The shredding industry operates using two key principles when it comes to cutting.
A strip cutter is the most common type of shredder. It can be enough for those with a tight budget and it might even be more than enough if you plan to use it solely for personal reasons.
A crosscut shredder is often the best choice for businesses and individuals who need to dispose of extra-sensitive materials. The shredded paper will be much harder to reconstruct than if it were simply torn, making it more difficult for a would-be thief to obtain sensitive information by rummaging through garbage cans.
A crosscut shredder may be ideal for security purposes, but a stripcut is better if speed is what you’re after. Strip cutters are more straightforward and can shred paper faster than a crosscut shredder because it doesn’t have to cut the paper in multiple directions.
All Evashred industrial shredders are stripcut shredders producing particles at the width of the cutters fitted to the shredder but producing random short to longer-length strips.
However, sometimes there is a need to obtain much smaller consistent particle size with document destruction to achieve a specific standard of destruction which is usually given as a “P” rating.
For example, P1 in the DIN 66399 protection class is the lowest document classification in this standard and requires a maximum particle area of 2000mm Sq, or a strip width max of 12mm x 166mm long or longer.
P7 standard is the highest security level in this standard which requires a maximum material area of only 5mm Sq with a maximum strip width of 1mm and a max strip length of 5mm, smaller than confetti.
Evashred have trialled fitting screens to Evashred stripcut shredders to produce small consistent particle size. That was first successfully achieved with our small Evashred EV18E for vape products. We have conducted testing with a much larger shredder the Evashred EV85E where we fitted a screen to the underside of the EV85E’s chamber to shred documents.
This image shows a section of the Evashred EV85E shredders chamber screened off
The results were as expected where the product stayed inside the shredders chamber until it was sized small enough to fall through the screen holes.
Once again, we noticed a reduction in throughput volume but all the paper that exited the shredder was all the same particle size.
Typically adding screens to shredders slows down the shredding process and reduces the throughput volume.
This image shows the difference in particle size from standard strip cut to screened sized pieces
Having a screen fitted to the shredders chamber adds another high-wear item to the shredders chamber along with the cutters and spacer and combs that all are high-wear items.
All Evashred shredders are designed and built in Wellington, New Zealand.
Made to order with custom features when required, we can fit screens to any of our shredder models to add crosscut benefits.
Just call Evashred to discuss your shredding needs and we will tailor a shredding solution to meet your requirements.