Hack a Paper Shredder to Shred Plastic
This has been an innovation in my circles of Precious Plastic LA and Precious Plastic Florida. You can modify/hack/take out(bypass) all the sensors to make it AutoRun (turns on and off instead of activated by a sheet of paper) Benefits: -Cheap -Easy to find in industrialize countries -Easy to intermediate hack-a-bility -Better shredders have more robust Drawbacks -Weak motors -Small inlets -Poor (MOOPY) Outlets Get shredders that can handle Credit Cards and CDS First we start with removing all those pesky safety features!
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< 1 hour
Easyother machineshredderhack
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1
Acquire your paper shredder
One can easily find 2nd hand paper shredders on Classifieds, 2nd hand/thrift stores, and eBay. The quality of the plastic flakes it will put out depends on it.
PRIORITIZE: MICROCUT or CONFETTI CUT are the key words when shopping for a paper shredder. These make the OPTIMAL to hack/upcycle to a plastic shredder because of their FLAKE LIKE OUTPUT
LESS DESIRABLE OPTIONDe-Prioritize CROSSCUT - arguably, the most common shredder that might be encounter. It is the . The blade design of these shredders outputs longer, stringy flakes and HARDER TO MELT PIECES. Upgrades to the crosscut shredder box will be included in a later step.
2
Observe your Paper Shredder
Look for all the sensors in your paper shredder
FEED SENSOR - Usually around the mouth/opening and tells the shredder to turn on when you feed the paper in.
BIN SENSOR - Kill switch that makes it so the shredder only operates when the top is on the waste bin or the bin is secured in the shredder
3
Begin Deconstruction
It is wise to:
Take lots of pictures and videos of all the components and screws placement before deconstruction.
LABELED containers for all the screws or a layout sheet where you can place all the screws
THEN Disconnect from any power source and Begin deconstructing your paper shredder until you reveal the electronic components
4
Take Out or "Hot Wire" the Sensors
In most cases the sensors will have two wires going into them and you can just splice those wire those two wires together to form a close circuit.
Test to see if the paper shredder autoruns
Solder if satisfied with functionality
One could also do the soldering on the circuit board depending on your shredder and level of expertise.
5
Widen Inlet/Mouth of Shredder or Create Hopper
The easy, smelly, toxic fumey way of doing this is with an Angle Grinder. The high speed usually melts the commonly ABS type plastic and smells horrible.
You could also do this with a Sonic Tool/Multi Tool/Oscillating Saw and create dust particles
Or you could use a hot knife
It is wise to design your Inlet or Hopper when the paper shredder is apart
6
ReAssemble Your AutoRun Shredder
Put is all back together and enjoy your hacked Paper now PLASTIC shredder! Be mindful of the flakes as they sometimes will pop back out of the inlet.
7
Bonus! You could rig shredder up to bigger motor!
If you happen to find a great paper shredder box you could take the box out and rig it up to a bigger motor. Or just run it with a ratchet.
We have also tried to figure out how to cut a custom "comb" for it that would clear the teeth
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