Before you specify
Frequently Asked Questions
Is P-3 secure enough for confidential documents?
It depends on your policy. DIN 66399 P-3 allows particles up to 320 mm2 and is normally described as suitable for sensitive internal data. Many corporate, legal and healthcare destruction policies specifically require P-4, which halves the permitted particle area to 160 mm2. If your requirement is written down and names a level, check it before ordering - the CX34-44 in this range is the P-4 equivalent. If you have no stated requirement, P-3 is a reasonable general-office standard.
How quiet is 55 dB in practice?
Quiet enough to run beside desks. Fifty-five decibels is roughly the level of a normal speaking voice at a few feet, or a domestic refrigerator. For context, the CX22-44 and CX34-44 in this same range are published at under 75 dB, which is about twenty decibels louder and, because the scale is logarithmic, subjectively several times noisier. If the shredder's location is contentious, this is the model that solves the argument.
Can it shred CDs, credit cards, staples and paper clips?
Yes - ACCO lists paper clips, staples, credit cards and CDs as supported for this model. As with any office shredder, feed hard media one item at a time rather than in a stack, and let the cutters clear before the next. Ring binders, laminating pouches, large binder clips and adhesive-backed labels in quantity should still be kept out.
How often will a 59-gallon bin need emptying?
Less often than anything else in this range, which is much of the point. Fifty-nine gallons is the largest bin here, against 44 gallons on the CX22-44 and CX34-44 and 100 litres on the smaller cabinet. ACCO does not publish a sheets-per-fill figure, so we will not invent one, but for a twenty-person floor doing routine daily destruction, a once-daily empty is a realistic planning assumption.
Will legal and tabloid paper fit?
Legal, yes - the throat is 16 inches and US legal paper is 8.5 inches wide, so it goes in flat with a lot of room. Tabloid at 11 x 17 inches also fits within the 16-inch opening when fed with the 11-inch edge leading. The only sheets that need folding are those wider than 16 inches. Note that oversized sheets consume more of the pass capacity, so feed fewer of them at once.
Does it need to cool down between loads?
No fixed cool-down is published - run time is rated continuous. The practical limiter is the Jam-Stopper capacity monitoring, which will indicate and stop rather than let you force an overloaded stack through. If it does stop, back the stack out, reduce it and feed again; repeatedly forcing a shredder past its indicator is the fastest way to damage a cutting head.
Is this the same machine as the CX34-44 with a bigger bin?
No. They are different cabinets and different security classes. The CX40-59 is P-3, 40 sheets, 16-inch throat, 59-gallon bin, 55 dB, on a 23 by 25 by 40 inch cabinet. The CX34-44 is P-4, up to 34 sheets, a 400 mm throat, a 165-litre bin and under 75 dB, on a 640 by 590 by 970 mm cabinet. The choice between them is quiet high volume at P-3 versus finer particles at P-4.