Glad you said the thing about the trim while using canola oil/Pam. Wish i would of known it causes your shatter to be runny oil lol, it is a great machine for the price though, I got a lot of great use out of it and it saved me a ton of time + money in trimming. Mine finally broke, but it sure was worth the money!
I've had a trimming machine for several years now.
No way would I use it without oil on the grates. Some bud so sticky that just a handful of bud would gum up the grates, blade and leather fingers.
I've used generic Walmart brand Pam while blades are spinning and leather fingers turned off. Other times I've used a sponge with oil or a oily rag and wiped everything down.
Sticky surface really damages the nugs compared to a slippery surface.
My trimmer isn't the one in this thread but a 2000 dollar model. Has 2 switches, one for fingers and one for the blade. The grates are closer together to do smaller bud and you can't use bud with fan leaves or long leaves. They need a quick snip to cut em down to a max of around 2"in length. It's titled so I just run bud open door to let it tumble down in a tote.
I can use it for colas as well. Just turn blades on and open door and turn the cola over the top of the grates.
With the buds already cut off the stem and in a bucket my machine will process a 5 gal bucket full of bud in about 5 min. That is usually a pound and half to 2 pounds depending on density when it dries.
I work by myself and can do over a hundred pounds of dried bud in a month with this machine.
Machine is the only way to go. Been their done that with rats and theives. Way too much trimming for one person and the machine does a good job and doesn't steal or rat you out.