The challenge: build a device to crush a car into as small an object as possible.
The might of the US scrappers are coming to test their strength against the best of British in the ultimate contest between winners. But there’s only room for one winner in this game and we’ve got a challenge that’ll test them all to the limit.
Our Yankee doodles and British dandies will each be given a VW Golf. But there's no respect for German engineering on the heap as our teams must crush their cars, changing them into minis. The test is to make their cars as tiny as possible. They need to build very strong car crushers with which they can then pulverise, hammer, squash, squeeze, bend or flatten their cars, but they aren't allowed to remove bits or cut them. When dodgy dealers Cathy and Robert, and their American friend George, turn up with their magic measuring devices, they will judge smallest to be most beautiful in deciding the winner.
Winners of the series finals for the last two years – and now lifetime holders of the treasured Scrapheap trophy – the Megalomaniacs consist of Nosh, Daz and Kev. Team captain is tattoo-covered Nosher, who's into scorpions and making his own jewellery. By day, he's a sheet-metal worker – a panel-beater to you and me – and by night, he's a Royal Arch Druid of the Ancient Order of Druids. He's ably abetted by security officer Darren Cross. Darren is into motorcycle drag-racing, and prefers tattoos to jewellery and so has his wedding ring tattooed on his finger. Third member of the Megs is mechanic Kevin Chaplin. When he's not under the bonnet of his HGV lorry, he spends his time medieval sword fighting.
In their last encounter with Scrapheap, the Megs concentrated on speed and movement in their totally bodged trike. This time, they have the opposite challenge: making sure a vehicle remains in one place and shrinks!
The last trio to challenge the Megs were the Brothers in Arms, and now they face the 'Brothers in Farms': Greg, Brian and Terry Long (in descending order of age), winners of Junkyard Wars, the American version of Scrapheap Challenge.
Greg and Terry live and work on the family farm in Tyrone, Pennsylvania with their mother Sarah. Greg also has a full-time job as a manufacturing manager for an agricultural engineering firm, and Terry works in construction. But the team is not completely foreign to these shores: captain Brian has lived in Warwickshire for the last four years, employed by Massey Ferguson as a manager of strategic development.
As Greg puts it, 'Brian’s the thinker, I’m the builder and Terry’s the driver.' The brothers’ favourite pastimes are car racing and tractor-pulling – they’ve built and run some dozen tractor-pullers together. All three excel at the basic skills necessary to compete in Scrapheap Challenge. Welding and cutting will probably fall to Terry, but the other two could do them just as easily. The trio have built high-performance engines and tooled parts for their machines.
Young gun James Aduskevich (Long Brothers), a former expert on Junkyard and an excellent fabricator, will bend over backwards to make a machine that gives the home team a run for its money. He’s been building his own vehicles since before junior school, and has constructed more than 15 from the ground up. He received his engineering degree with the highest honours, and has been awarded several patents, with a few still pending.
Pint-sized but mega-brained Steve Garfirth (Megalomaniacs) has proved on Scrapheap that he is the king of hydraulics, having – with Chaos Crew in the series just past – nearly achieved victory in the Demolition challenge with the hydraulic excavator. But this is hardly surprising, as he is a product specialist in hydraulic excavators, working for Liebherr-GB Ltd.
Neal Davis, retro-inventor, madcap mechanical creator and judge of the Scrapheap series final, is one of Britain's finest hands-on engineers. He gained his experience in the RAF, in a career that saw him service fighter planes, defuse bombs and eventually teach engineering. He has since turned his hand to many things: jet-powered tractors, remote-controlled steam engines, and shoe-horning big engines (and we mean really big – from planes!) into tiny cars. He has even built a machine that parks his car for him! He's modest, though, and will always claim not to know much when he quite obviously knows loads.
Jon Kneen and his partner Allen Sharp founded Al-jon Inc. in Ottumwa, Iowa (best known as the hometown of M*A*S*H's Radar O'Reilly and Tom Arnold from Roseanne) in 1962. Production of their car crusher became the foundation for Al-jon, and over the years, the company became recognised as a leader in and innovator of scrap-processing equipment – Al-jon has built enough car crushers to see to Detroit's entire annual production!
