Couple questions about shredders and removing gold pins...

Ok, got a call today out of the blue to pick up a shredder the company no longer needed. Started to break it apart and find a good sized electric motor inside. I'm going to see if I can get some power wired up to this thing to see if I can get the motor to turn after I get it detached from the shredder. Any good ideas for a use for an electric motor like this? I'm thinking of trying to hook it up to something I could use to bale/compress plastic.


Looks like: 120V 900W motor, I don't see a output rating in horsepower so not sure what it can really do.



Second question relates to separating gold pins from boards - I got a heat gun thanks to your guys discussions and that is working good to tap the pins out if they are soldered in - but I have these boards from Cisco equipment that aren't soldered, they almost have a little clip on the backside of the board holding them in. Anyone found a quick and easy way to get the pins out? I was thinking a dremel along the back side would be messy but would probably work.

what kind of shredder ? that kinda motor it might do hard drives, maybe even cars! ; )

It looks like it was able to do about 20 sheets of paper at a time. After looking at it more, I found that one of the gears stripped out that ran the 2nd shredding head - the main gears (attached to the chain) are in good condition but there are two gears that run off that shaft. The only way to get it back up and running would be to find that gear and replace it. Already cut some cables on it though so I have to figure out how to wire it up to a switch or something.

Yep it is a fan, I think it was open to blow air over the shredding mechanisms to keep them cool. The wires come out of the bottom of the motor, are tacked around the outside and then went in a low quality board. Wife cut the cables while I was still in mid thought on if maybe I could do something with it haha

haha, maybe she thought it out for ya! ; ) should be easy enough to wire it onto a plug. You can check motors with a multimeter to see if the windings are good

I have a multimeter but haven't been able to learn much about what it does. Could you give me a basic skill - say, "Put positive lead to positive wire, neg to neg, and set meter to x, does the meter read 0?" I have done some research myself but can't get what I've read to translate into why I put the right leads on the right connections. What do?

Originally Posted by Bear

haha, maybe she thought it out for ya! ; ) should be easy enough to wire it onto a plug. You can check motors with a multimeter to see if the windings are good

Originally Posted by Bear

haha, maybe she thought it out for ya! ; ) should be easy enough to wire it onto a plug. You can check motors with a multimeter to see if the windings are good

You don't even have to get a plug, just strip the positive and negative and plug them in a outlet

I'll probably have time next week to mess around with it, I'd like to put a switch on it and get some extra wiring - once I see it operating I'm sure I'll have plenty of ideas what to do with it. Since shredders have both a forward and backward button, would I need a three position switch to have it change direction or was that something that was probably switched on the low quality board components?

I tried to reply earlier 4b, but was having probs posting. Using the multimeter on 200 ohm setting you'll either get a zero or a one, a zero = no resistance, and a one = a short, this doesn't tell you it's good, only if it's bad. I'm certainly no expert but have recently learned to test fridge compressors and other things by using info found on an appliance repair site. Here's a thread on testing fridge components Refrigerator not cooling, fan working, compressor hot but not running - Appliance Repair Forum

here's one on using a multimeter, and how to check washer motors, dryers etc etc How To Check Continuity With Ohmmeter - Appliance Repair Forum

I wouldn't take the pins off that board, you'll down grade it too much. That sould be at least a 4.00# board as is. My .02

if that big sprocket was secured real well, i wonder how much that thing could lift

who was that guy always making home made forklifts and such? i'd guess he could give you some ideas for it

Now that would be a very interesting project!

Originally Posted by Bear

who was that guy always making home made forklifts and such? i'd guess he could give you some ideas for it