Here is a 4 or 5 minute long video of Sam's Cola cans being made.
It is slightly different than the machines I saw making cans, but a very similar operation.
https://www.google.com/search?q=aluminu ... P6PGbqAQ28
This machine appeared to use a drawing type of stamp to turn the cup into a can.
But the machine I saw, simply spun the metal disc after the bottom was formed.
It could be that is what this machine is doing, but it didn't look like it was spinning to me.
Lo-T Devices
Re: Lo-T Devices
I could not tell exactly how the flat metal disk turned into a cylinder. It looked like I imaged it had to be in that the metal was punched into the shape of a can. Like you, I could not tell if the can was spinning, but I don't see the point to it if it were. Why there are no wrinkles or tears is a miracle that the video did not make clear. LOL Also, Sams sells a lot of soda, but the bigger named brands sell a lot more. I am totally impressed by the number of cans that appear to be produced in any given second of time. I've seen cigarette making machines in operation and these cans reminded me of that. Millions of units produced per hour.
I found a clip showing how regular tin cans are produced https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swe4TwDMtys
This process is intuitive and very simple compared to the aluminum cans. However, the people working in this can factory must be there as a punishment for committing some high crimes. Each stage of the process is repetitive to the point of being insane. I'd like to know what the turnover for the workers is. I can't see anyone working in that factory for more than one week at a time.
I found a clip showing how regular tin cans are produced https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swe4TwDMtys
This process is intuitive and very simple compared to the aluminum cans. However, the people working in this can factory must be there as a punishment for committing some high crimes. Each stage of the process is repetitive to the point of being insane. I'd like to know what the turnover for the workers is. I can't see anyone working in that factory for more than one week at a time.
Re: Lo-T Devices
WOW, that video, this must be how they were made back in the 1940's, hi hi.
Did you see the guy adding the painted stripe inside over the welded seam.
Man, if he missed a spot, the food in that can would go bad.
So much manual labor and double handing in that plant, I wonder how they can make a profit.
The steel can machines I saw, were totally automated, and this was back before computers too, or with some computerization.
The cans were not coated on the inside until the bottom was installed, and a white plastic was sprayed into them.
I've also seen machines where the inside was coated before the bottom was added, and the lids had their own coating on them.
The aluminum cans in the video I linked to, the aluminum was stretched into the shape of a can from the formed cup.
But the machine I saw in person, after the bottom of the can was stamped in the center of the disk, it formed a thicker area of aluminum right around the stamped area, and then the machine that held the can had a solid steel cylinder inside the can, and flat roller wheels formed the can as it spun at high speed.
Sorta like the way a tool worker would do it on a hand lathe.
The only thing I could find right away, was a guy spinning an aluminum disk into a bowl.
But the soda cans were done in much a similar way, only using steel forms and rollers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHvtieU4-7Y
Did you see the guy adding the painted stripe inside over the welded seam.
Man, if he missed a spot, the food in that can would go bad.
So much manual labor and double handing in that plant, I wonder how they can make a profit.
The steel can machines I saw, were totally automated, and this was back before computers too, or with some computerization.
The cans were not coated on the inside until the bottom was installed, and a white plastic was sprayed into them.
I've also seen machines where the inside was coated before the bottom was added, and the lids had their own coating on them.
The aluminum cans in the video I linked to, the aluminum was stretched into the shape of a can from the formed cup.
But the machine I saw in person, after the bottom of the can was stamped in the center of the disk, it formed a thicker area of aluminum right around the stamped area, and then the machine that held the can had a solid steel cylinder inside the can, and flat roller wheels formed the can as it spun at high speed.
Sorta like the way a tool worker would do it on a hand lathe.
The only thing I could find right away, was a guy spinning an aluminum disk into a bowl.
But the soda cans were done in much a similar way, only using steel forms and rollers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHvtieU4-7Y
Re: Lo-T Devices
By Jove, I think I got it! It all makes sense in that it's akin to cold rolled steel. Aluminum being a lot softer would lend itself to automated can making quite easily.