However, Jon isn't just a pretty face. He has served as chairman, president and director for many trade associations and corporations. He holds a BA from Iowa Wesleyan College, did graduate work at the University of Denver, and received an honorary doctorate from Iowa Wesleyan University. In addition, he has received several governmental
The transatlantic world war of welding.
The planet's best Scrapheap teams gather to compete for the title of world bodging champions. This deciding bout is based on a brawny challenge – to crush a car flat. The American team, the Long Brothers, are three siblings from a farm in Pennsylvania. Brian, Terry and Greg have won through to become the winners of Junkyard Wars, the US version of Scrapheap. They are pitched against the Megalomaniacs, the all-conquering bikers from the Midlands comprising Daz and Kev and lead by their bald captain, the charismatic Nosher.
Spiffing ironmongery.
The Megs' expert Steve suggests strong and 'simple' hydraulics as the way to go with this challenge. Their spiffingly sophisticated scheme means that they will have to split into two teams of bodgers, one concentrating on the hydraulics and the other building the infrastructure. Nosh and Daz will do the heavyweight ironmongery while Steve and Kev will sort out those tricky rams.
Their plan is to build a platform that is pushed down by two rams to flatten the car underneath. To pull off this audacious conceit, they need a beefy motor to power a hydraulic pump. Scrapheap aficionados will know that the two previous attempts to utilise hydraulic power – the Chaos Crew's muncher in Demolition in this year's series and the Bodgers' Walking Machine in the Series 2 final – have resulted in ignominious defeat. Hopefully our boys in the blue boilersuits won't be blighted by the same bad luck.
Downsizing and stripping.
Long Brothers' expert James proposes a simpler solution to the challenge: a giant sledgehammer. The Brothers need a truck on to which they will build an A-frame winch that will take the weight of the hammer in front. Unfortunately the truck they find doesn't run, so they will have to push it themselves to alter the position of the hammer's blows. They will also need a second vehicle to drive the winch.
The Megs also need a vehicle to drive their hydraulics. Early on, they decide to use a Land Rover. It doesn't start either, but they are confident that, with a decent battery installed, it will be just the ticket. The great Scrapheap hunt for that international currency of bodging, the working battery, gets under way. Robert is impressed that, having learned from the mistakes of previous teams, the Megs have decided to get their vehicle going before doing any further work. They do indeed get it going, and then it's time for some automotive downsizing as all extraneous parts are gleefully stripped away.
Long Brothers Greg and Terry decide that the other vehicle they need to run their winch is a battered blue Mini. Even though the one they find has only two wheels, they still manage to drive it through the heap and into the work area.
Scrapheap x big = good + fun.
Both teams decide that they like a challenge. According to the Brothers Long, weight for once is not a consideration, at least in terms of keeping it down. Big, brutish machines such as these are apparently also 'well within the realm of the Megs', according to Nosher.
The vital components for the Megs' hydraulic squasher are all found in quick succession by super-scavenger Kev. He hauls the rams off a skip lorry, slickly pries the control system off an oil tank and lifts the pump from a forklift truck.
Brian, meanwhile, is annoyed with his team for becoming 'too fancy'. He is very conscious of time passing and wants them to keep their engineering to the basic essentials. With four hours to go, the Longs have amassed a large heavy metal collection and a butchered Mini hoisted on to the back of a flatbed. The Megs have a metal gallows powered by the hydraulically converted Land Rover.
Propaganda wars.
Not one who generally lacks in confidence, Nosher climbs aboard the fledgling car squasher to taunt the American opposition at every opportunity. His cool is about to be sorely tested, however. Kev realises that the engine on their Land Rover turns in the opposite direction to their pump. Unless they can come up with a miracle fix, they will be forced to use only reverse gear to power the rams, rather than the variable speed control that using forward gears would have afforded them. They soon discover that this feat is beyond even the powers of the mighty Megs in the time left to them.
The Longs, meanwhile, have a go at their own propaganda war against the Brits. They attach the Stars and Stripes to the top of their insanely large A-frame and raise it high in the air. Despite having been slightly disconcerted when the Megs got their vehicle running so early in the day, they have come up with one of the most monstrous machines yet seen on the programme.
Enough welly.
To raise the heavy hammer with the winch they have built, the Long Brothers strip off the brake from one of the Mini's wheels. Their plan is that, when they apply the brakes to the running axle, the freed wheel will be receiving all the power the engine has to offer, thus giving it enough welly to lift their giant hammer.
