ReDeTec ProtoCycler+ User manual

User Manual
Rev 2.0

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction to the ProtoCycler+ 3
1.1 Safety 3
1.1.1 General Safety 3
1.1.2 Extrusion Safety 3
1.2 ProtoCycler+ Layout 4
2.0 Grinding 6
2.1 Grinder Operation 6
2.1.1 Grinder Safety 6
2.1.2 Grinder First Time Setup 6
2.1.3 Operation 7
2.2 Sorting Ground Material 7
2.3 Ground Material Size & Extruding Recycled Plastic 8
3.0 Important Things to Know Before Extruding 9
3.1 Puller Wheel Storage 9
3.2 Cleanliness 9
3.3 Plastic Care: Dry vs Wet - Clean vs Dirty 10
3.4 Opaque vs Transparent Plastic 11
3.5 Spooler Set Up 11
3.5.1 Spooler Assembly Instructions 16
3.6 Light Guide Alignment 17
3.6.2 Light Guide Alignment Overview: 18
3.6.3 Step 1 - Adjusting the sensor height 19
3.6.4 Step 2 - Evenly lighting the sensor 20
3.6.5 Step 3 - Calibrating the readings 21
4.0 Extrusion Operational Instructions 23
4.1 Overview 23
4.2 Initial Extrusion Steps for both Manual and Automatic: 23
4.3 Automatic Extrusion 24
4.3.1 Automatic Extrusion Steps 24
4.3.2 Diameter Sensor Check 26
4.4 Manual Extrusion 28
4.4.1 Manual Extrusion Steps 28
5.0 Intro to the ProtoCycler+ Purge Procedure (PPP) 30
5.1 Purging 30
5.1.1 Short Purge 30
5.1.2 Disco Purge 31
5.2 Purge Tips 31
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6.0 Congratulations! 32
7.0 Appendix 33
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1.0 Introduction to the ProtoCycler+
Welcome to the ProtoCycler+ community! The team here at ReDeTec is excited that you have
chosen to walk the path of sustainable 3D printing! We’re here to ensure your success with your
device. Operating the device requires a knowledge base and it is strongly recommended that
you read this entire manual before use.
Upon completion, you will know your way around the device, understand its key limitations, and
be able to operate in both automatic and manual extrusion modes. Most importantly, you will be
able to operate it safely.
If the manual doesn’t cover what you’re looking to understand, or raises further questions,
please visit: www.redetec.com/support
Please consider the environment before printing any copies of this manual.
1.1 Safety
Please do not compromise safety for anything. ProtoCycler+ brings industrial grade technology
to the desktop, and should be fully understood before operation. Please thoroughly review the
safety precautions before operating your device. Failure to do so may result in damage to
your device or may cause bodily harm.
1.1.1 General Safety
1.1.2 Extrusion Safety
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Note: If you have a High Temperature model, temperatures may reach as high as 500°C!
Never extrude PVC or any unknown plastic. The fumes could be lethal! ProtoCycler+
currently supports PLA, ABS, HDPE*, LDPE*, PA12, PETG, HIPS (*special printing hardware is
required to print HDPE/LDPE).
The device provides the ability to experiment with new materials and colors via the manual
extrusion mode. Please do not attempt to extrude any unknown materials unless you
understand the chemical reaction that occurs when the material is thermally broken down. For
example, PVC releases chlorine gas and under no circumstances should you try to extrude it
with the ProtoCycler+.
Always ensure proper ventilation when extruding any plastic, from the supported list or
otherwise.
1.2 ProtoCycler+ Layout
Before we dive in any further, let’s learn the basic anatomy and terminology used for the device.
The following images label the key features.
