Before you specify
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I feed into a 16-inch throat that I cannot feed into a 12-inch one?
Anything between 12 and 16 inches wide — oversized forms, wide continuous-feed printouts, folded plan sheets, ledger stock — plus the ability to lay two letter sheets side by side rather than stacking them. Tabloid at 11 inches fits both. The wide throat is also more forgiving of a skewed feed, since a sheet that goes in at an angle still has clearance. If your pile is entirely letter and legal, the extra width earns you very little and the 51514 is the better value.
Does the 22-sheet rating apply to wide sheets too?
No, and this catches people out. Sheet ratings are always quoted on 8.5 x 11 in paper — 22 sheets at 20 lb bond, 24 at 16 lb for this model. A tabloid sheet is twice that area, so the equivalent is about 11 sheets, and a 16-inch-wide sheet correspondingly fewer. The cutting head is limited by the total paper cross-section it can pull, not the sheet count. Feed wide stock in smaller handfuls and the machine will keep up without tripping the jam protection.
Is it genuinely oil-free?
Yes. The P-4 cutting cylinders on the 51564 are treated to run without lubrication, so there is no oiler, no oil sheets and no lubricant on the consumables list. This is a real design difference: the P-5 models in the same cabinet, such as the 51572, use finer cylinders that do need oil and are fitted with an automatic lubricator for that reason. The 51564's only recurring consumables are waste bags (item 20726) and the CleanTEC air filter (item 20710).
How much room does it need?
The cabinet measures 20 inches wide by 29 inches deep and stands 38 inches tall, and it weighs 158 lb. Allow clearance at the front for the bin drawer to come fully out and enough space to lift a full bag clear. The lockable casters make it easy to reposition on a hard floor, but on carpet a loaded machine is hard work for one person. It will pass through a standard doorway on its narrow axis.
How full does the 45-gallon bin get before it stops?
The bin-full sensor halts the machine automatically, and on a P-4 cut the shred is bulkier than a P-5 particle would be, so it reaches that point sooner per sheet than you might expect. In a central destruction role fed from collected confidential bins, plan on emptying it at least weekly and after any bulk archive clear-out. A full 45-gallon bag is heavy and awkward; changing it before the cutout trips is easier than after.
Can it destroy CDs and DVDs?
Yes. The 51564 is rated O-3 for optical media in addition to P-4 for paper, and Dahle lists CDs, DVDs, credit cards, staples and paper clips as accepted materials. Feed discs individually. If your policy specifies the higher O-4 optical rating, that is carried by the P-5 models — the 51572 in this same cabinet, or the 51522 and 51472 in smaller ones. Hard drives and USB media are not shreddable in any of these machines.
Is it noisy enough to be a problem near desks?
52 dB, which is the quietest rating in this batch and about the level of ordinary conversation. Together with the dust filter, that is what makes it viable in occupied space rather than a service room. The noise is constant while running rather than intermittent, which most people tune out. For contrast, a deskside unit like the PaperSAFE PS 240 is rated at 65 dB, which is markedly more intrusive despite being a far smaller machine.