Turning Glass Bottles to Sand - Homemade Glass Recycling Crusher

This documents my DIY build of a glass recycler to reuse glass bottles and turn them into sand. I built this for a friend who lives on a small island. They previously transported the bottles into town to recycle them. Now, they can save on the weight and turn it back into sand for their beach, or any other purpose they wish!

[@shabmaster7128]

Man, that is a classic saw you got there.

[@JeffAbelVideos]

Good eyes yeah that radial saw is older than me!

[@thom17043]

Perhaps a wedge shaped hammer into a similarly shaped receiver with a slot at the bottom would allow crushing to a finer output than the flat hammer against flat plate? As pieces became smaller, they would fall further to the bottom of the \ / and allow the hammer to crush them finer until they are small enough to fall through the slit.

[@JeffAbelVideos]

That is a great idea. The only challenge I can think of is that the receiver (strike plate) would still need to be removable, so the housing would have a larger gap on the side. Maybe a rubber flap could cover the larger opening.

[@thom17043]

Too bad YT doesn't allow images in responses. I'm not sure I'll be able to describe this adequately. If the receiver is a cartridge that slid into the side of the main shaft, the receiver could have a larger plate that butts up against the sides of the main shaft to seal it off. The next step from a wedge would be a pyramid to further limit the size of the material exiting the shaft.

[@JeffAbelVideos]

@@thom17043 That makes sense, I understand what you're describing and the cartridge would serve also as a guide for the hammer. I used spacers around the hammer shaft to prevent it from rattling around but rails are better and could hold the cartridge in place. Pyramid shape is better in principle but practically I find that smaller holes have lower throughput. If it's several pyramids (like the shape of a meat tenderizer) then that would be a good alternative.

[@mcyclonegt]

Go dawgs!!!

[@jumboegg5845]

Reinventing the wheel, but I suppose its all about the DIY aspect. A simple diy jaw crusher wouldnt be too hard to make, crushing glass is relatively easy.

[@stevejones9062]

good design but requires an adjustable step to account for the ergonomic differences between operators. I have shoulder problems that would make operating it difficult/painful.

[@user-xd7zk1pw5y]

Silicosis

[@chuckster6513]

In short order it needs to be motorized.