To prevent the whole affair from tipping up when the hammer is airborne, they decide to chop off the rear axle of the truck and move it further towards the centre of gravity. Their shared heritage of mending farm machines has given them the engineering confidence to attempt such minor adjustments.
Flawless game plans.
For once, the judge, Jon Kneen, isn't asked to pick his favourite to win. This is just as well as he hails from America and could be accused of partisanship. Diplomatically, he is full of praise for both teams' approaches. He is a bit wary of the slightly spindly looking framework on the Megs' squasher, but assumes that they have given this aspect a bit of thought. Knowing the Megs, Cathy tells him not to be so sure.
With an hour to go, the Megs test their hydraulic systems – they are malfunctioning. Similarly, when the Long Brothers test their winch with the heavy hammerhead in place, the cable jams. Ironing out their respective problems, the teams decide to have a practice run before the big day. The Megs apply tons of pressure to crush a single drinks can flat, while the Longs offer up a much more substantial lawnmower as sacrifice to their great hammer. For once, there is no last-minute panic on either side. These two teams are the consummate professionals of the Scrapheap world and have worked to almost flawless game plans.
Cheeky crusher, happy hammerer.
Test day tinkering sees the Long Brothers shorten their hammer arm and the Megalomaniacs sort out their safety regime. Then, as a prelude to this international challenge, the teams sing their national anthems.
Both Megs and Longs get off to a flying start with both sets of engines starting first time, with the two VW Golfs waiting like sacrificial lambs. Somewhat unexpectedly, first crunch goes to the slower Megs' machine, but as the hammering begins, captain Brian Long can't stop grinning.
The teams make equal progress, the Megs slow and steady, the Longs fast and furious. Their different approaches to the task both seem to be paying off. The Long Brothers raise their hammer too far for the A-frame and it gets stuck at the top. Some heavy prying sets it free but then their mono brake system overheats. This could be the chance the Megs had been waiting for, but before long, the Pennsylvania Pounder is back in action. The Megs and the Longs battle it out for ultimate supremacy to the strains of 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'.
Carry on crushing.
The Megs' machine has reached the extent of its tolerances on the current setting. The whole crossbar supporting the hydraulic rams must be lowered to allow the rams a greater reach if their Golf is to be crushed further still. Half way through the contest, the teams are still more or less equal and have had about the same amount of stoppage time.
The Longs seem to reach an impasse, however, as they bang away fruitlessly at the bulkhead separating the passenger area from the engine – one of the strongest parts of the car's chassis. The Megs have no problems with their car's bulkhead, but as they push down ever harder, the pressure on their machine grows. In true British 'can do' spirit, and even though their frame is starting to bend, the Megs carry on crushing.
Persistence pays off for the Longs, though. With five minutes to go, they break the back of their bulkhead to take the lead. By now the Megs' crossbeam is badly buckled and they just can't get up enough power.
Off to the New World.
'Time!' is called and the final results come in. The Megs have managed to crush their saloon to a respectable 57 centimetres (22.4 inches) from ground level, while the Long Brothers have pounded their jalopy to an astounding 31cm (12.2in).
So the Scrapheap International Challenge cup wings its way across the Atlantic. Will a British team ever reclaim it? We'll just have to wait and see!
The challenge: build a device to crush a car into as small an object as possible.
Pros.
Cons.
Pros.
Cons.
Fact 1 To be considered a metal, a substance must:
Fact 2 Metals have a fine crystalline structure. When metal is strained and distorted mechanically - as happens during the crushing of a car – the crystals become stressed and form into 'tetrahedrals'. These are crystals made from four atoms with very strong electrical bonds where the atoms touch. This makes the metal very hard and brittle.
Fact 3 To relieve the stresses and relax the crystals caused by distortion, metal must be heated to a temperature just short of its melting point – a process known as annealing. This makes the metal soft and easier to work.
Fact 4 Ductility is the ability of a metal to be deformed without breaking or fracturing. It is particularly important in the making of wire and in stamping metal sheets. Platinum, steel, copper and tungsten all have high ductility. The science of rheology, which focuses on ductility, is the study of how materials deform and flow in response to force.
