Completely lame project, but necessary

[twistsol]

My paper shredder is 15 years old or so and a couple of years ago the plastic bin inside cracked. Since then, every time I pull it out, it seems that another small piece breaks off. It now has a crack all the way to the bottom



15 minutes in the shop with stuff from the scrap bin, glue, and a 23 gauge pinner and it's slightly less good as new.

[LCHIEN]

$15-25 worth of plywood at todays prices. Would have been cheaper to buy a new shredder if you didn't have scrap.

[twistsol]

Contractually, I need to use a crosscut shredder for clients' financial data, and for my own sanity I need to shred 20-30 pages at a time. Shredders in that category start in the $600 range and I'd still end up with a plastic bin. I was disappointed that Fellowes doesn't supply parts for anything other than their large commercial shredders. Since this one doesn't need a room of its own, it isn't included in that category.

[leehljp]

Looks good! Better than the original plastic!

[dbhost]

Wow, the motors on your shredders last long enough for the bin plastic to break away? Impressive!

[capncarl]

Must have a Dyson digital motor! ….. what is a digital motor?

[Jim Frye]

Nice fix! We have a Fellows micro cross shredder with a plastic tub. I paid $80 for it at Target. I shred everything that comes in the mail. The tub has a stupid design "feature" with a smoked window in the side that is supposed to show when the tub is getting full. A smoked window in a black tub completely covered when in operation. Of course the window is completely opaque with the top on, covered in shred dust, and no interior light when the unit is in operation. The window could have been clear, but the designers went for stylish dark smoke. BTW, the shredded material composts incredibly fast.

[LCHIEN]

Chr's, you really need to inset the shredder mechanism in your new desktop, then have a cabinet under that with a bin and bag that catches the confetti and you can bag and empty it as needed.

[twistsol]

I had been seriously considering this idea, but eventually went with building a whole new cabinet for it.

[daughterofgirl]

I would first look for a trash can of the right size at Walmart and similar stores, I think it would be cheaper.
And I would make a similar box in the case described by LCHIEN - if you are going to make a completely crafted structure.

[capncarl]

Oh my, an air cleaner pleated filter with an internal wire expanded metal screen full of shredded paper shards would possibly be the end of that filter!

[capncarl]

I think incorporating the shredder into the new desk is a great idea! That gets one more thing off the floor, one less thing to accidentally kick over. While you are brainstorming it, make the shred catch container removable from the front or side of the desk with one side of it a pleated filter with a fan that runs when the shredder operates, IE, it’s own dust collection system.

[Dedpedal]

Some of the most satisfying projects are the ones that keep you from spending a lot of money.

[LCHIEN]

The ones that are satisfying to me are the ones that solve a problem perfectly when you can't find something ready at a reasonable price, made to do that.

[dbhost]

Here's a thought. Connect the shredder to the dust collector...

[twistsol]

I've actually done that and found that the paper pieces don't separate out in the cyclone very well and about 1/4 of them end up in the filter. that was with a previous cyclone so maybe I'll try it again, but I'm not looking foward to cleaning out a pleated filter if it fails. My old one just had a felt bag.

[danielsk]

Great project!

[twistsol]

On the orignal bin for the shredder, quite a few shreddings escaped the bin and filled the shredder's cavity. With my quick and dirty replacement bin, the problem got worse. Today's shop project was to build a new cabinet for the shredder which is shown below. I didn't have a plan or even a thought going into this and just built around what I had with the size of my scraps being my only limitation. I thought about building a plain box and having the top and head lift off to empty it but the head unit weighs over 40 pounds.

I removed the head from the cabinet. It was held together with nearly 60 3/4 inch screws Once I got the head off, I had to override the door close sensor since the new design doesn't have a door.



I found a trash can that is exactly the same size as the bottom of the head unit so the bin full sensor will still be tripped when it is about an inch from being full. I left the back open so I can just pull out the bin and empty it and slide it back into place. I'll get it painted and back in my office in the next few days. Going down to the shop with papers to shred every time got to be a pain.



I had enough scrap MDF from templating my office desk to make this, had some casters in the IKEA extras box from when my daughter's went to college and the top is made from off cuts of the salvaged birch I used to build my office bookcases. The only purchase for this will be the paint because all I have on hand is the red from the shop cabinets and the white from the metal shelves I painted last week. I'll probably need to buy a new trash bin for the laundry room once LOML discovers that I stole that for this project.

[LCHIEN]

Third try is almost always better.