Hey everyone! So a lot of people have requested that I do this so I finally did. Some said it would be better and faster and I would get more clean aluminum. Well, I think it was faster to melt overall, but I had more slag than usual and simply shredding all the cans took a while itself. I don’t think it saved me any time by doing it this way. Let me know your thoughts and what else you would like to see in the future. Stay healthy and safe and I’ll see you all next week!
I'm curious how you can have more slag due to shredding. Could it be that maybe your ingot is more pure since slag is the impurities? Also how much gas do you think was used? This is a hobby I have been considering getting into and I'm curious what the gas costs would be.
MAN! Changed my life. I welded up an aluminum frame and build a press using parts from an old hydraulic jack just to compress cans down enough to fit in my electric foundry. I had an unused 16 page shredder and did the modification (cut the lid open) and it just rips through cans. I walked passed that thing every day, even the days I was pressing hundreds of cans and never thought about using it to shred cans. Thank you!
All someone had to do is try it?! I’ve been looking at $2,000 machines and you break out the goodwill special paper shredder and done. It was so obvious yet didn’t think of it. Genius!
Every day I look at my shredder in disappointment. I showed this video to the shredder and tried to encourage it to perform at higher level. I guess I'll just have to get a puppy if I want things shredded.
I was looking to do just this, thinking it would melt faster and save me fuel so thank you for saving me wasting $20+ on buying a second hand shredder! Great video!
Shredding them increases the surface area available to oxidize the aluminum. Getting the metal plunged down into the molten metal quicker reduces losses from oxidation. It may be beneficial to crush the cans first, but that comes with issues of getting them to fit in the opening of the crucible and can trap any moisture that may be left in the can. Cheers!
I saw a video last week where someone shredded the cans tens times before melting them I thought this was just a waste of time and money. Thank you for the video and thumbs up.
If you got more slag then that means you just ended up with aluminum that was higher purity and the cans shredded are def easier to work with in the foundry. But if you're only doing this for recycling purposes or consolidation/storage purposes shredding them and running em through a trash compactor would save a lot of space 😉 enjoyed the video
Very interesting that you said there was more slag having shredded the cans. I've found crushing the cans and throwing them in minimise the slag. Will give it a try and compare.
Awesome! I just ordered two of your pirate coin molds and they should be arriving today. After watching this video I'm going to stick to just crushing the cans and melting them! Thanks for all your content and thanks for the inspiration!
Do a comparison between shredding vs crushed. I’d be interested in space taken before melting, and of course slag produced for a set number of cans. I have noticed that the beer cans provide the most Al per can though.
I know it’s an old video, but so happy to see this as I have three or four of these exact shredders left over from an old business, and was just waiting to find a use for them! What do you do with the slag? Does it have a use?
Been watching your channel for a few years and i keep coming back to this one for the shredder idea. Have you continued using the shredder? How long do you think its life is?
It's interesting to see how little aluminum there was after shredding the cans. And to think, it really didn't help with anything except to save space. Great video.
Might be useful for better storage before melting? Like, how much space did it take shredded vs non shredded? stock up on aluminum and then do a big pour.
Hello quick question aluminium cans value is £50 a ton if you melt it down will it become clean aluminum witch the value is about £650 pounds is that right thanks
All I want to say is that slag is not always just slag tho It does take much greater volumes there are still recoverable amounts of any metal in slag I'd love to see a slag melt video I keep and remelt all slag untill it literally turns to dust, it's two things for me, for one I enjoy melting, for recovery of the metals and two, . Yeah, I see dollar signs lol I dont keep any thing I sell it all either for scrap or I stockpile it to sell later, I love the channel buddy definitely keep up the awesome content, you and bigstacked are have the best melting vids on youtube later for now
yes I suppose that more pieces = more surface to oxydize and became slag. maybe shredded can could be usefull in a sort of continuous feeding for the fournace with a loading screw, but in an industrial eviroment, that could be made also with entire cans :D
I found that a steel food can makes a good single use aluminum crucible and I do think this would make it easier to pack cans into that. I'm also just using charcoal and forced air to melt so I don't have as easy of a time adding things to the melt as i would with a nice gas foundry
Have a question or two.... One: dose this increase the usable metal you get? And what shredder is it and is it still working? If not roughly how many cans did it go through?
