Heater Bands: Pre-Heat check list
HEATER BANDS:
- Verify if issues were found during heater band installation and fixes made
- Verify each die heater band is securely fastened and installed correctly
- Check each heat zone individually by:
- Turn the heat zone on – within a few seconds ensure the heat zone indicator light comes on and the amp needle gauge deflects
- Needle deflection indicates current draw
- Ensure the heat zone cycles on and off a minimum 3 times by:
- Checking if amp needle gauge remains deflected when indicator light cycles off
- If so, this indicates a solid-state relay fault within the extruder panel and will need to be replaced
- Ensure the heat zone temperature reading is displaying ambient (room) temperature
- The temperature value should be very stable – any rapidly changing (cycling up & down) temperature will indicate a failing or loosely connected thermocouple.
Note: The extruder panel only uses one of three legs to generate feedback information for the amp needle gauge – amp needle gauge deflection may not occur when single phasing elements (12” & 15” spirally wound strip heaters) are being used – swap legs in the circuit until the amp needle gauge deflects when the heat zone indicator light cycles on.
