Shale shakers are components of drilling equipment used in many industries, such as coal cleaning, mining, oil and gas drilling. They are the first phase of a solid controls system on a drilling rig, and are used to remove large solids (cuttings) from the drilling fluids (“mud”).

Shale shakers are the primary solids separation tool on a rig. After returning to the surface of the well the used drilling fluid flows directly to the shale shakers where it begins to be processed. Once processed by the shale shakers the drilling fluid is deposited into the mud tanks where other solid control equipment begins to remove the finer solids from it. The solids removed by the shale shaker are discharged out of the discharge port into a separate holding tank where they await further treatment or disposal.

Shale shakers are considered by most of the drilling industry to be the most important device in the solid control system as the performance of the successive equipment directly relates to the cleanliness of the treated drilling fluid.