Try shredding, and then pressing it into a round shape that fits the crucible using an old juice can as a form and a bottle jack maybe. The shredder needs a feed chute...
Also have pieces of old shredder at home. But was thinking of trying to use it for battle robot weapon. But due to the covid dont know if we wil have an event soon here in south africa
The only thing I can think of that is different when shredding the cans is that more surface area is exposed to oxygen to create oxides and cover it with other impurities. It should only effect the dross yield only minutely so there must be an additional mechanism at work here to produce the greater amount of slag.
Hey everyone! So a lot of people have requested that I do this so I finally did. Some said it would be better and faster and I would get more clean aluminum. Well, I think it was faster to melt overall, but I had more slag than usual and simply shredding all the cans took a while itself. I don’t think it saved me any time by doing it this way. Let me know your thoughts and what else you would like to see in the future. Stay healthy and safe and I’ll see you all next week!
It was cool but kinda pointless I think. The numbers tell the real story. Now do a melt of 75 cans no shed and compare the difference
I would have like to have seen the weight before and then the weight of the dross
I've seen so many of those shredders broken. The plastic fingers that clear between the shredders are garbage.
I'm curious how you can have more slag due to shredding. Could it be that maybe your ingot is more pure since slag is the impurities? Also how much gas do you think was used? This is a hobby I have been considering getting into and I'm curious what the gas costs would be.
About $3 in gas
MAN! Changed my life. I welded up an aluminum frame and build a press using parts from an old hydraulic jack just to compress cans down enough to fit in my electric foundry. I had an unused 16 page shredder and did the modification (cut the lid open) and it just rips through cans. I walked passed that thing every day, even the days I was pressing hundreds of cans and never thought about using it to shred cans. Thank you!
You remember the brand of paper shredder and how long it lasted? Scared it'll shat out after a few hundred cans if I bought a nice one
Now get yourself a trash compactor and you'll really blow your mind 😉
All someone had to do is try it?! I’ve been looking at $2,000 machines and you break out the goodwill special paper shredder and done. It was so obvious yet didn’t think of it. Genius!
This is me too 😂
I wouldn't have believed a paper shredder would be able to do aluminum cans so easily. Theres always something to learn watching your videos
I wanna see the BigstackD remix of this technique. With as much as that man can go through, I think he'd make some sweet work as well.
I just want to say that it was very satisfying to watch the cans go through the shredder. I could watch that for hours.
That was seriously genius using a paper shredder like that!
Every day I look at my shredder in disappointment. I showed this video to the shredder and tried to encourage it to perform at higher level. I guess I'll just have to get a puppy if I want things shredded.
Your a funny man bro, I can tell. 😂
Man, before puppies are trained, they are destructive adorable little menaces. But then they usually grow up awesome.
oil them and lube the gears. use wd-40 for extra fun
Always astounded by the amount kf slag/dross from cans. Thx bruv slainté
I was looking to do just this, thinking it would melt faster and save me fuel so thank you for saving me wasting $20+ on buying a second hand shredder! Great video!
I might shred mine to keep. Save in boxes. Right now I throw them away. That is a Bad Ass Paper Shredder!!!!!
Shredding them increases the surface area available to oxidize the aluminum. Getting the metal plunged down into the molten metal quicker reduces losses from oxidation. It may be beneficial to crush the cans first, but that comes with issues of getting them to fit in the opening of the crucible and can trap any moisture that may be left in the can. Cheers!
I saw a video last week where someone shredded the cans tens times before melting them I thought this was just a waste of time and money. Thank you for the video and thumbs up.
