Shredder recommendation

[dave]

Can someone recommend a shredder for "light home-office" use that will last for more that 12 months! The past 3 have all broken down mechanically (never been overloaded with paper). I took the latest box of scrap apart to see what the problem is - and what seems to happen is that the actual shredding wheels are encased in a (weak) plastic cylinder which has comb bits sticking in between the wheels to clear the paper. These snap off and the paper wedges inside the cylinder. Eventually the cylinder itself bulges and finally bursts open. In fact looking at the top of this "fellow" :-) in action the top of the plastic case cas be seen to warp and twist around from the plastic cylinder below. If that cylinder were made of metal, it'd probably be ok - but then I wouldn't have to buy another one i 12 months time (cynical = yes). Anyway, I appreciate is someone knows of a good reliable make. Thanks

[Tim S]

dave coughed up some electrons that declared:

I've got a Fellowes. Seems robust enough and takes a fair bit of abuse, but only used occasionally. Can look up the model number if you want. Mid range, reverse option for clearing.

Cheers

Tim

[Bob Eager]

I've had a Fellowes crosscut shredder for several years. Cost about £40 AFAIR.

Still going strong, has reverse unjam operation.

Only gone wrong once; the sensor flag in the entry slot became choked with oil/paper dust. Soon fixed.

[Pete Cross]

Our 'shredder' is a large black plastic compost bin in the garden.........

[Martin Pentreath]

I also had a Fellowes cross-cut which died after just a few months use in a similar way to that described by Dave. Their customer service is a disgrace and the "five-year guarantee" is not worth having. They guarantee the cutters ie just the metal blades - if the plastic tat that house them falls apart that's not covered because the cutters themselves are still intact!

I got a cheap Challenge one from Argos which has been infinitely better for over a year and cost about a third of the price.

[dave]

Thanks - I take a look at what they have. Was begining to think it was just me. btw I did take one of these things back and the replacement also failed in exactly the same way. I really do not us it that much and only for the address part of letters documents etc. I also recycle the shredded paper to the recycle bin as our compost bin is full :-)

[Cicero]

================================== I've been using a B&Q own-brand for about a year - occasional heavy use. At £10-00 it's good value.

Cic.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I have a Rexel v25 cross-cut shredder. It's probably about 5 years old. Takes credit cards too. I don't remember how much it cost or where I got it from. It seems to work fine. It claims a duty cycle or 1 min on, 5 mins off, but I've fed stuff into it pretty continuously for half an hour without any problems.

[Dave Liquorice]

Our shreddings end up there but I wouldn't put anything straight in that= has personal information on. It's not unknown for people to go through bins and if information is available from the compost bin as well...

We use a crosscut shredder with reverse that came from Tesco for about =A315. Works well enough, though is really only happy with a single A4 s= heet at a time. More often than not I shred stuff until the thermal cutout trips (>30mins constant use(*)) and three waste paper bin sized bags of =

shreddings) and it has to rest.

(*) IIRC the rating plate says 3 min use in every 15..

[shaun]

I bought a Fellowes one from Argos - gets a lot of hammer and so far ok.

Mind, the only reason I bought it from Argos was the 3 year warranty they offer. It breaks (as it will) and it goes back for a new one.

[Adam Funk]

I got an "HSM X5 Cross-Cut Shredder" from amazon.co.uk in late 2007. I use it a lot and it's still doing a good job. (I think I've put some oil in it once or twice.) I see they still sell it for around £22.

[Pete Verdon]

I've just hoiked mine out from under the desk. No obvious name anywhere on it - it's a uniform beige box. The rating plate on the bottom of the shredder part (sitting on top of the bin) says "Specially made in China for B&Q". I wouldn't have paid very much for it.

No complaints so far. It says "five sheets max" on it, but I regularly shove in more than that :-). It sounds like it's struggling when I do that, but it chews through it eventually and keeps on going. If it does blow up, I won't feel like it owes me anything and would probably buy another.

Pete

[Ian White]

Fellowes also stretch the definition of "cross-cut". My P-45C cuts 50mm strips, plenty long enough to read the kind of information a shredder is meant to destroy. Not recommended.

The previous no-name machine from W H Smith chopped much finer, into crumpled 10mm chads; but it worked much harder to do that, and eventually stripped a gear.

Price is definitely no indicator of quality or value at this domestic/soho end of the market. Next time, I'll buy locally so it can go straight back if it doesn't chop fine enough, with a rolling replacement warranty to cover the long term.

[Dave Liquorice]

There are standards and logos for the level of security the shredding produces.

My Tesco cheapy makes similar sized square cut strips but if you put stuff through it so that the strips are produced across the text you don't get readable bits...

[Frank Erskine]

If possible put your bits of paper (bank statements, debit card receipts, envelopes with addresses etc) into the machine in varied states of diagonality (?) to reduce the chances of bits being jigsawed together.

And have a bonfire now and again with the chads.

[dennis]

If you do that its possible to separate the different statements by checking the angle. This makes reassembly easier.