- Check the barrel, and hopper carefully to see if there is any miscellaneous on, check if all the bolts and nuts are well fixed, the safety cover is fastened properly, and the switches on the right position. Adding lubricants or grease the parts needed. Clean the extruder before starting the operation.
- Before starting the extruder, check the temperature controller, water cooling by thermometer and cooling water.
- Heat the extruder according to the extruder operation manual. After the extruder temperature reaches the preset value, keep the insulation for around 30 minutes until the temperature of all heated parts gets to a stable condition.
- Notify the people around the extruder and prepare for the start of the extruder. Before starting the extruder, make sure that the connection bolts and nuts which connect with the extruder die head are well fastened. Do not stand in front of the die head during the operation of the extruder, that will cause potential hurt.
- Start the extruder from a lower speed to check up the motor direction, ampere, etc, if it works in normal conditions. If not, you need to stop the machine immediately and report to the related people to solve the problem.
- The extruder running without load should not exceed 10 minutes when everything. If confirmed in normal condition, start the feeder to feed materials for production. Before connecting the die head with bolts and nuts, it is better to coat a MoS2 or silica Oil which enables you to disassemble it easily.
- At the beginning of the operation with load, run the extruder at a low screw speed(50rpm is recommended), the feeding rate should be small and even. Check the screw operation, motor operation & ampere.
- When the extruder operation comes to normal condition, the operator needs to check the temperature of the motor and the bearings parts.
- When disassembling and assembling the screw & extruder die head, do not use a hammer to punch it directly, that might damage the screw elements. Could you a copper bar or use a wooden block before punching.
- We should use bamboo or copper knife/brush, or professional water clean & air clean equipment to lean the screw, barrel and extruder die head. Or we can use specialized polymers to clean the screw and barrel without disassembly of the screw.
- When we do trouble shooting, the extruder and the whole system must be switched off to avoid any potential risk to people.
- During the operation of the extruder, the operator should not leave in case any emergency stops.
- After cleaning the screw, it is better to coat anti-rust oil. If the screw will not be used. Currently, it should be well wrapped and hanging vertically in a dry and ventilated place.
- Spare parts that will not be used for a long time, are better to coat anti-rust oil and pack.
Appendix:
Operation Instruction for 9 Kinds of Polymers After Stop the Extruder
| PS，SAN | Due to its excellent thermal stability, it will notdegrade even in a certain temperature, so just switch off the heater, no need to clean the screw, barrel and extruder die head. |
| ABS | Don’t need to clean out the melt in the screw, barrel and extruder die head since the thermal stability is also good to bear the temperature |
| PE | Thanks to the perfect thermal stability, PE will not degrade in the extruder, so it is not necessary to push out the PE melt in the extruder when stop the extruder |
| PP | The characteristic is similar to PE |
| PC | If there is a temporary stop, should keep the barrel heated at a certain temperature to keep it moisture-proof. If needs to change polymer production, recommend to use PE to clean the screw, barrel and extruder die head, and take out the screw to clean it with a copper brush |
| PVC | It is a heat-sensitive polymer, switch off the machine, and push the PVC melt out of the extruder, then use a good thermal stability polymer to push them out, then take the screw |
| PMMA | Even the PMMA is easy to degrade under a higher temperature. But within the normal melting temperature, the thermal stability is good enough. So no need to push the melt out before shut down the extruder |
| PA | With good thermal stability, pushing out the melt out or clean is not mandatory, but need to switch off the heating immediately. |
| POM | As a heat-sensitive polymer, when the extruderStop working, needs to discharge the melt in the screw and barrel and use PE to clean |