Dude, that is such a great idea using the shredder!! Kudos
ADAM always nice to see a good pop can melt that shredder worked awesome i really enjoy that part of it do more stuff you can shred 👍😎🇨🇦👍😎🇨🇦👍😎🇨🇦
Cool idea. I never thought of using a shredder. Nice compact shreddings.
If you got more slag then that means you just ended up with aluminum that was higher purity and the cans shredded are def easier to work with in the foundry. But if you're only doing this for recycling purposes or consolidation/storage purposes shredding them and running em through a trash compactor would save a lot of space 😉 enjoyed the video
Finally found the mold I was looking for it was on your website out of my current budget for it but I will be buying a few within 2 months
Love that paper shredder idea
wow i never saw this one. very cool repurposing of a paper shredder i wouldnt have thought they could do that lol
It is amazing how compact the aluminum is once melted.
What great idea, melting cans is a pain, love it
Thanks for all the info and process for melting you left that one important component... what is the make and model of the paper shredder?
Fellowes DM21C
You have to test the hypothesis. You did the experiment and got the result. Cool! Good to hear the voice behind the art too.
Have you ever tried adding white sand to molten aluminum to create a thermite reaction and get silicon aluminum alloy?
It's honestly pretty impressive how powerful the average paper shredder is
Hi there - I just did a melt and the toxin/smell was terrible - how did you manage that?
The slag is my favorite. Especially on aluminum its like a 2,000 degree slimy substance.😂
Do you know what you do with slag? is it put into the garbage when it cools down or is it recyclable or something?
@@appleapple1988 Lets it cool down, stores it, and remelts it later. What ever slag comes out of that melt is thrown out.
Is it better quality though to have more slag?
Great video!
You answered my question with this video, nicely done bro.
So this is all I had to do to have a shredder that shreds more than just paper? You are a GD genius!
I've literally been waiting all day for this video love it so cool
Very interesting that you said there was more slag having shredded the cans. I've found crushing the cans and throwing them in minimise the slag. Will give it a try and compare.
Great video .I agree with what u said about not shredding the cans .just melt them whole 👍
What do you do with the pure aluminum billets?
Awesome! I just ordered two of your pirate coin molds and they should be arriving today. After watching this video I'm going to stick to just crushing the cans and melting them! Thanks for all your content and thanks for the inspiration!
Honestly, shredding the cans with a paper shredder is a great idea :) Thanks for trying it anyway
What can you use the Slagle for
Such great ideas, about shredding cans
Will fabric jame the machine?
Do a comparison between shredding vs crushed. I’d be interested in space taken before melting, and of course slag produced for a set number of cans. I have noticed that the beer cans provide the most Al per can though.
I know it’s an old video, but so happy to see this as I have three or four of these exact shredders left over from an old business, and was just waiting to find a use for them! What do you do with the slag? Does it have a use?
Been watching your channel for a few years and i keep coming back to this one for the shredder idea. Have you continued using the shredder? How long do you think its life is?
How much time running the forge to get to melt point?
It's interesting to see how little aluminum there was after shredding the cans. And to think, it really didn't help with anything except to save space. Great video.
That was still cool to watch.
That’s a freaking great idea to shred lol I kept looking for industrial.
So my question is, how much fuel did it take for the process, and can you sell the ingots for more than just the cans and where?
Seems like a statement more than a question 🤣
@Thriliad. Don't see why... looks like 2 Questions me.
Might be useful for better storage before melting?
Like, how much space did it take shredded vs non shredded? stock up on aluminum and then do a big pour.
I got a electirc forge how much propane do you use
So, I'm curious. Do you think the additional slag from shredding them gave you a more pure aluminum ingot?
Probably. The problem is surface area. Shredding them, then compressing. Starting with a molten pool to plunge the cans under works better too.
leave it to Adrock to shred and melt, i love it man i kinda want one now! =)
Will it do plastic?
great stuff nice to see other methods
What kind of paper shredder did you use exactly.
Very neat ! Keep it up mate
Great video.
That's awesome
How long did that paper shredder last vs aluminum cans. I like the idea, just think that it would be hell on the shredder and it would crap out fast
A great try. And interesting info. Thank you for sharing
Craftsman!!
