Hey Everyone, New on here and don’t have much experience with circuits, But I’m trying to build a jug crusher for recycling, It uses a screw jack and extends to crush the jug then screw it down to remove the jug. I want to attach a 12v motor to do this instead and I want to hit a switch and the motor turns on and the jack starts raising and once it hits a switch reverses the motor direction and comes back down to a second switch where it turns off, Anyone able to help on how I could do this or what I would need to purchase to make this work?

 

I would suggest that You don't attempt such a project with limited experience unless
You've got plenty of Money and Time to throw at it,
and You really want a serious learning experience.

First, what are these "Jugs" ?, and how many do You expect to crush per hour ?

Did someone create a custom machine to crush the "Jugs" which You are using now ?
How about a picture ?

My suggestion ...............

Purchase a Shop-Hydraulic-Press,
then add an Electrical-Hydraulic-Pump that is compatible with the Cylinder of the Hydraulic-Press.

There are also Pneumatic-Hydraulic-Pumps if You have a substantial Compressed-Air-Supply available.

Once all this is in place and working,
then maybe we can talk about automating it electrically.
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Welcome to AAC.

I have to sort of agree with LowQCab . However, I'm also thinking of something like sump pump switches. When water level gets to a trip point high it turns on a pump. The float then drops down to a shut-down point low and turns the pump off. It sounds like you are wanting to do the same sort of thing.

You say "Jugs", I think aluminum cans. Where are you located? And as LowQCab asked, pictures?

 

Something similar to this:

Obviously this needs to be modified with additional switching. To use such an arrangement you'll need to build some sort of linkage. The crusher starts off at its low point. You flip a switch to turn it on. It extends and crushes the "Jug". It reaches an upper limit and flips that same switch down to reverse the motor and return the crusher to the full open position.

Using the drawing you can use a DPDT switch that just runs the motor up and down constantly. Using a master switch you can turn the system ON or OFF as desired. That's not "Fully" automated but it accomplishes sort of the same thing.

 

Certainly there are a large variety of containers that are called "Jugs" in different realms. Also, there are quite a few different styles of screw-jacks. Those vary from the size used by cabinet installers to those used to level industrial equipment and houses.
My concern would be the results of a jam in the crushing system, such as caused by a jug that was not completely empty, reloaded with ???, and so will not flatten with the available force.
So I suggest The reversing control be a force sensing scheme rather than a motion sensing switch. That could be just a microswitch and a spring platform under the screw jack. Tripping the switch would latch a revers drive relay to return to the down position. Reaching the down-sense switch would unlatch both the drive relay and the reverse relay, ready for next time. REally this will be a simple relay circuit. BUT both relays will need contacts rated for at least the motor's full load current. The only position sensing will be to detect the fully down position. What sort of 12 volt motor are you considering?? It will need to include a large gear reduction as well.