Garden Shredder Adjustments

[Andrew May]

I have an Al-Ko SP4000 shredder that is about seven years old and has done sterling service in getting the jungle that was the garden fairly clear. However it is now starting to not quite cut thick branches (I was shredding a confer at the weekend) instead turning it into a flexible almost tentacle-like strip. It appears that the gap between rotating cutter and the nylon drum is too large.

I stripped it down at the weekend expecting to find some form of adjustment for the gap but both cutter and roller seem to be in fixed positions. Does anyone know this shredder and is there any adjustment that I can do or do I just have to replace both cutter and roller even though there should be plenty of life in them. Neither look as if they are significantly worn.

Thanks,

Andrew

[John Rumm]

I had a similar problem with a Bosch helical shredder. That had a ali helix in a ali casting. Neither appeared to be worn. Replacing the helix however restored it to normal operation - but there was very little visible difference between them. I guess they are quite intolerant of even small amounts of ware, or loss in sharpness.

[mike]

Andrew,

If you've already stripped it down, maybe this info will be redundant but I'll post on the off-chance that it's useful.

We have an Atika which I think is very similar to the AlKo and it has an adjustment knob on the front for tightening/resharpening the cutter. The instructions are to turn the knob clockwise with the motor running until you hear a scraping and fine aluminium shavings fall out of the chute.

I assume the AlKo doesn't have the external adjustment knob but, if you take the front panel off, is there a bolt or screw on the left that tightens the plate against the cutter head?

[Andrew May]

If I can't find any other way then that is my preferred option. One site selling spares that I have found reckons that the nylon wheel is more likely to wear than the cutter and I can quite believe it. I may try that first to see how it goes. However neither show much where inasmuch as I would expect the wear to be uneven and higher in the centre where more stuff goes through. I was quite surprised though that it did not seem to be adjustable since a couple of turns of an appropriate screw should be all that it needs to line the two up again.

A temporary fix that I might try is to wrap some gaffer tape around the nylon wheel. It may improve the cutting but then may just get chewed up by the cutter.

Andrew

[Andrew May]

Unfortunately not on the Al-ko. I have stripped it down to at least let me clean all the gunge out. The axles of both the cutter and the roller sit in recesses in the front plate so no adjustment is possible. I like the idea of sharpening in the Atika though.

Andrew

[Rob G]

We have a Lidl/Aldi's special that has a similar adjustment to Mike's. I know that doesn't help the OP much, but such adjustment is a feature that should occur on all these machines and it looks as if any purchaser should make sure it's present.

Rob

[Sla#s]

I have one of those and yes as far as I could work out one has to replace the nylon roller. It worked fine again after replacing it. £24 from the local ALKO supplier.

Slatts

[mike]

A whole new machine from Aldi/Lidl/B&Q is less than =A3100 so that's a hefty chunk of change for a nylon roller.

Aldi's was =A385 last September.