Fact 5 Alloys are mixtures of metals. When one of those metals is copper, the alloy will be prone to 'age hardening'. This is why antique silver tends to crack easily.
Fact 6 Platinum is a particularly interesting metal. It has an extremely high melting point: 1769ºC (3216ºF) and is very wear resistant. It doesn't react with oxygen at normal temperatures nor with common acids - so it doesn't corrode.
Fact 7 Steel is an alloy of at least 98.5% iron and less than 1.5% carbon. The carbon gives the metal strength but reduces its malleability and ductility. When steel consists of 11–14% chromium, it becomes 'stainless steel' with corrosion resistance.
Fact 8 Rust is a brown solid formed when iron and the oxygen in water and air react together – a process called oxidation. Iron objects are given a protective coating to prevent rust. For example, cars are painted and grease is applied to engine parts. Iron and steel can also be protected from rust by galvanising – coating the objects with a layer of zinc. The zinc on the surface oxidises in air, preventing the zinc and iron below from becoming oxidised. Galvanised cars remain rust-free far longer than those that have not undergone this process.
Fact 9 Metalworkers hammer sheet metals to harden them without making them brittle. The hammering moves dislocations along intersecting slip planes within the metal until they meet and stop. These meeting places act as barriers to the movement of any other dislocations, making the metal stronger.
Fact 10 Engineers use high-grade steel girders in their work because good steel is usually highly resistant to cracking. If a crack does appear, the metal is generally ductile enough for the edges of the crack to flow together, which will diminish the danger of the crack extending very far. In poor steels, cracks may develop rapidly. This is a particular danger in bridges where the steel is exposed to changes in temperature.
Fact 11 Hydraulic presses can make shaped body panels from single flat sheets of metal in a single operation. A hydraulic ram presses a piston carrying a 'former' of the shape required against the metal sheet with tremendous force. The high pressures generally needed call for costly presses, but their speed usually justifies the expense. For more information about hydraulics, see the Scrap science section of the Demolition challenge.
Fact 12 Metal shapes can also be made by the process of extrusion. Cold metal is forced through a hole - a 'die' – of the required shape and size. The great pressures exerted on the metal cause it to assume a 'plastic' condition so that it is able to 'flow' smoothly through the extrusion die.
Drive vehicle
Materials & tools. Hand and cutting tools for removing bed of truck.
Activities. This part will be the base that the sledgehammer is mounted on. The best base would be an old pickup truck or delivery truck. All that is required is a functional cab and chassis. Any bed or box on the back of the truck would be removed to leave the bare frame rails.
Crises. Need a vehicle that is heavy enough to be stable while the hammer is moving.
Hammer (arm).
Materials & tools. Steel structure approximately 15 feet (4.5 metres) long. Could be made from old truck frame, with arm from earth-moving equipment, or made from I-beams and square tubing.
Activities. This will be added once the bare truck frame is exposed. The arm will consist of a 15ft steel structure capable of supporting a 1,000lb (455-kilogram) compression load. It will have a pivot on one end that will hinge the arm to the back of the truck frame. An ideal arm would be an automotive ladder-style frame with all drive-train and suspension parts removed. This would give the proper main structure, and could be braced with wall rectangular steel tubing.
Crises. The arm must be strong enough to be able to support the head. The C-channel of a ladder frame should be sufficient. Some 6-inch x 3-inch (15-centimetre x 7.5-centimetre) I-beams or equivalent would also work.
Hammer (head).
Materials & tools. Steel weight, such as an old engine block.
Activities. The head will be mounted to the end of the arm opposite the pivot on the truck. A large weight, such as an engine block, will be attached to the top of the arm. The bottom of the engine would be welded to the chassis, and steel straps would be wrapped over the motor for extra strength on impact.
Crises. The head must be attached securely to the frame so that it doesn’t tear off on impact. This will require at least three safety straps over the weight.
Hammer (face).
Materials & tools. Solid steel block approximately 4in x 30in (10cm x 75cm).
Activities. The face of the head, which will be the contact point that crushes the car, will be of solid steel. A piece of railroad track would work well. This will be welded on to the bottom of the arm, directly below the weight.
Winch.
Materials & tools. Old motorcycle, preferably a large-bore touring bike with wire wheels (not cast rims).
