New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
Hi all!
Proud new Mini owner since Monday 🙂 First couple of small prints went very good so I decided to start a large and loooong print for the Ikea Lack Enclosure, which basically takes the whole heatbed.
Here I noticed that there is a grinding/vibrating noise, especially when the extruder is working on the back half of the heatbed. Seems to be in Y-movement but also diagonally:
So I found one of the causes (but not all), the fan at the back of the extruder seems to rattle when moving in X direction, especially during those fast diagonal movements. If I press/hold the fan casing it's gone. I'll probably have to request Prusa for a new fan?
The noise caused in the Y-direction, seems to come from the heatbed or components around/under it. I've had a lenghty chat yesterday with support while it was printing and they mainly suggested to lubricate the rods. Which I did (during the print), but seems not too have helped so far. I also do not see any obvious scratches on the rods, but need to inspect closer when the print is finished.
Their last suggestion was, to, after the print, lubricate it again and loose the belt tension slighlty, otherwise they suggest the lineair bearing might need to be replaced. I'm still not sure if it's the latter one, it is hard to locate.
Also checked the belt, which is not seated in the center, but does not seem to make the noise either:
I did notice that when holding/pushing the plastic cap at the end of the heatbed, the sounds reduces (does not disappear).
Any ideas here or people that had similar experiences and found the culprit, before I have to take my whole (pre-assembled for a reason) new 3D printer apart? 🙂
Thanks!!
Rob
Kind regards and happy printing! Rob
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
Hi,
I have the same "grinding" sound on my Prusa Mini if moved with "fast" speed. Same as you I would say, but I had this from the beginning when moving diagonal to the axis and never asked myself why and if this is an issue 🙂
I am printing with my Prusa Mini for almost a year and melted around 10kg of filament and had no printing issues despite the "grinding" sound which sometimes starts to arise.
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
I am having a similar issue, but I would describe mine as occurring during X-axis movements near the outer half of travel. It is loudest on the fast diagonal movements. I'm reading on the forums now to see what I can learn - I may try some of the things you've mentioned.
I do believe the grinding is new as I have had the printer for several months and didn't notice it until a couple of days ago.
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
I've got the same thing. Started a thread on it under "buzzing" because it sounds more like that to me than grinding. (Super important distinction! 😉 Seems to be Y-axis movements, the longer, faster stuff, and wasn't present until I'd moved about 50m of filament through the thing. Prints still look fine, but I'd like it quieter if I could get it. I'm a person who will disassemble a brand new rear bike hub to stuff it with more lube to silence it.
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
edit, X-axis sweeps for me, not Y.
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
I've got the exact same problem as Flight777. Holding the piece at the back (basically pressing the printer towards the table on all four corners) reduces the vibrations.
I've also got some "rubber" grinding/squeaking noise during small and/or slower movements. I'm not sure where these are coming from, but either the X-axis idler or the X-axis carriage. The belts are touching the sides of the pulleys in both the X-axis and Y-axis...
I've tried reducing the belt tension on the X-axis but this does not affect the noises.
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
So I've isolated some things that are causing some of the noises:
- X-Axis movement, my hot-end fan (so the one in the back of the assembly) seems to be rattling/vibrating when moving fast. You can test this by pressing on the casing when and you will notice the noise is gone. Prusa is shipping me a replacement fan, to test if this is a fan bearing issue or an issues with the casing itself.
- The cable boom running to the hot-end: Cables are vibrating within the sleeve, causing some noises as well. Again, if you press on the sleeve you will notice it becomes a lot less. Another things that could be happening is that your bowden tube is vibrating against the cable sleeve.
- Backcover over the heatbead thermistes/powersupply. I've removed it, remounted it and retightned, it seems to be better but did not complete dissappear. Again seems that because of the tolerances of that plastic cap, it vibrates slighlty.
That's what I found out so far 🙂
Lubing did nothing for me.
@wffbos The belts are also off-centre for me, but support confirmed this is not an issue. You can use this tool: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/46639-tension-meter-for-the-gt2-belts-of-i3-mk3s-or-prus to check your belt tension, works really well!
Kind regards and happy printing! Rob
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
This is years old but I found it when searching for the same noise that recently started on my mini (about 3 years old). It appears to be from the grid infill on a tall print. Grid has overlapping extrusion on the same layer and can rub on the nozzle according to the Prusa infill notes. Gyroid does not cause the noise.
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
Wow - very interesting! I should go back to my old prints and see what infill setting I had back then just to see. Thanks for the post (even though it's a reply to a very old thread).
I don't do a lot of printing, but I did notice that it did go away and haven't heard it for quite a while.
RE: New Mini+ grinding/vibrating noise with long Y movement and diagonal filling
Old post but since I just managed to find the cause of the noise problem on my mini I thought I'd share.
Turned out the occasional noise in certain speed interval especially on x-axis moves was due to the x belt being forced towards the extruder side of the motor pulley, making it slightly touch the walls exiting/entering the motor mounting part (see picture. Taken after I fixed it though). My theory is that over time the motor was ever so slightly tilted, due to petg parts and belt tensioning, forcing the belt sideways. Different speeds generate different resonance vibrations which can explain the noise "sweet spots" where the belt grinds the most.
The holes for tightening the pulley screws allow only minor adjustments so I instead put a thin spacer between the motor and the mounting part on the outer screw. This aligned the pulley better according to belt angle and so far the belt exits/enters with margin to the walls.
Hope this can be helpful
