ReDeTec Protocycler+ Review
I have had ReDeTec's ProtoCycler+ for close to 2 months now and if you are looking for a glowing review of the product here you won't find one. My experience with ReDeTec's "new and improved" filament recycler has been far from being a good one.. I'd like to start by saying that I'm yet to be able to extrude any usable filament after two months and hours of trying.
Summary
If you have a lot (and I mean a LOT) of time on your hands and enjoy pulling machines to pieces and putting them back together then maybe you'll enjoy this device. If however you want to extrude recycled filament, perhaps you had better look elsewhere. If you're looking for a device made by a company that provides great aftersales support for their expensive tools, look elsewhere. If you buy the device from ReDeTec, expect to be on your own if something goes wrong.
Grinder
The device comes with a built in filament grinder. It aids in grinding up your old prints, supports and rafts into small pieces that can then be recycled. Well, that's what the pamphlet says. In reality, you will spend hours grinding and re-grinding filament for it to be small enough. It takes 3 to 5 passes through the grinders which are manually rotated with a handle to get the plastics small enough to be used for recycling. My grinder ended up breaking after a few days of grinding and I needed support from ReDeTec (that's covered in my review later).
Spooler
The spooler is automatic. I had trouble with mine not rotating and sent a video to ReDeTec's support to see if they could offer any advice on correcting the issue I was having. In the end I got it working, albeit it's not very smooth. The online video tutorials offer no clues that you actually need to configure the spool size on the device. This can be found in the user manual which is not shipped with the device, but can be downloaded from their website.
Extruder
After several attempts to get a consistent extrusion from the extruder, and just when I thought it was looking like it might work, the unit started making a loud thudding noise and soon the filament coming out of the extruder became inconsistent. It was evident that the extruder was being blocked and the motor that moved the plastic from the hopper to the extruder was not turning. I emailed ReDeTec's support for help. (see my review on their support below). There's no way to clear any blockage in the hopper/extruder without dismantling the device. So be prepared to spend a few hours pulling the unit apart to clear any blockages in the hopper.
Support
Almost non-existent. After emailing them multiple times for my first issue with the broken grinder guides, I finally got a response. They sent me the STL files for the grinder guides so I could re-print a replacement set. This was convenient as I live in Singapore and shipping from North America to Singapore can take a bit of time. It took a few weeks of chasing to get a response for this issue though. For my second issue with the spooler.. several weeks in and I have still no response from their support. For my latest issue with the blocked extruder and loud thudding, I have had no response to multiple follow-ups.
I will hopefully be able to write something positive about the devise in the future but right now, after a few frustrating months, with nothing but clumps of extruded plastic that I will have to grind again and again being produced by this device and no support from ReDeTec, I am not expecting that to be any time soon.
