Four Things You Must Know About Oiling Your Paper Shredder

Owning a paper shredder allows you to protect yourself from identity theft. However, virtually all paper shredders require some routine maintenance so your machine can stay in good shape. The easiest thing you can do to achieve this is by regularly oiling your shredder. Here are four things you need to know about the task.

Owning a paper shredder allows you to protect yourself from identity theft. However, virtually all paper shredders require some routine maintenance so your machine can stay in good shape. The easiest thing you can do to achieve this is by regularly oiling your shredder. Here are four things you need to know about this task.

1. Why you should do it. There are a couple of reasons why you should oil your shredder. The first and most important one is to protect your investment. Most shredders aren't cheap and you probably don't want to replace yours sooner rather than later. Oiling it will help it stay in shape so you can avoid costly repairs and replacement. (It will also protect your warranty.) Also, lubricating your machine will reduce the amount of paper jams you experience, which will help you save time on some busy workday in the future.
2. You need to do it often. Oiling your device isn't difficult, but you do need to remember to do it on a regular basis to gain any benefit from it. Generally, the more you shred, the more you should oil. A good rule of thumb is to oil your strip-cut machine once a month or whenever you need to empty the waste bin. However, if you own a cross-cut or micro-cut machine, you should do it more frequently, as often as every 15 minutes if you're using your device continuously.
3. Use the proper fluid. Selecting the right oil to use is essential. For one thing, you cannot oil your machine with oils designed for cars or human consumption, nor can you use other lubricants such as WD-40. You must use actual shredder oil which is manufactured specifically for your machine. Otherwise your shredder may be damaged and your warranty will be voided. (Using such lubricants could also pose the risk of fire or injury.) Many of the big shredder manufacturers (Fellowes, GBC, MBM) produce their own oil for use with their shredders to take the guesswork out of selecting the right lubricant.
4. How to do it. As mentioned before, oiling your shredder is pretty easy and there are a couple of ways to do it. The most common way is by squirting the fluid directly on to the machine's blades. Just apply the lubricant to the cutting heard, put the machine into reverse for about 10 seconds, and then feed it a sheet of paper so any excess liquid can be absorbed. Another way you can do this is by squirting the lubricant on to a clean sheet of paper in a zigzag pattern that covers the entire page and then running the sheet through your machine. Make sure to then shred a clean sheet to absorb the excess oil.

As you can see, oiling your paper shredder is necessary if you want to have a machine that works properly and won't give you any grief. Plus, it's not hard to do at all. So get yourself some oil today and start lubricating your machine!

Article Tags: Know About

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR