DIY with function over finesse!!

[CitroJim]

Last week, Mick acquired a trio of cross-cut shredders for a tiny sum of money. All three have the same problem - very worn nylon bearings causing the first gear to fall out of mesh with the motor drive gear. I'm in need of a decent shredder to dispose of a mountain of personal papers and these will do the job beautifully once fixed.

I've turned up on the lathe the first of a series of new bearings out of what I hope will be a more suitable material - or at least stuff that will last long enough to do the job. For the bigger one I have a nice lump of phosphor bronze...

The extent of the wear can be clearly seen. A 5mm hole has opened up to over 6.5mm

[CitroJim]

Placeholder for posts from my blog about Shredders to be moved over to here...

[CitroJim]

Lots of good progress today

I turned up the second bearing on the lathe and reassembled the gearbox..

And did some testing. All is good

This was after shredding a while load of test material... Lots of old, thick documents I should have shredded about ten years ago!

I did all the lathe work without having to take Bluebell out of the garage! That's a very thick towel on her bonnet to protect her

I now have to check for wear on the new bearings after a lot more test shredding and then I need to make sets up for the remaining two shredders...

[myglaren]

I've looked at shredders in the past but never bought one, just tossed stuff in the bin.
But have an environmentally friendly, nay; green alternative now.

Sling them in the compost bin. Good luck trying to decipher them after a few months in there

[Hell Razor5543]

I know of somebody who (with permission from their boss) was using the shredded paper as bedding materials for their small pets. Clean, dry, and after the pets had used it for a day or so, even more secure!

[CitroJim]

I know of somebody who (with permission from their boss) was using the shredded paper as bedding materials for their small pets. Clean, dry, and after the pets had used it for a day or so, even more secure!

In my initial testing today James, I'd be reluctant as given how well lubricated it is, the shreddings have ended up a bit oily... That won't be good for the pets I'd have thought...

[myglaren]

Use Olive oil. Or maybe something lighter, Walnut oil.

[CitroJim]

I've looked at shredders in the past but never bought one, just tossed stuff in the bin.
But have an environmentally friendly, nay; green alternative now.

Sling them in the compost bin. Good luck trying to decipher them after a few months in there

I have a veritable mountain of stuff to see off securely Steve... If I had the space I'd burn it but the local environment does not permit bonfires.

I never thought of composting but again, not really an option for me...

A lot can be binned but I'd be a lot happier if the more sensitive stuff was shredded... A big proportion is dad's and he kept every letter and document. When I cleared his bungalow I just brought it all home, put it in the attic and decided to worry about it later. That later is now here!

[CitroJim]

Use Olive oil. Or maybe something lighter, Walnut oil.

And end up with a slippery hamster

[Gibbo2286]

Soon be November 5th Jim.

[CitroJim]

Soon be November 5th Jim.

Too bloody soon Eric We've not had summer yet!

[Hell Razor5543]

The correct oil for shredders is vegetable based, so should be animal safe.

[Gibbo2286]

Half way down my pot of shredder oil it's gone very thick like gear oil.

[GiveMeABreak]

I gunked mine up the other day - on account of all the small parcels we get now seem to have the address label stuck on the plastic wrapping. Makes it impossible to remove and shred - and preferring not to ignite said plastic and keel over in a toxic meltdown, I cut the address part out and shred it.

I do use silicon oil every so often on a blank sheet to clean it, but must remember to shred some paper immediately after to try and get the plastic out the cross-shredding teeth.

[Rp0thejester]

Never in my life would I of thought that I'd be reading about shredders and finding it quite interesting! I need to go to Citroen Rehab....