I never thought of milling a bowl and that video of a bowl being made on a lathe was very enlightening. My first thoughts were that bowls were cast in a foundry, but obviously that would involve a lot more processing to finish the bowl properly. Essentially the guy with the lathe was cold rolling the metal using some very fine tools. He made it look so easy too.
I don't know what vintage my video clip is, but it certainly isn't anything modern. Google search isn't what it used to be and the results are often more disappointing than they are interesting. I suppose part of that has to do with me turning off as much of their tracking machinery as I can, but still a film from 70 years ago doesn't say much for what Google has in it's archive. I'd be very surprised if a modern can factory has more than half a dozen people in the entire operation, and half of those would be managers.
I never thought of milling a bowl and that video of a bowl being made on a lathe was very enlightening. My first thoughts were that bowls were cast in a foundry, but obviously that would involve a lot more processing to finish the bowl properly. Essentially the guy with the lathe was cold rolling the metal using some very fine tools. He made it look so easy too.
I don't know what vintage my video clip is, but it certainly isn't anything modern. Google search isn't what it used to be and the results are often more disappointing than they are interesting. I suppose part of that has to do with me turning off as much of their tracking machinery as I can, but still a film from 70 years ago doesn't say much for what Google has in it's archive. I'd be very surprised if a modern can factory has more than half a dozen people in the entire operation, and half of those would be managers.
Re: Lo-T Devices
I watched the machine making the can tabs, this new style tab in fact.
If you saw them after they were first punched, they didn't look like a can tab yet.
They looked like something with wings and a tail.
The second die it slid into just held it the size of a tab, and a ram pushed the sides and the hole area making it bigger.
Then it flipped over and another die came down on top of it rolling the metal edges using a tapered cone-like die.
Then it went into another press that didn't look like a die, more like a silicone pad that pressed down on each.
Up until this point, they were still connected together, like a flat chain running through the machine.
This chain of tabs went over rollers to flip it back topside up.
Another machine with with the stamped lids fed the lids all in perfect alignment under the machine with the chain of tabs and although you couldn't see inside the machine, it cut the scrap tail off the tabs, performed another bending operation, placed the rivet in the hole, then a press hit the rivet.
The lids then went through a double belt conveyor which flipped them over onto a flat conveyor where they were sprayed with something to clean them, through a dryer, and then through a machine that sprayed the insides of the lids.
After going through another dryer, they were all stacked up in tubes like coins are stacked, only the tubes were about 3 feet tall. From there the tubes went on a pallet which was wrapped and sent down another conveyor to the shipping room or warehouse.
I'm sure the larger soda companies have all of these machines in-house and the empty cans go straight to the soda filling machines. That's the only way I can see them from having to double handle everything.
Many long years ago, when I was in my teens, I had a friend who worked for a small bottling company, Stocker Soda Water Company. His job was menial. He took the dirty returned bottles out of the cases and put them on a moving conveyor face down, and they passed from the receiving dock he was in, through the wall and into the washing machine.
He took me through the place a couple of times, and it was not really all that much to see, even back then decades before computers. There were to older ladies sitting on stools, one was watching the bottles to see they came out clean with no foreign debris in them, and the other watched the tops of the bottles to see if there was any type of chip in the top of the bottle. If either lady saw something, they simply flipped the bottle onto a trash conveyor. From there the bottles went through a sterilizer, were flipped upright just as they went under the filler heads, and the capping machine.
The bottles that got discarded went down a conveyor through big iron rollers that crushed them, probably a series of rollers inside that machine, and only like white sand came out the other end. The sand went into a huge basin of water, so if anything not sand was in there, it floated to the top and was skimmed off, since the water was always overflowing the side of the basin. Another conveyor with cups on it was pulling the wet sand up out of the basin and onto yet another conveyor that took it to the loading dock where it was dumped into large barrels. I didn't see any drying method, so assume the sand was still wet when put into the barrels. The got lined up on the loading dock, waiting for a flat-bed to come pick them all up.
Naturally, the filled bottles went into wooden soda cases and were fed out to the loading dock and stacked out there, to be loaded on delivery trucks.
You would be surprised at how much bending a sheet of steel can take. Heck, just look at an insulated Yeti can holder and you won't find a seam anywhere on it. Now that is something I've searched on-line to see how they are made, but never found anything.
