If you hear weird noises from your paper shredder or it shreds slowly, don’t think it’s broken. All your paper shredder needs are some cleaning and maintenance. The root cause for those noises and slow speed is the rotating blades are covered in dust particles. This occurs due to the cutting process inside the paper shredder. The best way to overcome the problem is to oil your shredder.
As a car needs oil to run smoothly, so does a paper shredder. Regular oiling of the paper shredder with a good lubricant can improve its life and efficiency. For oiling your paper shredder the right way, this article will help you out.
How often should you lubricate?
The general principle is that you should oil the shredder when the collection basket is full or after heavy usage. This is to make sure that the blades remain in a smooth condition. For micro-cut type, oiling should be more than for a regular type.
Buy genuine shredder oil for your shredder. Not all oils can work as lubricants to the shredder.
Methods to oil your shredder
Generally, there are 3 ways you can oil your paper shredder – direct method, indirect method, and lubricant sheets.
Direct method
It’s a straightforward method you pour the oil directly in the input of the paper shredder. Make sure you use a narrow spouted bottle to avoid spilling the oil. Follow the steps below for applying the oil.
- For 10 seconds, run the reverse function in the paper shredder.
- Now switch off the shredder.
- Pour the oil in the input from one end to another in one swift motion.
- Switch on the paper shredder and let it shred for 30 seconds without paper.
Now you have oiled your shredder.
The indirect method
This method is also called a sandwich method. Here, the lubricant to a piece of paper in a cross shape and another paper is directly placed on top of it. Lubrication is complete with the help of those two papers. The steps involved are:
- Apply a fine line of oil in an X shape on the sheet. Don’t soak the whole paper in oil.
- For a few seconds, let the applied oil sit on the paper.
- Take another piece of paper and place it on the first paper. Now you have a ‘sandwich’.
- Run the shredder on reverse function for 10 seconds.
- Place your shredder in normal position and shred the ‘sandwich’.
- After the shredding is complete, make the shredder to work on reverse function again for 30 seconds.
The last step ensures that the blades are completely lubricated.
- Oil or lubricant sheets
An alternative to use oil is oil sheets. This sheet looks similar to an envelope with oiled paper in it. It is a very simple method because you only need to shred it in a paper shredder. The steps that you need to follow with an oil sheet are:
- Run the reverse function for 10 seconds.
- Place your shredder in its usual position.
- Now shred the oil sheet.
- After that, run the appliance on reverse function for 30 seconds.
The blades are successfully lubricated.
The bottom line
Make sure to check the user manual for any suggested method by the manufacturing company. But no matter what method you use to lubricate your shredder, good maintenance is an absolute necessity for a paper shredder.
