The difference between shredder and crusher - how to choose the right equipment?

When we were doing market research, we found that there were many people who wanted to enter the recycling industry. They thought that shredders were crushers. Although there is only one word difference between the two in the name, there is actually a big difference between the two. It is these two words "tear" and "break" that reveal the main difference between shredders and crushers. Let's discuss the difference between the two in detail, and how to correctly choose the equipment that suits your production needs.

1. What is a shredder:

A shredder is an environmentally friendly equipment that can shred waste plastics, waste boards, waste tires and other waste recyclable resources for recycling. From the perspective of comprehensive utilization alone, it is a device that turns waste into treasure. The working principle of a shredder is also different from that of a crusher. A shredder is a machine with a low-speed and high-torque knife roller. It can break large objects into irregular small pieces. The broken small pieces are usually 20mm-200mm or even larger. It is a machine that specializes in shredding solid waste. Usually including single-shaft shredder, double-shaft shredder, four-shaft shredder, horizontal shredder, plate shredder and other common specifications. Shredders use knives to shear, shred, tear, and shred materials. They are generally used to process unprocessed raw materials or scraps. A representative example is to shred plastic or rubber scraps and use them as raw materials for melting and granulation to re-make plastic bottles, tires or trash cans, etc. Shredders are used in the plastic recycling industry and are often used to shred waste large-diameter PE plastic pipes, bales of plastic film, large piles of plastic sheets and head materials.

2. What is a crusher:

Crusher generally refers to equipment for crushing stones in mines. It is a different concept from the crusher we are talking about in the plastic recycling industry. The crusher in the plastic recycling industry refers to the way that waste materials are shredded into small particles by high-speed rotating blades to become raw materials that can be reused! The principle is to use high inertia impact and sharp-edged rotating moving knives and fixed fixed knives on both sides of the rotating shaft to shear each other to shred the material. Generally speaking, large-sized materials (such as large pipes) must first be torn into pieces using a shredder, and then broken into small pieces using a crusher to be used as raw materials for further processing.

3. The difference between shredder and crusher:

First, the material sizes of shredder and crusher are different. Shredder tears the material into irregular blocks of 20mm-200mm or even larger. Crusher further breaks these block materials into small pieces less than 20mm, so that they can meet the conditions for further processing, such as granulation after cleaning.

 Secondly, the principle is different. The speed of the shredder is very slow compared to other crushers. The principle of the shredder to shred materials is mainly to tear, cut and tear various materials by low speed, large torque and speed difference between the shafts. The crusher uses high inertia impact and sharp-edged rotating moving blades and fixed blades on both sides of the rotating shaft to shred materials by mutual shearing.

Finally, the materials processed by shredding are mostly stubborn materials with high strength, large size and strong load, while the materials processed by crushers are mostly conventional materials with low load and small size. From the perspective of use, shredding has the advantages of being safer, less manual operation and low noise. Crushing is relatively noisy and requires more manual operation and maintenance.

4. How to choose correctly

To choose the right equipment, we must first clarify two questions:

1. What materials do you need to crush and what is the original form of the materials?

2. How large a particle size (size) do you want to crush the materials? These two factors will determine your investment cost and production efficiency.

For example, your materials are plastics, paper, rubber, PVC, old tires, domestic garbage, plates, large furniture sofas, fruit and vegetable garbage, iron sheet stamping scraps, machine head materials, medical waste or something else? What do you plan to do with these scraps after crushing? How big do you need to crush the materials, such as 100mm, or 10mm, or smaller? After clarifying the answers to these questions, you can choose the right machine according to some simple criteria.

