X-Cut / CD shredder ?

[T i m]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a good, vfm, walk_in_and_buy x-cut shredder and CD damager please.

'Good' being proven reliable, good capacity for it's size, reasonably quiet, easy to empty, good duty cycle and sheet capacity.

vfm meaning not too expensive (sub 75 quid maybe)?

I would like to get said from a national shop / shed (easy to get / take back if needed), I'm in Nth London fwiw

I have loads of misc CD / DVD's that I know I don't want now but need to ensure the data is destroyed pre disposal [1] (not NASA grade info but mail backups / utils etc).

So, what does the panel think / use please?

All the best ..

T i m

p.s. I've quickly looked on the web at the sheds / Argos / PC World and nothing jumps out ..

[1] Is there a 'good' secondary use for (loads of) old CD's ?

[Huge]

Solar furnace.

[T i m]

that's the sorta use I was hoping to put them to ;-)

Plus I'm not sure how suitable many of my CDR/DVDR's are compared to the very 'silver' finish of pressed CD's?

All the best ..

T i m

[Andy Dingley]

Last time I needed to destroy CDs in bulk and provably, I ended up microwaving them. I needed to add an external mains timer though, as they had to be zapped for something like 12 seconds -- enough to kill the data layer, but not enough to heat the plastic. COSHH paperwork required this to be added as manually using the existing timer wasn't regarded as adequately proof against overheating them.

I also used a "toastrack" to hold the disks (20-30 at a time). This was a vastly expensive ceramic "boat" from a silicon fab -- several hundred dollars worth, before someone chipped it and made it scrap for fab purposes. If you haven't got one of these, use a length of wood with sawcuts across it.

The nice thing about nuking them was that it left the disks intact and with their labels readable, but with the data demonstrably gone. I had to file these afterwards.

[T i m]

Blige, and is there no risk to the microwave whilst doing this Andy?

All the best ..

T i m

p.s. Can I also shred paper this way? ;-)

[Huge]

Bit OTT, surely?

I just shredded the last lot - the office shredder chops them up nicely, and got someone to witness that they were gone.

[Andy Burns]

With all the nasty whiffs that get produced, I wouldn't do it using one I planned to eat out of again, but microwaves from AldiLidl are probably even cheaper than their shredders ...

[T i m]

Apart from the fact that I do still need a (combined) paper shredder ...

But, as it happens Andy, she was talking about getting new microwave .. a Panasonic one, though there's nothing wrong with this Sharp one (and we have only had it 15 years).

Same as the Zanussi dishwasher we have just replaced (with another similar) .. only 15 years old and ignoring the door counterbalance having broken a couple of years ago and a missing wheel or two on the basket it was still going strong (ok it might have needed a new sill as it was showing some surface rust but ... ) ;-(

I think she should look after her stuff better (good mind to make her go back to washing stuff by hand! )!

All the best ..

T i m

[The Natural Philosopher]

In the microwave oven mate.

After microwaving, use as coasters and/or bird scarers.

[The Natural Philosopher]

[The Natural Philosopher]

A garden chipper would probably do as well.

[Andy Burns]

Perhaps you could adapt the old one to make papier-m=E2ch=E9 then :-)

[Andy Dingley]

Horses for courses. At the time CD-capable shredders were expensive and a couple of dozen a day was going to be too slow. There was also the need to log their destruction.

Fumes weren't an insurmountable problem, as there were already chem lab benches on site and we could easily have arranged suitable extraction. The short nuke-time avoids plastic fumes entirely whilst still destroying the data. The H&S people wanted the hard-wired timer partly to guarantee this, partly to make sure it was no longer temptingly pie-capable.

[Huge]

I expect someone would want to know why I had a garden chipper in the office.

[Huge]

Ahh. Our office shredders will shred a 5mm stack of paper, or CDs, or floppy disks (remember those?) without breaking a sweat.

Only a barbarian microwaves pies, anyway. Makes the pastry soggy.

[mal jackson]

I got one from Lidl last week - fifteen quid. It's not in their current specials, but they might have some left.

Mal.

[T i m]

If only we had a log burner .. fill the old dishwasher up with the free papers we get (in spite of a sign on the door requesting otherwise), set it to papier-mâché cycle (mulch, brick and dry) and hey presto (assuming we can get enough energy to run the log maker from the old microwave converted to capture microwaves[1] and turn it back into electricity ... ) free heating logs! ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[1] Assised by a microwave collector / wave guide made from 10,000 AOL CD's

[T i m]

Cheers Mal, might go have a nose around tomorrow ..

All the best ..

T i m

[hzatph]

I got a swordfish from here

They were very helpful and matched the best internet price I found (a very significant reduction in price). In my opinion all shredders overstate their capacity in terms of number of simultaneous sheets by the way.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Most shredders shops sell have a rather small duty cycle, so you'll burn it out if you operate it continuously with a large pile of CDs.

I had a large pile of CDs at home to destroy when I left a company. I put them on the gas hob for about 5-10 seconds each, until they started crinckling up. Used a pair of pliers to lift each one off and piled them up. They tended to stick together in the output pile, which made it easier to lift them out into the bin when they had cooled down. Keep the outside doors/windows open -- they give off a nasty smell which is probably very toxic.