upcycling product design
Canify Rooftile System is an open-source initiative transforming aluminium cans into roof tiles. Consist of 3 steps, flattening cans with the "Can Slicer"; stamping into shape with portable die-cutter; and folding into interlocking tile forming a weatherproof roof tile system to empower community upcycling.
The Canify roof tile project began during my time in a Portuguese sustainable community, where I explored low-carbon footprint building. The project received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the online community. Aluminum, a highly weather-resistant material, is widely available globally, yet billions of cans end up in landfills annually, despite existing recycling programs. Yet, many people face challenges in flattening aluminum cans, which led to the development of “Can Slicer,” a small tool designed to cut and flatten cans efficiently. Together with a custom die-cut mold for quickly cutting the sheet metal into tile shape. The blueprints are always made available online, accompanied by a tutorial video, enabling makers worldwide to access the open-source design.
At the beginning the tile were produced by manual cutting, which was slow and imprecise. To standardize raw material, "Can Slicer" is then developed, an adjustable can opener to fit global can diameters, flattens a can in 30 seconds. For mobile manufacturing, heavy industrial die-cutters were a constraint, until a compact paper craft machine has been hacked into cutting light aluminum sheet. Testing prototype roof has been in use in both Portugal and Hong Kong for over 2 years revealing a promising result. Blueprint of the project has been open-sourced and made available online, with hundreds of tools shipped to over 30 countries to and blueprint has been downloaded over 3000 times, empowering localized community upcycling.
Research module: https://community.projectkamp.com/research/can-we-make-a-roof-from-recycled-aluminium-cans