If you saw them after they were first punched, they didn't look like a can tab yet.
They looked like something with wings and a tail.
The second die it slid into just held it the size of a tab, and a ram pushed the sides and the hole area making it bigger.
Then it flipped over and another die came down on top of it rolling the metal edges using a tapered cone-like die.
Then it went into another press that didn't look like a die, more like a silicone pad that pressed down on each.
Up until this point, they were still connected together, like a flat chain running through the machine.
This chain of tabs went over rollers to flip it back topside up.
Another machine with with the stamped lids fed the lids all in perfect alignment under the machine with the chain of tabs and although you couldn't see inside the machine, it cut the scrap tail off the tabs, performed another bending operation, placed the rivet in the hole, then a press hit the rivet.
The lids then went through a double belt conveyor which flipped them over onto a flat conveyor where they were sprayed with something to clean them, through a dryer, and then through a machine that sprayed the insides of the lids.
After going through another dryer, they were all stacked up in tubes like coins are stacked, only the tubes were about 3 feet tall. From there the tubes went on a pallet which was wrapped and sent down another conveyor to the shipping room or warehouse.
I'm sure the larger soda companies have all of these machines in-house and the empty cans go straight to the soda filling machines. That's the only way I can see them from having to double handle everything.
Many long years ago, when I was in my teens, I had a friend who worked for a small bottling company, Stocker Soda Water Company. His job was menial. He took the dirty returned bottles out of the cases and put them on a moving conveyor face down, and they passed from the receiving dock he was in, through the wall and into the washing machine.
He took me through the place a couple of times, and it was not really all that much to see, even back then decades before computers. There were to older ladies sitting on stools, one was watching the bottles to see they came out clean with no foreign debris in them, and the other watched the tops of the bottles to see if there was any type of chip in the top of the bottle. If either lady saw something, they simply flipped the bottle onto a trash conveyor. From there the bottles went through a sterilizer, were flipped upright just as they went under the filler heads, and the capping machine.
The bottles that got discarded went down a conveyor through big iron rollers that crushed them, probably a series of rollers inside that machine, and only like white sand came out the other end. The sand went into a huge basin of water, so if anything not sand was in there, it floated to the top and was skimmed off, since the water was always overflowing the side of the basin. Another conveyor with cups on it was pulling the wet sand up out of the basin and onto yet another conveyor that took it to the loading dock where it was dumped into large barrels. I didn't see any drying method, so assume the sand was still wet when put into the barrels. The got lined up on the loading dock, waiting for a flat-bed to come pick them all up.
Naturally, the filled bottles went into wooden soda cases and were fed out to the loading dock and stacked out there, to be loaded on delivery trucks.
You would be surprised at how much bending a sheet of steel can take. Heck, just look at an insulated Yeti can holder and you won't find a seam anywhere on it. Now that is something I've searched on-line to see how they are made, but never found anything.
Re: Lo-T Devices
Yes I have been surprised at how malleable metal can be. Of course that is raw metal and not the hardened stuff which can also be formed but not as easily. Some of the machinery invented to make common things, such as soda cans, is truly remarkable. One of the things I can't imagine is the process involved with making injection needles for the medical world. A buddy of mine told me that they are welded closed. I suppose that is possible because I never got to look at one close enough to see if there is a seam. But even if that is true, those needles are damned small. I don't see how you can weld something like that without damaging the interior of the needle. Then there is the sharp tip.
Re: Lo-T Devices
Some needles are rolled and welded, while others are actually cast around a titanium thread.
Even the ones that are rolled are done on some type of wire that doesn't adhere when the weld is made.
The only video I've seen was of the stainless steel ones, and it's all done inside a machine so you can't see what is actually taking place, other than the diagrams they showed along with it.
I think some are also made using injection type molding, but don't know how those machines work at all.
I imagine something like a tube making machine.
Even the ones that are rolled are done on some type of wire that doesn't adhere when the weld is made.
The only video I've seen was of the stainless steel ones, and it's all done inside a machine so you can't see what is actually taking place, other than the diagrams they showed along with it.
