Kobra 430 TS C4 AO (Conveyor Belt)

The Kobra 430 TS C4 AO (Conveyor Belt) is a high-volume industrial shredder that cross-cuts paper to 5.8 x 50 mm, a DIN 66399 P-3 particle, at up to 660 lb (300 kg) per hour. Paper rides a conveyor into a 17.2 in (430 mm) throat, 125–130 sheets of 70 g/m² at a time, with a touch screen and automatic oiler handling control and lubrication. It is built for records centers, print and mail operations and archive purges where the constraint is tonnage, not security class.

430 TS C4 AO by the numbers

• Up to 660 lb (300 kg) of paper per hour
• 125–130 sheets at 70 g/m²; 100–105 at 80 g/m²
• P-3 cross cut, 5.8 x 50 mm (290 mm²)
• 4 kW (5.4 HP) motor on 208 V three-phase
• 124-gallon chamber, or two 235-liter bags

Throughput over particle size

This model shares its motor, belt, oiler, cabinet and footprint with the P-5 430 TS C2 AO. The only change is the cutting head. A wider, longer particle needs far fewer cuts per sheet, and that is where the doubled hourly output comes from. For a service bureau billing by weight or a warehouse clearing years of expired records, that is a straightforward trade: the same floor space and the same electrical circuit, twice the paper per shift.

Bag handling usually sets the real pace. P-3 waste is bulky, so at full rate the 470-liter chamber fills quickly. Running two 235-liter bags means smaller loads one operator can manage and fewer pauses between changes.

Know the limits of P-3 before you buy

DIN 66399 allows up to 320 mm² at P-3; this cut is 290 mm². That is well over the 160 mm² ceiling for P-4, so a policy that names P-4 or P-5 is not met, however small the strips look in the hand. Note that the "C4" in the model name does not indicate P-4 on this machine. Its full classification is P-3, O-2, T-3, E-2 and F-1.

Day-to-day operation

From the touch panel, operators run the belt, reverse, and oiling cycle, and read fault messages for an open door, full bag or overload, each of which stops the machine. The motor runs a full 24 hours with no duty cycle. Kobra lists cardboard as acceptable, but steady box destruction belongs on a dedicated machine. The US version needs a 208 V three-phase, 30 A per phase supply connected by an electrician, and bags are ordered separately.

430 TS C4 AO technical data

Alternatives worth weighing

• Kobra 430 TS C2 AO: same machine with a 1.9 x 15 mm P-5 head; 50–55 sheets at 80 g/m² and about half the hourly output.
• Kobra 400 C4: P-4 at 3.9 x 40 mm with a 16 in throat and 2.9 HP motor, for departmental rather than industrial volumes.
• Kobra Flexpack: turns cardboard into packing material at up to 550 lb an hour, if boxes are the real workload.

Who it suits

Pick the C4 AO when your documents are routine, P-3 is acceptable, and you have pallets rather than folders to process. If any of the paper carries personal or client-confidential data that your policy says must reach P-4 or P-5, choose the C2 AO or a P-4 machine instead.