What Is a Shredding Machine?
A mechanical device known as a shredder, shredding machine, or document shredding machine is used to mechanically chop paper and other media that contain information into pieces that are too tiny to be read back. The safe disposal of private or company data is the ultimate goal. Shredding machines are used by corporations, individuals, government agencies, and non-profits to delete private or otherwise confidential material.
Types of Shredding Machine
A few different types of shredding machines are:
- Strip-cut paper shredding machines: A straight-cut, ribbon-cut, or spaghetti-cut shredding machine is another name for a strip-cut shredding machine. A single blade of the shredding machine is used to vertically chop paper documents. The official DIN 66399 standard assigns a DIN P-1 or P-2 rating to strip-cut shredding machines. These shredding machines have the lowest data security according to this evaluation. Instead of little shreds, a strip-cut shredding machine tears your papers into lengthy vertical stripes. An ordinary document is often torn into 39 strips. These strips may still include legible text, images, signatures, graphics, or photographs.
- Cross-cut paper shredding machines: Confetti-cut shredding machines are often referred to as cross-cut shredding machines. Your papers will be chopped diagonally from both directions by these shredding machines, producing tiny paper fragments. These shredding machines provide a great deal more security than a strip-cut shredding machine because of the cross-cut technology. Typically, a normal paper is shredded into 400 or more pieces. You may securely destroy common private papers at home or at the workplace with cross-cut shredding machines.
- Micro-cut paper shredding machines: Micro-cut paper shredding machines provide far higher levels of security than cross-cut and strip-cut shredding machines. Despite being a cross-cut shredding machine, a micro-cut shredding machine is a more sophisticated shredding machine that provides great security for erasing extremely secret data. The greatest degree of information security, DIN P-7, is advised for destroying particularly private papers, such as those from the government. Because the paper fragments produced by micro-cut shredding machines are so minute, not even a single letter can be read on them.
- Auto-feed paper shredding machines: You may completely automatically shred large quantities of papers with an auto-feed paper shredding machine. As a result, you save time and don't waste it shredding paper. You place your papers in the document shredding machine and leave. The shredding is done for you by the shredding machine. In the workplace, automatic paper shredding machines are often utilized. One area of the workplace where an automated shredding machine might be useful is the finance division.
- Paper shredding machines for credit cards, CDs, and DVDs: Some paper shredding machines also provide an option to destroy DVDs, CDs, and credit cards in addition to paper documents. These "CD paper shredding machines" often include a special slot for inserting CDs that you wish to shred and crush into tiny pieces. Additionally, some of these shredding machines include a separate container for the bits of shredded plastic. This makes it easier to separate your paper shreds from your CD shreds, which is healthier for the environment.
- Continuous duty paper shredding machines: The run-time of a paper shredding machine is one of the most ignored features. A shredding machine's run-time tells you how long it can function before the engine has to cool down. Standard workplace shredding machines can shred for between 15 to 30 minutes, however most home shredding machines can only shred for a few minutes. But a high run-time shredding machine is necessary for large-volume or centralized paper shredding.
- Industrial paper shredding machines: A powerful and professional shredding device for big volume shredding is an industrial paper shredding machine. Compared to continuous-duty shredding machines, it is a more sophisticated shredding machine. Industrial shredding machines are employed, as their name suggests, in large (industrial) settings when mass document destruction is required. Due to their security standards or procedures, several firms or governmental organizations choose to shred their papers.
- Paper shredding machines without wastebasket: A shredding machine without a wastebasket is inexpensive, small, and simple to keep in a desk drawer or cabinet. These "head only" shredding machines don't have a container or basket for the shredded paper particles; instead, they just have the top portion of the shredding machine, which includes the engine. Therefore, before shredding, you must set the shredding machine on top of a container, such as a garbage can. To ensure that the top portion fits most wastebaskets, the majority of these shredding machines come with an extensible arm.