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Figure 1: ProtoCycler+ Front View (labeled)
Figure 2: ProtoCycler+ Side Views (labeled)
Figure 3: ProtoCycler+ Inside View (labeled)
Figure 4: From left to right - Nozzle Screen, Nozzle Breaker Plate, Nozzle Cap
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2.0 Grinding
(skip over this section if you have a Grinderless Unit)
2.1 Grinder Operation
The ProtoCycler+ must be powered on at all times to operate the grinder. The grinder
relies on an electromagnet interlock that engages the grinder drive train only when supplied with
power. The electromagnet is calibrated to disengage the interlock at set torque limit value to
prevent damage to the gear train. The grinder will only work if the two interlock switches are
engaged while the unit is powered on. One switch is engaged by the grinder lid, and the other
by the grinder drawer.
2.1.1 Grinder Safety
Please thoroughly review the safety precautions before operating the grinder. Failure to
do so may result in serious injury or irreparable damage to your device.
2.1.2 Grinder First Time Setup
Installing the Grinder Handle:
1. Remove the Grinder Crank Arm and Allen Key from the Accessories Box.
2. Use the Allen Key to remove the screw and washer from the Grinder Crank.
3. Place the support washer onto the crankshaft.
4. Install the Crank Arm over the hex on the Grinder Crank with the handle facing outwards
Note: the hex size is 5/16”.
5. Replace the screw with the washer under it, and tighten until snug.
Grinder Drawer Preparation:
1. Remove the Grinder Drawer from the side of the ProtoCycler+
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2. Uninstall the Grinder Sorter from the drawer in preparation for use.
3. Insert the now empty Grinder Drawer back into your ProtoCycler+ in preparation for use.
Note: the Grinder Sorter should never be installed in the Grinder Drawer when
operating the Grinder as this could cause plastic build-up and jamming. The
Grinder Sorter should only be installed in the Grinder Drawer for sorting ground
material
2.1.3 Operation
Note: It is not advised to operate the Grinder while the Extruder is running. Grinder
operation may shift or vibrate the unit which may affect filament quality.
1. Power on your ProtoCycler+
2. Remove the Grinder Lid and place the part you wish to grind into the grinder hopper.
Place the lid back in the hopper. The lid and drawer must be correctly installed in order
to operate the Grinder. While the lid only needs to be partially in, the drawer must
be fully seated against the back wall. Particulates may block this, and so it is
necessary to make sure the drawer slot is clean of debris before reinserting the
drawer.
3. To grind, first rotate the Grinder Handle counter-clockwise to ensure the interlock is
engaged. Then press down on the Grinder Lid Plunger and rotate the Grinder Handle
clockwise. Viewing through the clear area of the Grinder Lid, you will see the Grinder
Teeth spin inwards.
4. During operation, if at any time the load on the grinder teeth exceeds the maximum, the
Grinder Interlock will disengage. Reverse the grinder all the way until the part is pulled
off of the teeth by the clearers, and then attempt grinding again. If unsuccessful, you
may need to fully remove the part and reduce its size by other means, or otherwise
reduce the number of parts you are grinding at one time.
5. When you are done grinding, remove the Grinder Drawer to retrieve the ground material.
Sort the particulates and re-grind the oversized bits. See the following section on sorting
ground material for extrusion.
2.2 Sorting Ground Material
Depending on the material type, density and shape, it may be necessary to sort the ground
material using the provided sorting mechanism. The Grinder Sorter is a liner comprising two
levels of offset holes which are used to sift through the ground material and only allows ground
material of appropriate extrusion size through.
1. Read section 2.3 on desired ground material size.
2. Install the Grinder Sorter into the Grinder Drawer
3. Lift the sorting mechanism most of the way out of the drawer, and hold it so they are still
overlapping.
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4. Shake the two side to side, up and down, until it seems the only particles left in the sorter
are too large to fall through.
5. You may also wish to shake the sorter over a large pan or bucket to allow a little more
freedom of motion. Make sure whatever you choose for your “catch container” is clean of
contaminants. Rubbing alcohol is an excellent choice for cleaning your container as it
dissolves and cleans surface contaminants while evaporating quickly. Using soap and
water is fine, but make sure your grinder drawer/container is fully dry before using it with
your ProtoCycler+ system.
