Paper shredder suggestions?

[Richard]

My shredder at work died. Darn thing has PLASTIC gears driving the two shredders

Looking for new one, PREFER one without plastic drive train. Under $500, crosscut/confetti type, more pages per shred the better.

Anyone know of some that do NOT have plastic gears?

 

[randy41]

see the thread on cat declaw but don't.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Richard,

Sorry about your shredder, but I don't know the good ones from the bad. Mine is just a cheapy from Costco that's done well for me over the years. Sometimes it's almost better to just consider these things disposable and buy low end. When it dies, just toss it out and get another.

I see that you want one that cross cuts, which is really good. When I was with the State Department in the Marines, they had some classes on destroying documents. Burning is the best, but those paper shredders that cut the paper into lots of long lines are the worse. People actually put them back together again!!!! No security there at all.

We didn't have any paper shredders in the Embassies. All the papers that were to be destroyed went into burn bags, and at the end of the day, they were put into an incinerator (sp). It was one of those duties I enjoyed. hahaha

Eddie

 

[GaryM]

Found this link Personal Deskside Paper Shredders from following a link on the bottom of the page. You might see what you want there.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

My shredder at work died. Darn thing has PLASTIC gears driving the two shredders

Looking for new one, PREFER one without plastic drive train. Under $500, crosscut/confetti type, more pages per shred the better.

Anyone know of some that do NOT have plastic gears?

I can't help but laugh when I hear any mention of a paper shredder. A good friend of mine got married about 3 years ago. He was always the consumate bachelor. He was always extremely "frugal". (I call him CHEAP) And he NEVER had much use for the "bimbo" types. Well, you guessed it. He married a stripper. (Lifetime supply of one dollar bills....?)

Anyway, Rick is a real estate agent. He generates quite a bit of paper. His new bride decided he needed to get rid of some of his dead files. She went out and bought a $750 shredder. That almost tested the waters on how strong the marraige was. But Rick relented and let her start sredding paper. We went fishing one warm saturday. When we got back, there was this mountain of shredded paper on Ricks deck. He asked his lovely bride what she intended to do with all the confetti. "Why, I'll burn it", she replied.

So much for that $750.....

 

[Jagmandave]

Is your a Fellows brand? Cause I've had several of those here at work and the plastic gears failed on all of them. IIRC they have a replacement kit for those with metal gears, you should go onto their site and get the Customer service number (or it might be on the nameplate on the shredder) and call them.

The reason these gears fail are because no one uses the reverse feature to clear the head periodically, and no one ever lubes the cutters. You're supposed to put a few drops of 3in1 on the cutters from time to time, says so right in the manual - but no one ever reads the manual do they...

 

[Richard]

Ironically, I DO oil the cutters every now & then. hanging out at places like this get me more enlightened on how to do something right/better

Never thought of a replacement kit. Oh, I run mine backwards every now & then too. Probably (seems) every other time I use it as it's always getting clogged up.

It's PROBABLY a bit undersized for what I need when I'm moving paper through it.

I don't use it on a daily basis very much, just here & then. Every now & then though when I get a small stack of monthly statements or a BIG stack of quarterly statements in... THAT is when it earns its keep.

Thanks for idea, I'll try to find out about a fix it kit. Be a lot cheaper than new one given it otherwise works fine..

hmm.. I think I just remembered I tossed out most of the screws when I saw the broken gear, rather than reassemble it

guess it'll be interesting to see what parts I still have when I get there tomorrow.

 

[Richard]

Oh, and yes, I belive it is a Fellows brand

 

[Bird]

I don't remember the brand, but my first paper shredder was the cheapest thing I could find; didn't originally buy it for security, but for shredding my newspapers when I finished reading them, then using that for rabbit nesting material. It just did the long strips, not a cross cut. And I never oiled it, so it finally died after 5 or 6 years, and now for nearly 2 years, I've been using a $40 Fellows crosscut model from Wal*Mart. And I periodically use Office Depot's genuine "shredder lubricant" on it.

 

[PineRidge]

If you want a good one I recommend Fellows Powershredders.

We use ours 6 days a week hard to shred paper that is used to package lots of product that is shipped via UPS.

The gears are all steel and the cutters are replaceable. This thing is built like a tank. It also starts automatically when you insert the paper into the chute.

I found it where else but at eBay.

 

[Spark_man]

We have a yellow lab aptly named "Bear" due to his size (160 lbs) and his propensity to maul and shred paper - mostly paper towels, but I'm sure he can be adapted to handle legal documents. Probably only have to leave them on the coffee table. Even though my wife refers to him as a "freak of nature", I'm almost certain he doesn't have any plastic gears. I might be willing to let you borrow his services if you are really in a pinch.

 

[Richard]

 

[Jagmandave]

So Richard, what did you find out about your shredder?

If you go on the Fellowes (note spelling) site, and go to "Support" they have a place where you can order parts. I just called the 1 - 800 number and ordered them when I bought them rather than oredering online.

BTW, since I put the new metal gears in, I haven't had one of these fail yet - and in our company, no one oils or reverses except me. So far, so good!

 

[Hakim]

We own the Royal CIA 12X -- you can buy it via Amazon.com here:

Amazon.com: Royal CIA 12X Cross Cut Shredder: Electronics

We shred lots of paper, credit card receipts, communications, etc. We need to have real "security" shreds, not long strips or big squares.

This machine I originally bought at Sam's Club about seven years ago (for just $99 --- today retail is $299.00!). It has worked steadily and is still in service today. It has a 7 year factory warranty.

This machine is not easy to find for sale. The link I provided to Amazon is where I got my second unit recently. I just bought the second one about four months ago, to use at a second office location. I bought thru Amazon, because the freight was less, and I paid a total of under $200.00.

None of the shredders sold at Staples, Costco, etc., can produce a small enough shred to be of real use for security purposes.

The Royal CIA 12X can shred up to 12 pages at a time into 3*10mm shreds. This is the smallest particle size I know from a consumer-grade shredder. The particle size is 30*10mm meets the requirements for DIN 32757 Security Level 4.

The next step up in security seems to be DoD-grade shredders approved for shredding classified material. These start around $1K and cut the paper to 0.8*11mm particles or smaller.

Here is a very good review of the CIA 12X compared with Fellows highest rated consumer shredder. The Royal wins.
Paper Shredders

The Royal CIA 12X is quite heavy, and doesn't work if you need to move it around a lot. But it does an excellent job of shredding. It is superior to even machines being sold at office supply houses for seven or eight hundred dollars. I am just grateful it is still on the market, because I am certain I would have to spend more than $1,000 to match this level of capability.

My highest recommendation.

 

[Richard]

My saga is nearing an end I think. I put this topic on the back shelf for a while but I will SOON be having a plethora of things to shread.

Seems Fellowes is discontinuing this model (Powershred C-320C)

Amazon.com: Fellowes Powershred C-320C 14-16 sheet Confetti Cut Shredder: Electronics

So, it's a (MSRP) $1,600 unit, for $882.

I think I can deal with that!