Ryobi ESR 2240 shredder

I bought the above last year, second hand. I found it had some issues such as blocking up and not cutting as good as it should, to resolve these issues I first removed the cutter head but there was not enough room to raise the head so I removed the blades with a hex key and short tube for leverage, sharpened them with a cheap diamond needle file and replaced them with large spring washers which are 1 1/0th of an inch wide or 100thou thick, this raised the blades so they were just clearing the metal housing, next I removed the plastic spout/chute from the front, it is now an easy opp to clear any blockage using a small metal hook (after the plug has been removed!!), job done. I was trying to shred cardboard the other day and had such a job, lots of dust but not much shredding action, I put this down to the blades moving too fast to allow the material to catch so I soaked the cardboard in water and it went through very quick, I now have a decent amount of browns for the grass cutting season to start, I hope this helps someone with a similar machine, remember, if you modify a machine like this it can become very dangerous if little fingers are around, I am the only one who has access  to this machine and I know what has been done to make it operate more effectively, keep safe Dave