Dahle PaperSAFE PS 380 Paper Shredder, Oil Free / Hassle Free, Jam Protection, Security Level P-4, 15 Sheet Max, Shreds Staples, Paper Clips & Credit Cards

The Dahle PaperSAFE PS 380 is the largest oil-free deskside machine Dahle builds, and the only one in the range that takes fifteen sheets in a pass. It keeps everything that makes the PaperSAFE line worth buying — no oil, no bags, no filters, nothing to maintain — and applies it to the volume a busy private office actually produces.

Key Features

• Fifteen sheets per pass at 20 lb bond, the highest rating in the PaperSAFE range.
• Oil-free cutting cylinders. No lubricant, no oil sheets, no schedule. Over the life of the machine there is nothing to reorder.
• P-4 paper security with O-3 optical media, so CDs, DVDs, credit cards, staples and paper clips all go in.
• 1/8" x 7/16" particle, roughly 35 mm² — the finer of Dahle's two PaperSAFE cutting heads.
• 60 dB, matching the PS 260 and quieter than the smaller models despite the extra capacity.
• Seven-gallon pull-out bin, emptied directly with no bags to fit or buy.
• Automatic jam protection that reverses the motor on an overfeed, thermally protected motor, automatic start and stop, 8.75-inch feed opening.

Specifications

Sheet capacity is Dahle's rating on 8.5 x 11 in, 20 lb bond paper. The 1/8" x 7/16" particle is about 3.2 x 11.1 mm, near 35 mm². That is comfortably inside the 160 mm² DIN 66399 allows for P-4, and above the 30 mm² P-5 would demand — the PS 380 is a P-4 machine.

What's in the Box

Shredder and integrated seven-gallon bin, ready to use out of the carton. No waste bags are supplied and none are required. No oil is supplied and none is required. There is no dust filter; PaperSAFE machines do not have CleanTEC filtration.

Where a Deskside Machine Stops Being the Answer

The PS 380 is the strongest machine in Dahle's oil-free deskside line, and knowing where its limits sit is more useful than another list of features. Three things mark the boundary. The seven-gallon bin: fine for one desk, tiresome once several people feed it, and unworkable as the destination for a floor's collected confidential waste. The motor: thermally protected and designed for intermittent use, not the chain-driven continuous-duty design in the CleanTEC cabinets, so working through archive boxes in one sitting is not what it is for. And the 8.75-inch feed: enough for letter and legal, but 11 x 17 tabloid will not enter it. Cross any of those lines and the honest recommendation is a cabinet shredder — the CleanTEC 51464 at 24 sheets into 30 gallons with dust filtration, or the 51514 at 26 sheets into 38. Below those lines, the PS 380 does the job with nothing to maintain and nothing to reorder.

Who Should Buy This — and Who Should Not

The PS 380 is the right machine for a single busy desk or a small practice where shredding happens every day: a solicitor's office, an accountant, a clinic reception, a home business handling client records. Fifteen sheets means you stop counting pages, and at 9 ft/min the machine is deliberately unhurried rather than strained. Because there is nothing to maintain, it also suits an office where nobody has been given responsibility for the shredder.

It is still a deskside machine, and that is where the limits are. A seven-gallon bin fed by a whole department becomes a daily task; if several people share one machine, the CleanTEC 51464 gives you 24 sheets, a 30-gallon bin and dust filtration in a cabinet. The 8.75-inch feed will not take 11 x 17 tabloid — the CleanTEC 51472 and 51564 will. And if your destruction policy names P-5, no PaperSAFE meets it: the CleanTEC 51422, 51472 and 51522 are where that requirement is answered.