Ativa DQ120D Motor has not been running. When I put a piece of paper in, the overheat/overload lights come on. I believe everything is seated correctly.

It sounds like you overloaded a machine that also needed lubrication.

What tends to happen in that case, especially on an older machine is that a shear pin shears if fitted, or worst scenario is that the plastic gears shatter as mine did. If the motor runs, but the teeth don't turn, then that is the cause.

If the teeth turn at all, flood the cutters with WD40.

This is a low volume, 8 sheet HOME shredder.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Ativa+08CC03

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Not a secret button but a paper sensing switch in the blades. I would unplug it and contact Ativa to find out if its easy to unjam the switch. The blades are very sharp so I do not recommend fixing it yourself without checking with Ativa.

The problem seems to be the plastic gears and/or bearing supports. Unless it is in warranty, it's going to cost you more to repair than replace, and even then Ativa's customer service is not the best and neither are their shredders: I suggest you look at http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/ativa-paper-shredder-c31646.html?page=2

Let the motor cool

Have you ever "oiled" the machine...get shredder oil and put some into the cutting blades and run the machine in reverse..then put some of the oil on some paper and run the paper thro" the machine.

took the shredder section apart, cleaned out the gears of paper and a broken mount (plastic piece), and hand turned the electric motor to free it up. After assembly, the ready light works and so does the FWD/REV directions for shredding.

If the gears are stripped it will cost more to buy them and pay for the shipping if it is not under warranty. You also have to think if the gears are stripped what caused this to happen. It probably put a lot of stree on the motor also. So you may not have a loy of time left on your motor. I hope this will help you.

Have you looked for hidden staples in the machine. Sometimes they can be hard to spot.

I was able to unjam an ATIVA DX 180 D shredder now the shredding blades won't turn but the motor is running.

I had the same problem with my Shredded. In the centre of the paper feed slot is a little sensor that detects when you put paper in, it breaks some sort of light beam that is connected to the motor circuit.

Over time paper dust gathers on this sensor, covering it completely and fooling the machine to think that there is ALWAYS a piece of paper being fed into the shredder, the result being that the motor just runs continuously.

Clear the dust from this sensor and you'll fix this particular problem - a toothbrush worked great for me - don't use it to clean your teeth afterwards :-)

FIXYA!!!