Activities. The winch can be based on an old motorcycle. The key elements will be: providing enough power to lift the hammer, holding the hammer in position and allowing it to drop without any resistance. The motorcycle would be mounted to the truck directly behind the cab, facing forward so that the rear wheel points towards the back. The frame under the motorcycle engine would be attached to a cross-member of the truck frame, and diagonal braces would connect the rear shock mounts to the sides of the truck frame.
The force needed to lift the hammer off the ground is approximately 1,500lb (680kg) from the cable (that is, a 1,000lb vertical pulled at a 45-degree angle). A mid-size motorcycle (say, a 400cc bike) has approximately 25lb/ft of torque. With the initial reduction, tranny reduction and final drive combining to a reduction of approximately 20:1, the available torque would be 500lb/ft. If the spokes on the rear wheel were removed and the centre hub (approximately 6in/15cm diameter) is used as the winch pulley, the effective linear force would be (500lb/ft) / (0.25ft) = 2,000lb. It should have sufficient power to raise the hammer. The rear brake of the motorcycle could be retained, and this would hold the hammer up in position. The motorcycle could then be put into neutral and the brake released to drop the hammer.
Crises (1) The old motorcycle may not be able to produce as much power as new, and might not be able to lift the head off the ground. In this event, a snatch block assembly would effectively double the lifting power. (2) The motorcycle brake would need to be operating the entire time that the hammer is suspended. An old e-brake lever assembly from a car may need to be adapted to hold the hammer up in the case of operator error.
Vertical pulley support.
Materials & tools. Pulley with bearing inside that can support a 2,000lb (910kg) working load; support structure for pulley.
Activities. To lift the hammer from the horizontal position, the winch cable must come down from above. A vertical frame near the pivot, between the truck frame and hammer arm, will support a pulley for the cable.
The vertical frame itself could be made from 2in x 2in x 1/4in (5cm x 5cm x 0.6cm) wall mild steel square tubing. This would have vertical members attached to the truck frame rails, and supporting members running from the top of the vertical members diagonally down to the truck frame near the winch assembly.
The vertical frame would be topped by a cross brace with the pulley mounted in the middle. The lift cable would run from the winch through this pulley to the head of the hammer.
Crises. The vertical support and pulley must be capable of handling the vertical load produced by the tension in both sides of the cable. This will be approximately 2,000lb (910kg) of force.
Step 1.
All team members: explain the project's suggested solution with drawings. Explain the forces involved in crushing a car. Determine how to achieve such forces without an extremely heavy vehicle.
Step 2.
The scavenge of materials will need to start with the recovery of a working base vehicle. Discuss the hammer mechanism.
Step 3.
Review of the scrap materials as they come in. Is the base vehicle sturdy enough? Do we have enough weight?
Step 4.
Start connecting the hammer arm to the base vehicle.
Step 5.
Need system of lifting arm off ground. Determine winch and cable arrangement.
Step 6.
Need to get winch up and running and mounted to truck frame.
Step 7.
Re-orient motorcycle controls to face rearwards. Adapt rear wheel to winch drum.
Step 8.
Design vertical support for winch cable.
Step 9.
Build support and shield.
Step 10.
Fire up winch. Try lifting weight. Finish up bracing.
Step 11.
Relax and have a beer!
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Exploring Materials Engineering.
www.engr.sjsu.edu/WofMatE/
A brief introduction to materials engineering, plus relevant links to take your interest further – from San Jose State University in California.
Materials by Design.
www.mse.cornell.edu/engri111
Emphasises the importance of materials in everyday life through a series of real-life examples. Actually an advert for a Cornell University (US) engineering course, but still illuminating.
Tetrahedral Puzzles.
www2.geom.umn.edu/scienceu/geometry/articles/tetrapuzzles
If you want a challenge, try this from the Science U website – a look at how tetrahedra (the strong crystalline forms into which metal is transformed when crushed) can be created through geometry.
Tetrahedral.
www.tannerm.com/AnimatedAtoms/tetrahedral.htm
Watch a tetrahedral crystal rotate in space on the Animated Atoms site.
Al-jon Car Crushers.
www.aljon.com/car.htm
See what professionally made car crushers really look like. These are produced by the company owned by Scrapheap judge Jon Kneen.
Close window to return to graphics version.