I built a pneumatic can crusher, but I wasn't satisfied with with just crushing it, I wanted to flatten them. So I put it it on a lever, it has ~2.4 mechanical advantage. So it goes from ~160lbs from the cylinder to about 400lbs on the "squishy plate".
Unfortunately, I was a little too hardcore, after a few tests, it managed to bend the entire base. Once I can get a some thicker metal I will put it back together.
Why do this? Because I have a tiny furnace and a mountain of cans that I melt down and cast into random shit.
how flat are we talking here? what's your squishest can?