Noise on Y-axis movement only
Have had my MK4 about a week and just finished the first 1kg reel of petg. The only thing different about this job was using Overture filament instead of Prusament. The whole job it has been making a humming noise only in one direction on the Y-axis, and only at slower speeds. It does not make the sound when doing fast perimeter passes. Can't find anything obviously related in the help posts so thought id post a video in the hopes it is obvious to someone. Thanks!
RE: Noise on Y-axis movement only
This is exactly what mine is doing! It seems to me, that there is little rough feeling while moving bed manually (with hand) through some areas. Today, I changes one Ball bearing, but problem persisted. Tried to loose y axis rods a little and maybe it helped. Need more testing.
RE: Noise on Y-axis movement only
Tech support suggested i check the Y-axis belt tension. The mobile app for that is a nice idea, but it doesn't zero correctly between measurements and it picks up a 2x frequency harmonic in addition to the true value. This made it hard for me to figure out which was the right frequency value. I guessed wrong (the higher of the two numbers) so my Y-axis belt tension was way too low. I used the lower reading and tightened until it was in the correct range. That fixed it.
RE: Noise on Y-axis movement only
Today I changed remaining Y axis bearings....I realized, that some tension was caused by too tight y axis bearings casing mounting.
Anyway now it seems it is only some sort of vibration I cant identify yet.
RE:
I tried also Prusa support and tried to isolate the root cause. Finally I disconnected belt from Y motor and then realised, that all that noise went from the motor. Solving it now with support.
Anyway at least I managed to smooth-out Y axis run. So in the future, printing should be much quiter.
Try if the noise is there with moving Y axis through printer menu. If yes, try to disconnect belt from motor and if even then you hear the noise/vibration, then it is same like me. Otherwise probably something with y rods or bearings.
RE: Noise on Y-axis movement only
I don't think I understand your suggestion. Take the belt off the motor and continue printing and see if the noise persists? I am experiencing the same issue and it is driving me batty
RE: Noise on Y-axis movement only
You dont have to print. If you can simulate noise by controlling Y axis through printer menu, you can isolate problem by taking off the belt to see, if noise is coming from motor as was in my case. If it will be doing the noise only with belt on, its probably one of bearings. Check if the bed moves smoothly (without belt on motor it is much easier to check too).
RE: Noise on Y-axis movement only
Video linked here.
Same here on my MK4. This has been very aggravating and IMHO, the machine should not be this noisy. This took a lot of work, but I have reduced the racket almost entirely. This is what I did:
I've read about the belt tension. I tried to adjust the tension and found issues. When I turned the printer on it's side, I noticed the adjustment screw between the two halves of the tensioner was loose. I found the screws holding the tensioner halves to the heat bed also loose. After tightening the screws things improved somewhat. But still there were conditions when the humming would return.
This is when I found a 3D model for a whole new belt tensioning system for the MK4: https://www.printables.com/model/814369-mk4-y-axis-overhaul-reduce-vertical-artifacts-on-y
I printed all the parts, installed them and again, the racket was diminished. But not all gone. So what next? This is when I started checking the screws that hold the heat bed to the frame. Many were loose. And by this I mean, the screws that hold the heat bed spacers as well as the screws that hold the heat bed. Again, the noise diminished a little, but not all gone...
Then, I tried printing some Gridfinity boxes. I noticed the rear frame bar where the Y-axis motor mount is attached vibrated when the racket got loud. You can actually feel it with your fingers. This is when I squeezed a little on the motor mount and noticed the noise would almost go away. I am not sure if this will hold true with the "factory" mount -but certainly something to look into...
I then took the two screws that hold the motor mount off and cut a small piece of the foam liner used in Craftsman toolbox drawers. This material is foam and it is very thin and compresses very easily. I put it all together again, and voila! The humming is gone to the point where I can live with it. I think the remaining humming must be coming from a different place yet to be discovered.
I suppose the printed motor mount must not fit 100% flush with the printer frame. With the compressible foam, any movement is absorbed and this reduces the humming. So, this worked for me - not sure if it will solve the problem for you but worth a try. When the noise starts, try to first feel what the rear frame feels like - if it is vibrating then carefully try to see if pressing on the mount alleviates the issue.
So there, I hope this helps someone.