paper shredder repair?

[Stephen]

Hello,

I think someone has posted a link here in the past for a supplier of cogs for paper shredders. Can anyone tell me the link please?

I have a Fellowes paper shredder. It claims to shred eight pages at a time but is only managing two. I looked inside and the cogs are plastic and one has a split in it. I am hoping changing the cog might fix the problem.

If not, I will replace the shredder. I must have had it six or seven years and although it is only used for domestic use, it is beginning to show its age: some bits of plastic have started falling off but nothing that exposes the blades and endangers the user.

Has anyone ordered any of the cheap shredders (£20ish) from CPC? I wondered how good they were as a replacement?

One grumble is that we ought to shred junk mail as we receive it but we tend to let it accumulate and then shred the night before the bin men are due. Although we are not shredding mountains of paper, the overheat cutout always seems to stop us halfway through. I am surprised how quickly this operates. Are all shredders so quick to do this?

Thanks, Stephen.

[Paul D Smith]

I believe the max limit of most shredders is for paper the thickness of gold leaf. Even my Swordfish shredder doesn't get close to the claimed number of sheets.

Sounds like it's end-of-life.

My swordfish claims about 30 minutes usage but I tend to run for 10 minutes, leave for 10 to recover and then start again. BTW< if you have a compost bin, the shreddings can go in their and they rot down quite nicely. Avoids the "big rush for bin day".

Paul DS.

[Brian Gaff]

I got a Bush from Argos, which seems not too bad, but the number of sheets it will do is dependent on thickness not number of sheets. its main failing is its sensor gets blocked and tends to leave it running or it won't run at all. I have a little bit of bent paperclip to fix this now.. grin. It also cuts cds into 3 parts. They all seem to have plastic gears though but there is an over temp swich which seems to work quite well so you can't abuse it too much. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

The Bush seems to go for about half an hour before it cuts out. Brian

[Allan]

Try:

Which (May 2009)

[Lieutenant Scott]

I just put all junk mail straight in the recycling. If the binmen read = things they shouldn't, their breaking the law and it's their problem not= mine. If my bank puts too much information on my bank statements, they= shouldn't have done and they can pay for the losses.

If you really want it disposed of, set fire to it. You can stock up for= months then have one big go a few times a year. Far more fun, and you = have the chore less often. A steel bin (like they used to use before wh= eelybins) with some air vents drilled in it lets the paper smoulder for = a nice time without bits of burnt paper flying about the garden.

[Lieutenant Scott]

Is it supposed to cut CDs or did you just try for a laugh?

[Lieutenant Scott]

Now that was funny!

No such thing. Throw away society sux.

[Bob Eager]

No, but I also had a Fellowes shredder that finally gave up (it had a hard life, and owed me nothing). I replaced it with this for 40 quid:

Fellowes, much bigger bin, seems more solid than the old one. Definitely more powerful, although quite noisy.

[Roger Mills]

I tried to get some replacement gears for a Fellowes shredder which was

2 or 3 years old, and had no joy. Fellowes only provide spares for large industrial-type shredders. For the domestic ones, if they fail within the 12-month warranty period, they replace them - otherwise, hard luck! There were some gears available on Ebay for some models - but *not* for mine.

The thing that really buggers shredders is if you let the shreddings build up without emptying it. Shreddings then get drawn in from the bottom, as well as the new paper from the top - and the whole thing jams and strips its gears.

We bought a replacement shredder from Lidl (branded "United Office") when they were on offer at about £25 nine months ago, and that seems quite good - as long as you empty it often enough!

[Toiler]

Don't forget that you are supposed to lubricate the cutters regularly. You can buy the oil but the lubricating sachets are easier. It should make your new/mended one last a lot longer.

[Dave W]

I have recently got a broken Fellowes shredder off Freecycle. There was a 7-tooth plastic cogwheel that had shattered, but it was moulded to an undamaged larger cogwheel. Firstly, I tried inserting sections of steel knitting needle into the larger wheel at the positions where the tips of the broken teeth were. This worked until I inserted a wad of paper - the rods all bent and damaged one of the cogs of the final wheel. (The 'steel' is in fact a hard aluminium alloy).

I hen found instructions on the web that said a maximum of 6 sheets.

I have now put steel screws instead of the knitting needles, and will not shred more than 2 sheets at a time, because the speed is noticeably slower for 2 sheets than for 1!

Cheap shredders are 'strip-cut' rather than 'cross-cut', so a dedicated criminal could piece the strips together in far less time than it would take to assemble the shreds.

Dave W

[Lobster]

What, really? That's like saying "I don't bother locking my front door because if some scrote comes in and helps themselves they're breaking the law..."

Yep, I've given up on the shredder - far too slow - and incineration is what I now do myself

David

[Lieutenant Scott]

Things happening due to me discarding paperwork in the recycling are much less likely than someone breaking in. And it's easier to get banks to pay for money that's disappeared without my authorisation, than to claim money back for things gone from the house (which may have more than just monetary value).

(Actually I often forget to lock my door, and nobody has ever stolen anything. I picked a nice place to live, not some horrid town full of thieves).

For fun?

[Frank Erskine]

Think of the carbon emissions.... ;-)

[Tim]

10 seconds (if that) in a microwave.

Tim

[ARWadsworth]

How many do you want to destroy?

A plumbers blow torch or a bonfire (for lots of them) would be the easy answer.

You could just snap then in half. If you want to pay someone to snap them in half then just post them to yourself and let the postman do the work.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I had a large pile, and didn't like the idea of feeding them all through the microwave, in case it damaged it.

I did for them on the gas hob - A few seconds over the burner for each one (held by pliers), and they're wrecked. The smell is pretty bad though - need to open the window.

[Jules Richardson]

Try a microwave oven. I'm amazed that nobody's suggested that yet ;-)

[Adam Funk]

The smell (along with whatever else is in the fumes) is one reason I don't like the microwave idea. (I keep my microwave oven in the house.)

How much would burning a pile of these (let's say an A4 copy paper box full) outdoors stink up & irritate the neighbourhood?