To ensure optimal performance from your shredder, always follow manufacturer’s guidelines for service and maintenance. When used and maintained properly, it will provide years of trouble-free service. The following tips will help keep your shredder performing at optimum levels.

1. Never overfeed – Overfeeding puts undue stress on a motors, gears and cutting blades. The negative impact of overfeeding is significantly magnified as waste particle sizes get smaller.
2. Never introduce foreign objects – They can damage cutting heads and cause blades to dull or break. Never put metal, including paper clips, binder clips or staples through your high security shredder.
3. Clear jams immediately – An uncleared paper jam can permanently cause cutter misalignment.
4. Lubricate the cutting head often – Proper cutting head lubrication will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a shredder by helping to prevent paper jams and keeping the cutting heads cool. Oil sheets made from vegetable oil are a convenient, simple, eco-friendly, non-messy method to lubricate the cutting head.
5. Make sure proper power is available – If not powered properly, an optical media shredder will not run effectively or in some cases at all. Even if the proper electrical outlets are available, they may not provide sufficient power for best performance. Some machines require a dedicated circuit. Another possible reason for an underperforming machine is voltage drop caused by outlets being too far from a circuit breaker. Use of extension cords can create similar problems.