Manufacturer
Harbor Freight Tools is an US based discount tool manufacturer and retailer that has over 500 stores around the country and they make everything from hand tools to automotive parts and they also create small and convenient consumer oriented products like aluminum can crushers.
Review
This HFT multi load aluminum can crusher is designed to hold up to 6 cans and crush them in under 10 seconds with seamless motions and a semi-automatic loading mechanism that when stocked full uses gravity to disperse those crushed can and that next one will drop down into the crushing bed from that feeding basket.
This crusher is made from high strength welded steel parts that make this device a really durable and resilient to any weather conditions. The handle however is made from ABS or also known as Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, but that is basically a fancy word for plastic. The device itself is great and it feels solid and even the feeding basket is made from chrome plated metal but I don’t know why they made that 15 inch (38 cm) long handle from plastic as many customers are complaining that this device has broken down in their first usage in those plastic parts. But if you manage to get it working properly and use it carefully it can be a great device for your home because it is that so called semi-automatic crusher and you can use it by just putting cans in that top feeding basket and they will pop out after the crushing underneath where you can put a trash can to collect them and that means you don’t need to manually remove them and get nasty leftover spillings on your hands.
Overall this is a wall mounted device and that means you will need a high strenght wall where to secure it and it would be best to screw it on a wooden beam so those screws won’t come out under that pressure of crushing your cans. That crushing mechanism itself works great but it sometimes do not crush a can completely and it gets stuck in there.And if this happens you have to get your fingers or a pencil in there to nudge that can a bit but you can also try to crush it another time as this process sometimes loosens it. But apart from that you can crush cans up to 16 oz (470 grams) and that means that after drinking a 6 pack of beer or CacaCola you will be able to get rid of those cans and if you like you can also get them to a recycling facility and get some money back for that recycled aluminum.
From all this I don’t really know if I can recommend this product to you because many customers are complaining but there are of course also good reviews and that makes me question those false review accuracy as when I used it the device worked great and while crushing about 100 cans there have been no problems with the construction and only sometimes those cans get stuck in there. I found that when you crush a bit slower than average then almost all cans get launched out properly but you will have to try it for yourself and after a good practice you will be crushing those 6 cans in 10 seconds and if you get another person that can feed them inside that basket the timeframe will decrease even more.
Advantages
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Semi-automatic design
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made from high strength welded metal
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is wall mounted
Disadvantages
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Handle is made from plastic
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Sometimes cans get stuck inside the crushing mechanism