I think some are also made using injection type molding, but don't know how those machines work at all.
I imagine something like a tube making machine.
Re: Lo-T Devices
The melting point of steel is 2750F while the melting point of titanium is 3000F. I guess that is why the welds of steel do not stick to titanium. The seams of a needle do not have to be gas tight like those pipes you described earlier the line of metal that is welded is microscopic for injection needles. It's amazing to me that it can be controlled to that degree of fineness. I thought electronics was based on black magic, but mechanical engineering also involves alchemy, apparently.
Re: Lo-T Devices
Electronics is based on black magic!
Every electronic component work on encapsulated black smoke.
And I've never known any electronic component to work after the black smoke leaked out, hi hi.
I went through several videos to see how they needles were made, and this was the best of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1tbJuE-UmQ
Every electronic component work on encapsulated black smoke.
And I've never known any electronic component to work after the black smoke leaked out, hi hi.
I went through several videos to see how they needles were made, and this was the best of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1tbJuE-UmQ
Re: Lo-T Devices
That was a most enlightening video. Thank you for going to the trouble of finding it. It's a lot less complicated than I thought it would be but I'm still a little fuzzy about exactly how the tube is welded together. They just say that it is. I was not too surprised to see how the sharp tip was made. I think I could do the same thing with my Dremel Tool. However, I was slightly disappointed to not see how they make those square tipped needles that are often used on the blood sample labs I visit. 
Re: Lo-T Devices
Hmm, it was on one of the video's I watched, and I thought it was this one that mentioned the rolled tube is welded using a Laser before it is heated and drawn to a thinner needle.
I was surprised to see they used a grinder on the tips in that video.
When I went on a tour through Storz they used a bologna slice machine to form the tip, and it just passed over a strop. But then too these were much larger needles that went inside other tubes. Sorta like the ones used to put stents in place.
My late wife had to take a lot of shots, and she would complain about some needles being square, simply because they hurt so much, hi hi.
Back when I gave blood, they used a nylon needle, no metal in it at all, about the size of a horses leg, hi hi.
I was surprised to see they used a grinder on the tips in that video.
When I went on a tour through Storz they used a bologna slice machine to form the tip, and it just passed over a strop. But then too these were much larger needles that went inside other tubes. Sorta like the ones used to put stents in place.
My late wife had to take a lot of shots, and she would complain about some needles being square, simply because they hurt so much, hi hi.
Back when I gave blood, they used a nylon needle, no metal in it at all, about the size of a horses leg, hi hi.
Re: Lo-T Devices
I think you may be right about the laser welding comment. I do recall seeing the stretching and mention of the weld. The tiny detail of how the weld was made escaped my notice apparently.
Some needles are thinner than others which explains the associated pain to some degree. But, I think most of the after effect is due to the way the injection was made as opposed to the kind of needle. A few, and only a few, nurses or technicians that have injected anything into my arm pinch the skin a bit to form a mound. The needle is stuck into that mound while they do the injections. That technique is painless. In fact when I got the vaccine shot lately I didn't realize they gave it to me until after it was all over. And, no, I typically don't look. LOL I mentioned the painlessness to that nurse and she told me they practice on each other to get it right. I never asked exactly what it was they inject during the practice sessions.
Some needles are thinner than others which explains the associated pain to some degree. But, I think most of the after effect is due to the way the injection was made as opposed to the kind of needle. A few, and only a few, nurses or technicians that have injected anything into my arm pinch the skin a bit to form a mound. The needle is stuck into that mound while they do the injections. That technique is painless. In fact when I got the vaccine shot lately I didn't realize they gave it to me until after it was all over. And, no, I typically don't look. LOL I mentioned the painlessness to that nurse and she told me they practice on each other to get it right. I never asked exactly what it was they inject during the practice sessions.
Re: Lo-T Devices
For practice sessions, the syringe is filled with saline water, but not usually injected.
My late wife and my sister were/are nurses.
I do know steel tubing can be stretched a long long way, and that is probably how they make those superfine needles for diabetics.
My late wife and my sister were/are nurses.
I do know steel tubing can be stretched a long long way, and that is probably how they make those superfine needles for diabetics.