- Manual paper shredding machines: A manual shredding machine, commonly referred to as a "hand shredding machine," "hand crank shredding machine," or "hand-powered shredding machine," is the simplest kind of shredding machine. This lightweight and small shredding machine may be placed on your desk, in a drawer, or on a shelf. You may shred any place since these shredding machines are powered manually and don't need electricity to operate. The hand shredding machine's handle or knob is turned to shred paper.
Shredding Machine Cutting Styles
The kind of cutting style required, which in turn defines the machine's degree of security, is one of several choices to be made while selecting the right shredding machine. The majority of shredding machines fall into one of four categories:
- Strip Cut Shredding: Although the Strip Cutter is considered the most basic shredding machine, it might be more than sufficient for less experienced users. A home user who wants to safeguard information from potential identity theft but just needs a modest degree of protection would be a suitable example. Strip cutting, sometimes known as spaghetti cutting, is a technique for cutting paper or other materials into long parallel lengths, such as credit cards or CDs.
- Shredding in crosscuts: The paper was sliced by the cutting cylinders both width-wise and longitudinally. Small, confetti-like particles are the end outcome. A single A4 sheet of paper will be reduced to between 300 and 900 small pieces, depending on the precise size selected.
- Crypto Cut Shredding: Government or military facilities often employ crypto cut shredding machines for handling highly sensitive material. Some of these devices will also reduce CDs and DVDs to dust, rendering all data unrecoverable.
- Micro-Cutut Shredding: The paper was sliced by the cutting cylinders both width-wise and longitudinally. Small, confetti-like particles are the end outcome. A single A4 sheet of paper will be reduced to between 900 and 1500 small pieces, depending on the precise size selected.
Shredding Machine Capacity & Specifications
Every installation needs the right industrial shredding machine, one that can handle the required volume. The quantity, physical dimensions, and weight, to be shredded refer to capacity, which is often represented in kilos per hour. The shredding chamber size could put a restriction on the capacity. Before purchasing the machine, carefully examine the capacity rating and account for some excess capacity. Short service life may result from using a shredding machine with a maximum capacity that is close to the needed capacity. A shredding machine that is vastly oversized, however, could use a lot of energy and floor space. Other requirements that you should be aware of are:
- The type of material you want to be shredding
- Your desired output
- Maintenance and repair of the shredding machine
- Operational conditions such as noise, probability, and safety
- Feed type, whether you want it manual or automatic.
Maintenance Tips for Shredding Machine
To ensure that your paper shredding machine operates efficiently, remember these tips:
- Set aside time in the workplace to empty the shredding machine: Even if the bin isn't yet full, it should be emptied at least once every month, depending on the volume being shredded.
- Run the shredding machine backward on occasion: Reversing the shredding machine's direction will assist prevent the paper from building up in the space between the blades.
- Clean the blades of the shredding machine: Clean out the blades once a month or after a significant shredding job (like the conclusion of a retention program). Utilize a can of pressurized air to remove the dust and tiny fragments lodged in the blades after removing the remaining pieces of paper.
- Grease the shredding machine: Shredding machine oil is a cheap commodity that may increase the longevity of a well-used shredding machine, however opinions on its utility vary. One of the most popular manufacturers of office shredding machines, Fellowes, advises lubricating the machine every time you dump the trash, while others advise oiling just after a jam or once a month.
FAQs: Shredding Machine
Q. What is a shredding machine?
Ans: A mechanical tool called a shredding machine is used to shred paper into strips or tiny pieces.
Q. How much does a Shredding Machine cost?
Ans: Manual ones will come around 600 rupees or more, while automatic ones will cost around 3,000 rupees or more. Industrial ones cost around 1 Lak rupees or more depending on the quantity and quality.
Q. What are the different types of shredding?
Ans: The different types of shredding are:
- Strip cut shredding
- Micro-cut shredding
- Crypto-cut shredding
- Cross0cut shredding
Q. What type of raw materials can be shredded?
Ans: There are machines for shredding materials that may be used for a variety of recycling purposes, including recycling tires, recycling wood, recycling e-waste, recycling scrap metal, and recycling plastic.