😅 that paper shredder needs a medal
Hi @ArtByAdrock I was wondering if I could have your shredder because I have loads of cans to shred please
I agree put the cans in whole = less slag.
What are the kilns and molten aluminum containers made of? Is it stone or iron, I'm from Indonesia 🙏
Is using Gas Propane cheaper than using Kings charcoal
Awesome video. How did you cut the plastic? That is some hard awkward plastic to cut. Trying to cut mine open bigger like yours. Thanks.
I used a rotary tool and cutting bit.
Hello quick question aluminium cans value is £50 a ton if you melt it down will it become clean aluminum witch the value is about £650 pounds is that right thanks
Great vid. Would it be a waste of time to re-melt the slag? Also what to do with the slag. Thx for the vid
Nice shredder idea lol😁
All I want to say is that slag is not always just slag tho It does take much greater volumes there are still recoverable amounts of any metal in slag I'd love to see a slag melt video I keep and remelt all slag untill it literally turns to dust, it's two things for me, for one I enjoy melting, for recovery of the metals and two, . Yeah, I see dollar signs lol I dont keep any thing I sell it all either for scrap or I stockpile it to sell later, I love the channel buddy definitely keep up the awesome content, you and bigstacked are have the best melting vids on youtube later for now
What type of shredder is it?
Bud Light and Monster ... true American right here.
I like BigstackD and Adrock
There's a way to feed that with a hopper and presmashing mechanism to make the operation more hands free.
Whats the shredder called. I might buy one
Where did you get your custom forge from? An amazing as usual.
Devil-forge is one of my sponsors so they made it personally for me
I'm from liverpool an about to buy a 20kg forge an wanted it to be special like yours ha ha never mind
yes I suppose that more pieces = more surface to oxydize and became slag.
maybe shredded can could be usefull in a sort of continuous feeding for the fournace with a loading screw, but in an industrial eviroment, that could be made also with entire cans :D
The slug is aluminium oxide or colors and other impurities added in the cans?
I found that a steel food can makes a good single use aluminum crucible and I do think this would make it easier to pack cans into that. I'm also just using charcoal and forced air to melt so I don't have as easy of a time adding things to the melt as i would with a nice gas foundry
Ok now time for BigstackD :)
What is the size of your two smaller molds? They appear to make 1/2 pound aluminum ingots, which is the size I'm looking for.
Have a question or two.... One: dose this increase the usable metal you get?
And what shredder is it and is it still working? If not roughly how many cans did it go through?
Guess I should have finished the video before asking... Thanks was thinking about this
Try shredding, and then pressing it into a round shape that fits the crucible using an old juice can as a form and a bottle jack maybe.
The shredder needs a feed chute...
Does anyone know where to get those chunky ingot molds? I love those little ones and can’t find them anywhere
Total time invested to make the two ingots?
@Wayne Flanigan Yes, but the ingot is ready to cast into something else. How much would the refined ingot bring?
Wondering what made it have more sla
Wondering if melting more cans faster would save on propane usage, just added more labor to shred them first??
Also have pieces of old shredder at home. But was thinking of trying to use it for battle robot weapon. But due to the covid dont know if we wil have an event soon here in south africa
Now you can make something epic with that aluminum! 😜
I like the idea of taking up less space while collecting enough cans but maybe more Slag is a deal breaker.
Where do you get the your molds from? or do you make them?
would compressing the cans further produce less slag, and more product?
Great video
Good ممتاز👍
How about a Blendtec or upside down lawnmower to shred the cans?
The only thing I can think of that is different when shredding the cans is that more surface area is exposed to oxygen to create oxides and cover it with other impurities. It should only effect the dross yield only minutely so there must be an additional mechanism at work here to produce the greater amount of slag.
Add a hopper to the top of the shredder so you can just dump a garbage bag full of cans into it and let it do all the work other than one at a time.
I wonder if I can still sell the cans if they are shredded? That would save so much space.