6. Remove the sorting mechanism and pour the large particles that remain in the sorter
back into a container for re-grind or back into the Grinder Hopper. Pour the small
particles that made it into the drawer (or catch container of your choice) into a container
or plastic bag to save for extrusion.
7. You will want to collect ground material and dry it as a large batch before packaging or
using it for extrusion. See section 3.3 on wet/dry plastic .
2.3 Ground Material Size & Extruding Recycled Plastic
The size of pellets/ground material particles entering your extruder is very important. If
the plastic media is too large in any dimension, it can jam your extruder. Using 100% regrind
can also lead to jamming. De-jamming is a difficult process which may require partial
disassembly of your unit.
1. The appropriate pellet size that can be used in your ProtoCycler+’s Extruder is 0.125" to
0.2" in diameter. Pellets that do not fit in this size range will not pass through the
Extruder Hopper Filter. Particles over 0.2" in any dimension may jam your extruder.
While having some portion of pellets be undersized is fine, the extruder hasn't been
tested with high concentration of small particles yet.
WARNING: The Extruder Hopper Filter does not replace the act of proper
pre-sorting.The Extruder Hopper Filter is a final protection for the Extruder to
reduce the chances of issues. It is your responsibility to ensure proper sorting
before using ground recycled plastic. Use the sorting mechanism to ensure all of
your ground particles are small enough.
2. Ground material must be mixed with virgin pellets. 50% recycled plastic is the
recommended ratio, though tests with higher percentages of recycled materials have
been successful (important factors are size, dryness, and quality of the ground material).
Extruding 100% regrind may jam your extruder! High consistency in size of your ground
material will improve filament quality.
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3.0 Important Things to Know Before Extruding
3.1 Puller Wheel Storage
The plastic is pulled from the extruder nozzle using two wheels. These two wheels have soft
silicone tires, and use a spring to hold force between them for gripping the filament. If left
stationary in one position for an extended period of time, the tires can develop a flat!
Therefore, it is important to disengage the spring and rotate the puller idler wheel out of
position when not in use to avoid developing a flat. The following images depict Puller
operation and Puller storage positions.
Figure 5: Puller idler wheel spring engaged (left image), and disengaged (right image).
3.2 Cleanliness
It is important to make sure your device is clean before use. We thoroughly clean each unit
before shipping, but dust accumulation occurs over time. Before extruding, inspect your extruder
hopper for dust and other contaminants. If material other than the plastic you wish to
process makes it through the system, you risk defects in the output filament.
ProtoCycler+ also uses two light sensors to read filament diameter output. We recommend
using a canister of dry compressed air (“computer duster”) to blow-out any dust or particles that
may obstruct the light sensor. We will show you how to know if there is dust getting in the way of
the LED or photoresistor in the “Light Guide Alignment” section 3.6 of this manual. If
compressed air doesn’t do the trick then we also recommend using a softer material (a skinny
piece of PLA filament works very well) to clean the photoresistor “slot” on the UI panel where
the LED shines light into. Never use metal or anything sharp to clean the diameter sensors,
as permanent damage can occur.
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Lastly, if other un-meltable materials or dissimilar materials with higher melting temperature than
your plastic of choice enter your system, you may find over time that your nozzle becomes
clogged. Referring to Figure 4 (Nozzle parts), inside of the Nozzle Cap there is a breaker plate
and screen whose purposes are to aid in building stable pressure, and to act as a last line of
defense against contaminants entering your filament. In the event that your screen becomes
clogged, please contact ReDeTec support for assistance in how to clean your screen! This
process requires special care and safety when executing and a trained specialist will be happy
to advise.
3.3 Plastic Care: Dry vs Wet - Clean vs Dirty
Similar to filament, you want to make sure your plastic is dry and kept clean prior to use. All
plastic is inherently “hygroscopic”, meaning it readily absorbs moisture from the air into its
molecular structure. This moisture is your enemy when it comes to extrusion! Extruding with wet
plastic will cause the moisture to be vaporized during extrusion, causing bubbles in the output
and vastly changing the extrusion properties. In most cases this will prevent you from achieving
high quality consistent filament.
