The design variable that was most considered was the link lengths for the input driving link (link 2) and the coupling link (link 3). In order to clear the full length of a soda can (to allow for a stacked configuration where the next can falls in place after the previous is crushed), the position of the horizontally sliding block would have to clear a distance of at least 6 inches to accommodate typical can sizes. The length of Link 2 was predetermined and set to be 3 inches since the team believed that having a shorter driving link would reduce the overall span of moving components. In addition, since a clearance of 6 inches is needed, setting Link 2 to half this length would satisfy this condition due to the nature of the max/min configurations (see diagram below) Once this length was set, the length of Link 3 was calculated to be 5 inches.

PMKS Animation