Soda Can Strip Cutter

This Instructable shows how to make a strip cutter for soda cans. The various tools that we prepare in this project will allow you to turn soda cans into very long aluminum strips. The strips can be made in different widths (2 mm, 5 mm or 9 mm). I use the strips as an example for embossed labels in a label printer, or to make ball ornaments or a marble run. Become curious?

To make this project you need the following materials:

• for the strip cutter: Blade from a regular crafting knife Link, door hinge, angle bracket, scrap wood, nuts, bolds and washers
• for the strip winder: Plastic screws Link, plastic nuts Link, old credit cards, two component adhesive, hot glue gun
• for the soda can clamps: Two soda can bottoms, card board, nail, pliers, scissors, screwdriver, threaded rod and corresponding nut. The combination will lead to a strip with the following widths when cutting a soda can with a diameter of 65 mm:

-9 mm: Use from an old printer or buy here: Link (choose Pitch 2mm, Lead 8mm, 45mm)

-5 mm: Use from an old printer or buy here: Link (choose Pitch 2mm, Lead 4mm, 45mm)

-2 mm: From regular hardware store (M16x2)

and the following tools:

• Vice (two pieces)
• Dremel
• Pipe insulation foam
• Electric drill
• Circle cutter Link

Maybe you are familiar with strip cutters that have been made for PET bottles. They are using a sharp knife to cut the material into a long strip. This principle cannot be used for soda cans. Even though the aluminum from cans is very thin, it is not feasible with regular tools laying around the house. The trick here is to score the can very lightly in a spiral way with a knife blade. After that, the strip can be pulled off. But how to score the soda can in a spiral way in order that the strip always has the same width? To solve this problem, the top and the bottom of the can are removed and replaced with a threaded top and a bottom. The soda can prepared in this way is then screwed onto a threaded rod. If a fixed blade is then pressed towards the surface of the can and the can is turned, a spiral-shaped score line will be generated on the surface of the can. Depending on the pitch of the thread, the strip gets a different width.

The strip cutter is made of wood. A plan of the design is added as pdf-file below. First, a stand is made from a base plate (10.5 cm x 13.3 cm x 0.9 cm) and a holder. The base plate and the holder are fixed together with an angle bracket. 

Then the knife handle is made by screwing a door hinge onto a piece of wood. The blade can be fixed with screws between the wings of the hinge (one wing: 5.5 cm x 3.2 cm).

The knife handle is then screwed to the holder so that it can rotate freely. In this way, different angles of attack can be selected between the blade and the soda can.

Prepare two support circles out of old credit cards (Diameter = 5 cm). A circle cutter is used for that purpose on both sides of the credit card. Then cut out the circle with scissors. Make a hole in the middle of the support circles in the size of the plastic screw. Glue a nut in the middle of each circle and add some adhesive on the side as reinforcement.

With the help of a Dremel tool mill a slot into the screw. Basically that was the reason to choose plastic screws because I had not the right tools to mill such a slot into a metal screw.

Two nuts are glued then to the screw head with adhesive. Before the glue dries, check that all nuts are aligned to fit into the hex nut socket of the electric drill.

The soda can clamps, as I call it, are needed to fix a soda can body (where lid and bottom was removed) onto a threaded rod. These clamps are made from bottom parts of soda cans. Bottom parts are isolated from the soda can in the following way:

Take a clean soda can and remove the top and bottom with the help of a knife. First make a score line about 13 mm from the end. To do this, hold the knife on a flat surface e.g. on a piece of wood and then turn the can around. It is not necessary to cut through the aluminum. Apply some pressure with an old credit card next to the score line to separate the top and bottom (see video). The total height of such a soda can bottom part should be around 13 mm whereas the future contact part is around 6 mm.

A cardboard circle is placed onto the bottom part to find the center. Then a hole is punctured with a nail. Make a score line with a circle cutter with the same diameter like the threaded rod. Then this aluminum circle is removed with pliers.

Add a nut to the threaded rod and then also screw the bottom part to the threaded rod. Then use some two component adhesive to fix the nut directly in the center of the soda can bottom part. Please be careful not to smire adhesive to the threaded rod.

After the two component adhesive has hardened we remove the bottom. Then we add some extra hot glue to reinforce the nut on the bottom.

Now we come to the making of the second clamp. It is not necessary to have nuts on both bottom parts. Here on the second clamp we just add a wooden circle.

Again we use a cardboard circle to find the middle of the bottom part, puncture a hole with a nail, generate a score line with the same diameter as the threaded rod an then remove the small aluminum circle with pliers. Fix the wooden circle with two component adhesive to the bottom. You basically have made the two soda can clamps to fixture a soda can body on a threaded rod.

For strips with bigger width you have to go for special threaded rods that can be as an example salvaged from a printer. As I had no old printer laying around, I had to buy those rods on Aliexpress. A link were to buy can be found under the chapter „supplies“. The special nuts for these threaded rods are screwed onto the clamp with the wooden circle.

Press the soda can body (a soda can where lid and bottom was removed), top side down, onto the prepared soda can clamp. To reinforce the soda can, place a pipe insulation foam inside. Then close the soda can body with the second clamp. The soda can prepared in this way is then screwed onto a threaded rod.

Check if the blade is still sharp - otherwise clip off one piece and start with a fresh one. Place the cutter near the soda can and use your wrist to gently press the blade towards the can. The pressure should be strong enough to create a score line. With the second hand slowly turn the soda can to generate the spiral score line.

When you have scored the entire can, search for the beginning of the strip and then pull around 30 cm from the strip off the soda can with a pair of pliers. The strip is then loaded to the strip winder as explained in the next chapter.

Using pliers, bend a right angle into the strip. Insert this first part of the strip into the slot of the screw. Wind the strip onto the strip winder with a few turns and then add the second support. The strip is then wound onto the strip winder using an electric drill.

Now carefully wind the aluminum strip onto the strip winder. Therefore, start very slowly with the electric drill and increase the speed more and more. If you have not made a continuous score line, the strip will break and you have to start again. But with a little practice, it is easy to roll up the whole soda can.

Unloading the strip winder is quite tricky because the roll still has some mechanical tension. So if you don't secure the roll, it will explosively unfold. Remove the nut and the first support so that the roll is upright. Try gripping the roll with two fingers and then moving the screw back and forth while trying to pull the roll off the screw. Once you have the roll in your hand, secure it with tape to prevent it from unwinding.

One use for these strips from soda cans is in a label printer for embossed labels. Instead of the plastic tape, the aluminum strip is fed into the label printer. The idea looks good, but please keep in mind that the transport mechanism of the printer will not find a grip on the aluminum, so the strip cannot be transported. Therefore, it is necessary to make some kind of support table next to the label printer (see picture) to indicate the distance between the letters and have some orientation.

Mark the starting point on the aluminum strip and then select the desired letter on the label printer and then transport the strip by hand the desired distance. Then repeat the whole process until you have your label.