It is very important to follow a strict regimen of properly drying, and managing your dried
plastic before extrusion.
The drying process is simple and may be done using an oven, toaster oven, or food dehydrator.
If using an oven or toaster oven the moist air must be removed for proper drying. Plastic
manufacturers will give specific recommendations on drying temperatures and times.
Temperatures and times used for ABS and PLA are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Drying Guide for PLA and ABS.
Make sure your drying system is already preheated before starting the timer for the drying times
stated in Table 1.
After drying, the plastic must be immediately stored in an air-tight container or bag with
desiccants until use for extrusion, otherwise it will quickly reabsorb moisture from the air again.
Ground plastic will have had plenty of time exposed to the environment, and must always be
dried for best results.
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Just as your extruder should be kept clean of contaminants prior to and during operation, the
same applies to the plastic itself. We take special care to avoid contaminants entering the
plastic supply. If dirt or a higher melting temperature plastic makes its way into the plastic you
are extruding, you may encounter inconsistencies in the melt output and/or irregularities in the
consistency of your filament diameter. Clean and dry plastic will yield a smooth and consistent
output if all other conditions are correct as well.
3.4 Opaque vs Transparent Plastic
The diameter sensors work best with opaque plastics. For a naturally transparent plastic such
as PLA, colorants must be added to make the filament opaque. Your order comes with colorants
that are to be used with the pellets for extrusion. You can purchase more from our website, or
your local shop.
3.5 Spooler Set Up
Gather the materials required to set up your Spooler. You will need the Spooler Kit, which can
be found in the ProtoCycler+ accessories box, and the Spooler Base which slides out from the
side of the ProtoCycler+
Figure 6: 1. ProtoCycler+ accessories box 2. Spooler Kit which can be found within the
ProtoCycler+ accessories box and 3. Spooler Base shown pulled out from its recess.
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Before setting up your Spooler, please check to ensure all of the parts in the image below are
included as part of the Spooler Kit.
Figure 7: Spooler Kit Parts; 1. Spooler Motor Bracket 2. Spooler Support Bracket 3. Spooler
Hub with Magnet 4. Spooler Spacer 5. Spooler Pin 6. Spooler Shaft and Clutch Assembly 7.
Spooler Hub with Nut 8. Timing Belt
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The following illustrations outline how to assemble the spooler and correspond to the set of
written instructions that follow.
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3.5.1 Spooler Assembly Instructions
Warning: The ProtoCycler+ must be powered-off when installing and plugging in the
spooler. Unplugging or plugging in the spooler while ProtoCycler+ is powered on can
permanently damage the main circuit board.
1. Remove the bubble wrap from the Spooler Motor Bracket.
2. Slide the Spooler Shaft and Clutch Assembly through the bearing in the Spooler Motor
Bracket in the direction shown.
3. Slide the Spooler Spacer onto the shaft so it rests against the bearing and is clear of the
pin hole in the shaft.
4. Slide the Spooler Pin into the hole in the shaft. Hold the pin in place.
5. Slide the Spooler Hub with Magnet onto the shaft as shown, ensure the Spooler Pin
seats properly into the groove in the spooler hub.
6. Place a spool over the shaft so it rests against the tapered face of the spooler hub.
7. Thread the Spooler Hub with Nut onto the shaft.
8. Tighten the spooler hub until it is contacting the spool. The spool should now be firmly
held in place by the two spooler hubs.
9. Slide the Spooler Support Bracket onto the shaft.
10. Ensure the thumb screws on the Spooler Base are as loose as possible.
11. Place the spooler assembly into the spooler base as shown, ensuring that the Spooler
Motor Bracket is above the longer arm of the spooler base. Tighten the screws so the
Spooler Motor Bracket and Spooler Support Bracket are secure.
