A shaft for a rotary star screen apparatus has a shaft body having a series of axially spaced star connectors and a series of stars, mounted to the star connectors. Each one of these stars has a plurality of circumferentially distributed star members each elongate in a direction having a component radially away from the shaft body. The star connectors each have a plurality of circumferentially distributed star member connectors. Each of these star members is a separate part, individually and detachably mounted to one of the star member connectors. An apparatus equipped with such shafts is also described.