A very simple P4 paper shredder conversion. I'm impressed

[pottsS]

My son found two identical "Staples 15 sheet" cross cut shredders in the garbage and brought them to me to see if I wanted to fix them and sell them or perhaps convert one to a tobacco shredder. When I converted my P5 micro cut shredder I chose P5 because I was reasonably sure the shred would work well for making cigarettes with my PM3 injector. It has not disappointed, so far that original conversion has shredded over 40# and has never missed a beat and shows no signs of wear. Still, as soon as I took the top off the Staples shredder I could see it would be a simple conversion. The cutter rolls are two inches center to center...almost twice as much as my P5 shredder...so that means I could make the throat twice as wide and make feeding it without bridging much easier. The shred is too coarse though, the shreds are 3/16"x1". I have heard of people running twice through so I went ahead. A benefit I hadn't anticipated was how well it destems. I am using threshed tobacco but even so there are plenty of stem pieces I pick out of the final product before I make cigs.
Anyways I just did a ten minute trial run. It shredded 1700g (3.7#) I picked the stems out and re ran the tobacco...re running only took 5 minutes, so on my trial run I did 3.7# in 15 minutes. The injector didn't like the tobacco after just one pass...but after two passes the PM3 injector is making the perfect sound (tamp tamp eject) For comparison I weighed cigs from both the P5 and P4 conversions. 20 cigs from the P5 weighed 20g, 20 cigs from the P4 weighed 19g...so not really any significant difference, The cigs I've smoked seem to burn the same. It is early though...maybe by the time I smoke through the 1700g I'll be ready to go back to the P5 cut!

 

[pottsS]

I thought I'd do a video demo. Sorry...I suck. I am impressed with the shredder on the other hand...and you can't beat the price. The pail that I cut for a hopper was free, the shredder was free...even the golf ball to keep my poker out of the cutters was just a ball the dog found in the park behind my house. I weighed out just a little over one pound of threshed leaf to do this demo.

 

[Redleaf]

Well we anxiously await pictures of the finished product !!!!

Edit
I apologize. For some reason the earlier posts were not showing up and I only saw the video

 

[pottsS]

Well we anxiously await pictures of the finished product !!!!

Edit
I apologize. For some reason the earlier posts were not showing up and I only saw the video

I see you live in SK. I have the twin shredder that I haven't even opened up yet, I could build it for you if you want. I'm in kamsack.

 

[Redleaf]

I see you live in SK. I have the twin shredder that I haven't even opened up yet, I could build it for you if you want. I'm in kamsack.

I appreciate the offer but I am fine with my program for cutting up tobacco in my old fashioned way. I am not a truly devoted consumer and so I don’t need large quantities. To process tobacco I simply stack froglegged leaves into a suitable stack and cut coins, then cut through the coins until I feel good about the size of shred.

 

[pottsS]

I opened the other shredder, it has a lot less use than the one I built so I will want to build it for myself...but if there is anyone in the area that is interested I'll give them the shredder I have built.
My wife decided to use our immersion blender when she was making Xmas candy. Boiling candy is much hotter than boiling water so the detachable end kind of melted. Was never a very good blender anyway. It did look just right for a cigarette finisher so I tried it out today. I'm pretty happy with it. I know finishing isn't critical, but it is kind of a nice touch so I always finish them...sometimes I just use the iron and finish a handful at a time. It isn't pretty but it sets the end real well but you do need to hold the cigs close and use some pressure. I almost always end up with a burn. My son usually finishes while I fill and he is more adverse to pain so he always uses a finisher...I think this one will be easier to use than the other.