New Information on Shredding Staples & Tape

Best Practices:

It has recently become known that staples passing through the trimmer section of your perforator can potentially cause damage. All Perforators can cut through staples but staples can’t be passed through the trimmer section.

What is the Trimmer Section?

The trimmer is the section that slices excess cardboard off at the left-hand side as the cardboard feeds through. If a staple collides with the trimmer, it may bend or deform – consequently compromising the function of the trimmer, to properly slice off the excess cardboard.

Depending on how you pack and send your goods you will find once staples and clasps have been perforated they become very sharp. It is suggested to avoid packing goods in cardboard, which contains staples as they may scratch your users, recipients and products. Please remove any metals prior to perforating for the best finish.

It is rare that issues like this may arise, however it is important that you as an active user are informed.

Can stapled cardboard be fed into the perforator?

We recommend trimming off all staples from the cardboard prior to feeding for the following reasons:

1. Metals once perforated will often become sharp. With the well-being of your users and recipients in mind, it is not recommended to feed cardboard containing metal through the perforator.
2. Although the trimmer and separation unit is of robust design and operates very reliably for the purpose of trimming cardboard to a particular width, if metals come into contact with this area of the machine, this can cause damage.
3. While the hardened perforation discs slice through staples without damaging them, due to perforators open-sided structure, again feeding stapled cardboard is not recommended.

Can cardboard with packaging tape be fed into the perforator?

Perforating cardboard with clear packing tape or craft paper tape attached is ok to feed through, however, there are some less popular tapes that are not recommended to perforate including:

1. Cross filament reinforced packaging tape contains string-like filaments which can accumulate around the perforating discs and will cause congestion to the trimmer section and exit area.
2. Gaffers tape contains heavy cotton cloth which can obstruct and bind around the perforating discs causing congestion to the trimmer section and exit area.
3. PVC Vinyl tape can easily accumulate around the perforating discs, causing congestion to the trimmer section and exit area. Due to the highly stretchable characteristics of PVC Vinyl tape, perforation is not likely and build up between the perforating discs will eventually jam the cardboard perforator and potentially cause damage.

In reality, accidental feeding of the occasional staple or tape is unlikely to cause operational problems, however, repeated feeding of these items only increases your chance of failure. Thank you for your time & understanding.

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