12. Slide the Timing Belt over the clutch handle and onto the spooler shaft so that it is sitting
on the upper pulley wheel
13. Gently slide the timing belt over the lower pulley wheel, ensuring that the Timing Belt is
on the outside of the bearings on the tensioning arm.
14. Insert the Spooler Base back into the side of the ProtoCycler+
15. Plug the spooler stepper motor and the spooler sensor cables into the receptacles
located on the left side of the ProtoCycler+
16. Now it is time to turn on your ProtoCycler+ and set the spool geometry settings in
ProtoCycler+'s User Interface. First, measure the inside width of your spool with a pair of
calipers. Enter this measurement as “spool width” in ProtoCycler+ Settings.
17. Then, align the spreader guide so that the inside edge of the guide (away from the user)
is exactly aligned with the inside edge of the spool (away from the user)
The spooler is now set up and ready for extrusion! However, the clutch system may still need
adjustment. When extruding for the first time, loosen the clutch off until the spool just stops
spinning. Then, tighten the clutch one full turn. Check to ensure that the spool is still permitted
to slip against the pulley - this is required for the diameter control system to function properly.
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3.6 Light Guide Alignment
Light guide alignment is key to your ProtoCycler+’s vision system to verify and maintain filament
diameter. Every unit is aligned and tested for performance before shipping, but sometimes
things are bumped and moved between when the unit ships to the next time it is turned on again
by you, the owner. Ensure your light guides are properly aligned.
Depending on when your unit was built, you may have one of two variants. One is not better
than the other in terms of function. They both work to align the LED beam of light, but an
iteration was made to improve fabrication and assembly time. The following image details the
two types of light guides:
Figure 9: Light Guide V1.0 (left). Light Guide V1.1 (right).
3.6.1 What you need to check Light Guide Alignment:
● You’ll need two sizes of dowels. Drill bit shafts are an excellent option (use the smooth
shank, not the cutting flutes side). It’s very important that the dowels are a
consistent, known size - DO NOT use extruded filament!
● ReDeTec uses a 1.83mm and a 2.56mm dowel to align the light guides, but you can use
anything close within +/- 0.1mm. The larger dowel size is used for the sensor closest to
the nozzle, and the smaller dowel size is used for the sensor closest to the puller wheel.
For reference we will call these the Puller Sensor and the Nozzle Sensor.
● You will also need to be connected to a computer, to use ProtoCycler+ Command Center
(“PCC”).
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3.6.2 Light Guide Alignment Overview:
With ProtoCycler+ connected to PCC, start manual mode extrusion via the ProtoCycler+ User
Interface (For guidance, refer to the ProtoCycler+ Command Center Overview). You will see a
screen that looks like this upon manual mode startup:
Figure 10a: Startup screen of manual extrusion with all readings toggled off (by clicking the
“Labels” button above the “Time” readout).
The two flat lines seen in Figure 10a represent the raw data read by the light sensor
photoresistor array for the diameter of filament at the nozzle (left - brown line) and the final
diameter of the filament at the puller wheel (right - dark green line). These lines being flat at a
value of 255 (with a small amount of “drop-off” on the right) is a good sign that your light guides
are well aligned. If the light guides are lower than 255 or have severe angles to them, such as
Figure 10b below, then alignment is required.
Note that “alignment” refers to two separate tasks. The first is to ensure the light is evenly
lighting the sensor. The second is to ensure that the readings are accurate.
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Figure 10b: Two examples of incorrectly aligned light guides – the nozzle sensor is very bad
and the puller sensor has too much drop off on the right side to work.
3.6.3 Step 1 - Adjusting the sensor height
1. The first step is to ensure the sensors themselves are aligned. Each sensor has a
thumbscrew that, if loosened, permits the sensor to move up and down, as shown below
in Figure 11. The sensors are adjusted from the factory and neither sensor should
be adjusted unless the filament is seen to be frequently “falling off the edge” of
the sensor.
Figure 11: UI Thumbscrews for adjusting the height position of the photoresistors.
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