Extruding

Once the plastic has been dried, you are ready to extrude filament. NOTE: If you are using a drying hopper, just leave it running with the temperature set to 180 °C. If you are drying your flake in an oven, leave it in the oven until the extruder is heated and ready to run (step 6).

Step 1: Turn on the extruder. The inline RCD (or GFCI) may also have to be enabled. At this point, all temperatures will be set to 0 °C and the motors will also be disabled.

Step 2: Verify that your fume extraction fan is running and that your area is well ventilated.

Step 3: The extruder must be heated to the point where the plastic in the barrel and cooling tube melts. Using the "A" and "B" buttons to move up and down the menu and the "D" button to select, select each heating zone's set temp and set it according to the temperature shown in the following table. The temperatures in the different heating zones should now begin rising towards their set temperatures.

Heating Zone	Temp (°C)
1	270
2	275
3	240
4	240
5	240

Step 4: Wait for the temperatures to reach their set points.

Step 5: Once the heaters have reached their set points wait another --- minutes to ensure that the plastic has fully melted. During this time, add your plastic to the hopper if you are using a drying oven. NOTE: Do not leave the extruder in this state for too long. When the auger isn't running, melted plastic can flow back up the barrel and cause a melt plug.

Step 6: Scroll down to the "Outfeed RPM" and set it to 30 RPM. NOTE: Our strategy here is to first pull the fiament down to small diameter. This will remove any kinks before slowing the outfeed down to where the desired diameter is achieved.

Step 7: Set the "Auger RPM" to 40 rpm. In a few moments plastic should begin coming out of the nozzle. It will take a bit longer if the barrel was empty to start. NOTE: If the plastic is not yet melted, the motor will not be able to turn the auger. A bad clanking or buzzing sound will occur. Simply set the auger rpm to back to zero and wait a while longer. The sound is caused by the motor missing steps it isn't as bad as it sounds.

Step 8: Using the wire hook tool, pull the filament away from the nozzle towards the outfeed rollers. Open the outfeed rollers and place the filament between the guides. You should now have a very thin strand of filament. NOTE: It may be necessary to pull any bumpy sections of filament through the rollers by hand because they sometimes jam in the rollers.

Step 9: Now that the extruder is extruding, you can set the temperatures on the cooling tube and nozzle (zones 3, 4, and 5) to lower temperatures. This helps to increase the viscosity of the melted plastic so that a thicker filament can be made. If you are using a drying hopper, you may also need to reduce the temperature of the barrel as the plastic is entering at a higher temperature. See the recommended temperature settings in the following table.

Heating Zone	With Drying Hopper(°C)	Without Drying Hopper (°C)
1	270	2??
2	275	2??
3	240	200
4	240	200
5	240	230

Step 10: The outfeed rpm can now be lowered until the desired filament diameter is achieved. This must be done gradually,about 5 rpm at a time, over the course of a minute or so in order to keep kinks and bumps from forming, which may jam in the rollers. The desired outfeed RPM will probably be around 12 to 15. Measure the diameter of the filament after the outfeed rollers using digital calipers. Try not to disturb the filament too much while doing this.

Step 11: If your machine is equipped with a diameter sensor, set the "Dia Set Point" in the menu. Then turn on the PID controller by setting "OF mode" to "AUT" or automatic. Note: When the outfeed mode ("OF mode") is set to "MAN" or manual, the user can input the desired rpm. In automatic, the PID controler changes the outfeed RPM to maintain the diameter at the set point.

While the machine is running do the following:

1. Periodically check the diameter of the filament and adjust either the diameter set point or the outfeed rpm as needed.
2. Check the hopper to make sure the flakes are flowing properly. Sometimes the flakes will jam in the hopper.
3. Inspect the filament to make sure that it is free of bubbles and flexible.

If at any time there is a problem and the machine needs to be stopped quickly, turn the main power switch off. If you want to keep the machine powered, you can stop all of the heaters and motors by pressing the --- key twice.