp out of some cardboard and more duct tape. The idea was that the cans would roll down the ramp and get blasted into the bin by the leaf blower.
The first few attempts were…disastrous. Cans went everywhere but the bin. Some even flew backward. Turns out, aiming a leaf blower is harder than it looks.
Tweaking and Testing
So, I spent the next few hours making adjustments. I angled the ramp differently. I added some side rails to keep the cans from flying off. I even rigged up a little trigger mechanism using a string and a piece of wood, so I could control when the leaf blower turned on.
After a lot of trial and error, and a lot of stray cans, I finally got it working! It wasn’t perfect – maybe a 50% success rate – but it was definitely chucking cans into the bin. The cans finally had a use.
The Final Result
It’s ugly, it’s noisy, and it’s not exactly efficient, but it’s my emanator of cans. And it does, in fact, emanate cans. It’s a testament to the power of messing around with junk and seeing what happens. Plus, now I have a slightly more organized recycling system. Sort of.
I will probably try and make it better in the future, but I’m calling it a win for now!