5. Common uses of shredders and crushers in the recycling industry include:

1. Reduce the space occupied by garbage, thereby reducing the shipping costs of domestic garbage;

2. Tear waste such as old tires into pieces as fuel or filler;

3. Break paper or confidential documents to make them unrecognizable and unreadable;

4. Shred waste plastics before cleaning and recycling;

5. Destroy counterfeit products and defective products, and electronic hard drives;

6. Reduce the volume and quantity of large garbage and industrial hazardous waste;

7. Pre-treatment and crushing of fruit and vegetable garbage and organic garbage before landfill fermentation;

8. Prepare the material for the next process by refining it.

6. Features and advantages of Xinbei Machinery's shredders and crushers:

Single-shaft shredder

1. The overall circulation of the bin material, unlimited feeding, high shredding efficiency, and no jamming.

2. The main shaft is specially customized with a large rotating diameter to ensure the shredding contact surface and increase production capacity.

3. The transmission parts are connected by couplings to reduce vibration, protect the main shaft and reducer, and do not lose force.

4. The upper and lower spindles are equipped with a fixed knife to effectively cut off the material without winding the shaft, and the size after shredding is small.

5. The electronic control system is PLC self-programmed, equipped with start, stop, forward and overload automatic protection functions.

6. The whole machine is automated to ensure stable and safe operation. Save labor costs.

Double-axis shearing shredder:

1. The motor is connected to the reducer pulley, which gradually decelerates and effectively protects the motor and reducer.

2. The transmission system is connected by a coupling to alleviate the recoil force and ensure the stability of the overall structure.

3. The combined or split cutter and the cutter thickness can be selected according to the material, with wide diversity.

4. The electrical system is controlled by Siemens PLC, which is easy to operate and safe to run.

Double-shaft roller shredder:

1. Double-shaft stick shredding system, double shafts rotate synchronously and concentrically to ensure coordinated and stable shredding.

2. One-sided four-corner moving knife structure, perfectly connected with the serrated fixed knife, to ensure shredding capacity and reduce the size of shredded materials.

3. The machine is equipped with two independent power systems to maintain low-speed and high-torque production to avoid shaft entanglement and shaft jamming.

4. The electronic control system is a PLC automatic control system, equipped with start, stop, forward, reverse and overload automatic protection functions.

5. The whole machine is automated to ensure work and environmental safety, save labor costs and extend the life of the machine.

Four-axis shredder:

1. The main shaft is processed by the machining center as a whole piece, and there are no welding points around it; the shear-type moving knife adopts a split fastening connection and is locked to the knife shaft by screws. It is conducive to reducing wear costs and the operation time of later replacement.

2. The transmission system is a compact connection of the motor, reducer, and coupling. The driving shaft and the driven shaft are connected without gaps through gears to ensure high efficiency, low speed, high torque and low noise.

3. The electronic control system is PLC self-programmed and equipped with functions such as start, stop, forward transmission, reverse transmission and automatic overload protection. The whole machine is automated to ensure work safety, save labor costs, and extend the life of the machine.

Horizontal shredder:

1. Horizontal shredder is used for shredding longer and larger materials, with a diameter of 250mm-1600mm and a length of 3m-9m. The material does not need to be cut and can be fed at one time.

2. The horizontal shredder adopts a dual-axis drive system, and the dual-axis operates synchronously. Compared with a single axis at the same power, it greatly improves the production capacity and shredding efficiency.

3. The built-in hydraulic system pushes the material to the main shaft for shredding, and is equipped with a high-precision system and a silo balance system to ensure a smooth shredding process and reduce vibration and noise.

4. On the basis of safety and easy operation, the electronic control system is equipped with one-button start, emergency stop, overload protection and other protection functions to ensure the stability of the machine operation and maintain high efficiency.

Horizontal shredder

Plate shredder:

1. The plate shredder is used to shred longer and thicker plate materials. Plates with a size of 1000mm-3000mm do not need to be cut and can be fed at one time.

2. The plate shredder adopts an extended discharge bin size, and can feed more than several tons at a time, greatly improving efficiency and reducing manpower.

3. The built-in hydraulic system pushes the material to the main shaft for shredding, and cooperates with the high-precision system and the silo parallel system to ensure a smooth shredding process and reduce vibration and noise.

4. On the basis of safety and easy operation, the electronic control system is equipped with one-button start, emergency stop, overload protection and other protection functions to ensure stable operation of the machine and maintain high efficiency.