Buying a shredder sometimes is not easy if you do not know your shredding requirement in detail. Knowing your shredding requirement well is very important to help to choose the right and cost-effective shredder machine. A professional shredder manufacturer or supplier always asks some typical shredding requirement questions before providing you a price or quote for a shredder machine.

Shredding requirement questions – Basic
Wanrooe shredder lists some typical shredding requirement questions which can help you to figure out your own shredding needs in detail. Below are five typical or basic questions regarding your shredding requirements:

What specific kind and form of material do you want to shred?
Tire and carton scrap are two different things. Even for the same waste like carton, original carton boxes in loose status and carton boxes in bales are also different when choosing the right shredder. Because carton boxes in bales need a stronger shredding machine and the capacity is higher.

What are the maximum dimensions of the material you want to shred?
The maximum dimension of waste material is also an important consideration when deciding the size of the shredder machine. Each shredder has a rotor diameter limitation. So sometimes you need to pre-cut the big material into smaller pieces before shredding especially if your output requirement is not too much. Otherwise, this will affect the whole machine’s dimensions and thus the price of the machine.

What is the expected particle size after shredding?
The final desired material size can affect many important specifications like cutters, screen size and output, etc. Smaller particle size normally needs a smaller screen size and a higher capacity shredder to achieve the same output.

What is the required throughput capacity (kg per hour)?
Higher throughput capacity needs higher motor power and configuration. Of course, the machine price will be higher too. So you should figure out your expected output requirement. When calculating the output, you should consider how many hours do you want the machine to operate per hour. If you only know the daily output requirement, please transfer it to hourly output because 8-12 working hours are all fine in one day. Also for some materials, you should consider the moisture content inside the material.

Shredding requirement questions – Others
There are other questions that better help to find a suitable shredder:

What feeding method do you want?
Feeding materials to shredder machines can be by hand, forklift truck, conveyor belt, and front loader etc. Know the operating height for feeding and choose the ideal feeding solution.

Do you have any room or onsite space restrictions?
Sometimes both vertical shredder and horizontal shredder are fine for shredding the materials. But vertical shredder is more suitable for small space facilities.

Are foreign objects like metal, sand, soil, stones, and glass, etc to be expected in the material?
Normally shredder refuses to accept these foreign objects, especially hard metal. Because it will break cutters.

How do you want the shredded materials to be extracted?
Spiral conveyor, conveyor belt, air extraction and hand are all fine to extract the materials after shredding. For a small output machine, you only need to keep a bucket underneath and remove the materials by hand. For higher output machine, you should choose more efficient solutions.

Do you require a direct connection between the shredder and other machines?
For example, the shredder can work with a baler in the RDF line by conveyor connection. The materials after shredding drop to conveyors and then be compressed into dense bales for easy transportation and storage.

Do you want to install the shredder inside or outside of the warehouse or building?
If you want to set up your shredder outside, many parts for the machine should be waterproof standard at least.

What ambient temperature will the shredder operate in?
For very hot or very cold regions, many parts in the shredder should be customized to suit the special temperature.

What voltage do you want for this machine?
For some special voltage conditions, the delivery time may be longer and the cost of the machine may be higher.