A guide to cleaning and general maintenance of your PhyzBatch 9000.
Like all physical products, the PhyzBatch 9000 needs regular maintenance to run at its best. How often it needs cleaning varies greatly depending on your environment. If your space and cards are really dusty, the machine will need cleaning more often. On average, the sorter should get a quick wipedown or blowout every 20,000 cards. Areas to pay attention to are the following:
Feed Wheels
Feed wheels require the most frequent cleaning of all components as they are the first point of contact with cards.
- Select "Clean Feed Wheels" from the Maintenance drop-down.
- Take the provided sponge, dampen it with water, and hold it to the wheels.
Use a microfiber cloth and isopropyl alcohol for the best results.
Black marks from the rubber, even on a new machine are normal. This is the carbon from the vulcanization process with the rubber and will not harm the wheels or cards.
- Turn off "Clean Feed Wheels" when done cleaning.
Scanner Bay
The scanner bay should require less maintenance than the feed wheels. The exception to this is if debris is introduced from a card (dust, food, or other sticky substances, etc.).
If you have the following door on the side of the machine you may skip the following steps. Simply turn the catch to release the side door.
If you do not have the catch, you can open the side with the following steps:
- Remove the thumbscrew at the rear of the cover, on the underside.
- Pull back the conveyor cover from the scanner, it does not need to be fully removed.
- Unscrew the single screw (2mm Allen key) next to the scanner bay door and open the door
- Loosen the screw (2mm Allen key) holding the black plastic cover (do not fully remove it) and rotate the black cover up and out of the way. You can now see into the scanner bay.
- In the maintenance menu, select Turn Light On to more easily see the inside of the scanner.
- Blow out the interior of the bay with air, either canned or from a compressor.
Blowing out the interior with air is usually enough. If scratching is occurring, continue to the following steps to remove more stubborn debris. Each of these steps is self-contained, but it is recommended to remove the glass and its supporting cover to more easily access the gate and foam rollers.
Glass Plate
The glass panel can usually be cleaned with just air. If there is debris in the interior not removed in this way, it is usually stuck to the gate or foam rollers. If the panel needs to be removed, follow these steps:
- With the scanner bay open, remove the bottom screw (2mm Allen key), loosen the top two screws, and loosen the bottom two thumbscrews holding the metal plate supporting the glass tray.
- Pull the glass tray out
The glass is held to the tray by a tab on the front edge which may become loose during removal. Make sure not to drop the glass!
With the glass tray removed, this is a good time to clean the foam rollers and grabber rollers if you intend to do so.
- The glass can be cleaned with air, or a microfiber cloth with isopropyl alcohol (like cleaning glasses). While it is the same glass used on cell phone screens, it can snap under too much torsion, so some caution should be taken.
- Make sure the glass is flush and lined up in the holder, with the front tab pushed to the right to lock it in place.
- For reinstallation, insert the glass tray back into the slot. Make sure the glass is under the lip from the front plate and the tab at the far end fits into the slot on the far wall of the scanning bay.
- Reinstall the metal plate under the glass tray. The thumbscrews adjust the height of the plate. The plate should be pressing upwards on the glass tray to hold it in place.
- Make sure there is no light bleeding around the edges of the black plastic glass tray. If there isn't, it's properly installed.
Foam Rollers
With the scanner bay open, wipe the rollers down with a cloth and small amounts of water or isopropyl alcohol (easiest with the glass tray and supporting plate removed to get at the underside). They should not need frequent cleaning unless they're extremely dusty.
Once the foam rollers are clean, reinstall the glass.
Being foam, they can absorb any cleaning liquid used. We don't want soggy cards (plus they can pick up dust more easily when wet), so use small amounts of liquid (or none) and/or air to dry them more quickly.
Grabber Rollers
The grabber rollers are the rubber wheels immediately inside of the scanner. These rollers grab cards pushed into the machine by the feed wheels and pass them on to the foam rollers. They are the primary drive source for the card feeding system. They should not need frequent cleaning, most feed issues are likely the foot settings instead of the rollers.
With the glass plate removed, add some isopropyl alcohol to a cloth and wrap it around a screwdriver (flat head is best). Then using the cloth and screwdriver wipe down the grabber rollers through the side of the machine. You can turn the rollers manually by turning the gears on the right side.
You may run the machine on an empty hopper to turn the wheels and clean quickly, however it is very important that the cloth (or worse, you) not be sucked into the wheels. Caution is advised!
Once the wheels are clean, reinstall the glass plate as shown above.
Conveyor
The conveyor should require very little maintenance. Any dust or debris present should end up in the scanner. The rubber rollers on the conveyor can accumulate dust over very long periods of time and can be wiped off with a microfiber cloth and isopropyl alcohol.
The rubber O-rings on each roller should be lined up with each other.
The flapper arms and bins should not require any regular cleaning.