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shredding with a teck 1

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DrBob

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I finally got the teck 1 tweaked to my satisfaction and some tobacco just right for a real trial run. I shredded up about a pound of burley/virginia mix this evening. It does a wonderful job! Nice shaggy cut perfect for cigarettes.

It works well with tobacco stacked 5 or 6 layers deep so it is fairly fast, but no match for the speed of the paper shredder. Meybe 1.5# / hour.

I tried it powered with a cordless drill next and found out it is not a good Idea. Tobacco flew everywhere FAST! Nice shred, just messy that way. 120 rpm would work the best. the drill had no problem cutting leaves though. gotta slow that one down
Bob
 

BarG

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Bob, was tour tech 1 designed for that, try variable speed. If not designed for that than there is probably no bushings or bearings. You could wear out main parts and will need to lubricate for high speeds. Ive done that with hand crank grinders by adding large wheel 12" -14" to grinder with 1725 rpm moter with little pully and belt. You wear your parts out and have to make parts. Not recommended,Thats just me.:cool:
 

DrBob

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The teck 1 does have brass bushings on both ends. In actuality driving it with a drillmotor would be less strain on the bushings than a hand crank would give. No side loads with the drill, just rotation. The drill is 2 speed and variable trigger besides but at the lower speeds torque drops also.
The best thing about the drill is the clutch. There are slower drills out there and if I can find one with a 120 rpm speed it would be just right.
bob
 

Jitterbugdude

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It works well with tobacco stacked 5 or 6 layers deep so it is fairly fast, but no match for the speed of the paper shredder. Meybe 1.5# / hour.
Bob,
Do you press your leaves first or just stack them and feed them in? I'm getting a few chunks of leaves in my shred. I fed single leaves and stacked leaves as well as some that were pressed into a small block.
Randy B
 

DrBob

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Randy,
I just stack the leaves and I do get a few chunks too. I just pick em out and run em through again between more leaves. no big deal. What power drive would do would allow me to feed the leaves while the machine is shredding. A simple guard would keep the operation safe enough as the blades are darn sharp! almost razor sharp! Hand cranking takes 2 hands and gets very tiring at 12.6 rounds per inch.
The teck 1 is a nice toy right now, too much efffort to be usable in the long run but a power drive would make it a good tool for shredding and it should last a long long time if I don't overspeed it or overload it either.
Don't forget to oil your bushings, just a drop is all you need
Bob
 

Daniel

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Bob, Would I have the drill for you. It is a monster but low RPM. I found it being thrown out last year and use it to drill out holes in tree stumps to pour in the stump rot stuff. It can drive an auger bit 24 inches into a soaking wet stump without so much as taking a breath. But I don't think it has an RPM higher than 60.

You might try a pulley and belt type configuration that will gear the rpm of the drill down to hand crank speed meant for the Tech1. The machine should not so much mind it being a machine that cranks it as it might mind the speed. I suspect the tech1 is pretty much a beast though. They just don't make stuff like that anymore.
 

DrBob

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Thanks dan, It would probably cost too much to ship that drill. I do have a 86 rpm gearmotor in my pile of stuff that I can use but I would like a drillmotor better. Just easier I guess, There is a ton of cordless drills out there that the battery packs have failed and it was not cost effective to buy new batteries. I have 4 of em myself (drills). I could get a new drill and flashlight combo including two new batteries for 69 bucks with a charger to boot. Replacement batteries were 37.99 a piece. go figger.... I threw out a 12 volt makita last spring that was geared to 120 rpm on lo bad batteries! heck it woulda been perfect! it had a clutch to boot! coulda run that sucker off a lawnmower battery

Bid on that teck 1 randy
 

DrBob

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Dan
When you brought up that drill It has to be one of them arm braking high torque plain old mean drills. It probably broke the previous owners arm. He must have thrown it away out of pure fear! My uncle had one of them, it was dangerous! Be careful who you lend it out to.
 

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Sounds like a knucklebuster ,low rpm but high torque. When that auger bit catches the drill keeps spinning.
 

Daniel

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BarG and Bob, Exactly right. You would not want to get in a spot you can't let it go or have the cord wrap around your leg or something. It is going to turn and taking off an arm or leg is probably not going to prevent it from doing so.

Randy, I just checked and the biding is at $35.00 but says reserve not met.
 
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