Atco Shredder 2000

This is such a great machine, had no issues at all and had it for many years. It shreds everything so great.

I have had our Atco Shedder for several years and it has shredded everything that I have thrown at it. Obviously the bearing has to be greased now and then and there is a small problem with the gap adjustment between the cutter and the steel plate as it is difficult to adjust after a while (needs pliers to turn it).

Kept in the garage when not in use it will work for hours on end. Even the collection bag has lasted well and I have not been especially kind to it. 2m to 3m long branches are just chewed up.

More expensive that other machines but worth every penny.

Wear eye protection and gloves.

Weve had our ATCO 2000 shredder for about 2 years and up till now been extremely pleased with its performance. We havent used it too much so never considered having it serviced. BIG MISTAKE--- The first time I used it this Autumn it seized up, and on dismantling have found that it has blown an expensive transformer. This was due to a very poor design fault.

The cutter is supported by a short shaft which runs in a grease lined pocket on both sides. If this grease dries out for any reason then WHAM the whole thing comes to a juddering halt and in my case has blown up an expensive looking transformer. Why oh why couldnt it have been designed to run in a ball race. Surely this is a basic design fault with such a heavy duty piece of kit - needless to say it will now cost a fortune to get it working again - so please heed my words.

A good Domestic/Home unit that is reasonably quiet and shreds branches that are hard or "softwood", vegetation etc ~ easy to use, would consider its design to be as safe as is practicable, easy to adjust and reasonably easy to move around. The unit does deal with good size branches, so long as they arent convoluted shapes. It is a good move to shred stuff that is relatively freshly cut. Dry branches can bounce up and down in the hopper ~ sometimes.

We think this is a good unit, particularly for home use and it avoids noisy petrol engined units and it is as its name implies relatively quiet (cutting branches does tend to make a "clack clack" noise and this goes back to the "hammering" effect inside the units plastic throat.

With a reinforced/metal insert lining to the plastic throat, a slight (+10-15%)tweak to the cutter speed, a better grade of steel cutter and just a couple of other minor/low production cost mods this could be a great little unit.

As a general comment (this is not a criticism of this or any other shredder unit) I would not use any (I repeat any) garden shredder with young children in the garden and we always wear safety glasses and thick garden gloves. Just as info for anyone you can buy really good wrap round safety glasses and also safety sunglass variants ~ these arent only available in the old fashioned, heavy and awkward types that they used to be!

If you have a large garden and need to clear it quickly then the Atco Shredder 2000 will happily keep going. Albeit it ours failed due to leaving it in the elements for about 7 months with just a bin bag to cover the electrics. Yes this might sound dangerous and a bit foolish but it does go to show that it is robust enough to get the job done even after exposed. We managed to use it for several hours non stop before it gave up (after it's 7 month stint in the garden doing nothing).

Would I buy one of these again. Without a doubt. I am considering buying another one new instead of replacing the motor!