Amos Manufacturing offers tips for choosing the right shredder

According to Amos Manufacturing Inc., an Alpena, Michigan-based manufacturer of industrial shredding and separation equipment, the addition of a shredder can offer economic and overall benefits in recycling applications where the goal is to turn scrap and nonconforming parts into a more manageable form for further processing.

“Shredders add economic benefits in recycling applications because of the reduced labor and safety risks from manually cutting up scrap products,” the company says. “The use of a shredder can reduce the energy, power and size requirements of secondary operations such as granulation while increasing the consistency and purity of recycled materials. All these benefits add value to the bottom line in addition to reducing maintenance costs and manual processes while increasing versatility and uptime.”

However, selecting the correct shredder does not need to be intimidating. With many options and designs to choose from, Amos says a match is available for each application, depending on the type of materials being processed, throughput, desired particle size, feeding method, etc.

Currently, Amos offers shredders from 1- to 400-horsepower and beyond, with a wide selection of industrial shredders for a variety of applications.

A dual, or two-shaft, shredder is typically ideal for primary size reduction and destruction applications, such as defective products, tires, metals, construction materials, plastics, paper, cardboard, industrial waste and electronic scrap, the company says. The large, low-speed, heavy-duty cutting design makes it more robust when faced with contaminated waste streams containing nonshreddable materials.

When a uniform particle size is required, the quad, or four-shaft, technology could be more suitable by combining the reliability of the two-shaft shredder with the addition of sizing screens for controlling particle size. Custom designs also are available, including custom cutter profiles to suit customers' needs, says Amos.