Newly assembled printer is noisy
Hi, toisdfoia paos dpaos ddodop
Hi!
We (my Partner and I) assambled our first 3D Printer (MK3s) this weekend. The prints look excellent, but the printer is way noisier than I expected. I made a video for demonstration yesterday. We fixed the low rattling noise by tightening the linear bearings on the y-axis but there still is this high pitched sound. To me it sounds a bit like a dot-matrix or inkjet printer...
Usually the noises of the axis are described less noisy than the cooling fan. It is definitely the other way around here 🙁
Thanks for any help in advance! 🙂
Freddy
RE: Newly assembled printer is noisy
It's kind of hard to compare between the video and a live printer, but yours definitely sounds more noisy than mine. It appears that the noise with yours is when doing diagonal moves, as both straight X and straight Y seem to be relatively silent.
Yours has more of a 'tone' to it on diagonal moves. Mine is more of a 'woosh' type of sound, which I do not find annoying.
Have you tried placing your printer on something that may help absorb the sound?
RE: Newly assembled printer is noisy
Did you lubricate the linear bearings? That step is often missed.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Newly assembled printer is noisy
Did you lubricate the linear bearings? That step is often missed.
As far as I remember the instructions tell us not to lube the bearings. I thought that was odd. So I did some searching around, and it seems lubing the linear bearings is considered a good idea regardless.
RE: Newly assembled printer is noisy
@velvia
As far as I know, the newer models of i3 printers come with Misumi bearings. You can find manufacturer information here:
https://us.misumi-ec.com/pdf/fa/2012/p1_0265.pdf
Statt zu klagen, dass wir nicht alles haben, was wir wollen, sollten wir lieber dankbar sein, dass wir nicht alles bekommen, was wir verdienen.
RE: Newly assembled printer is noisy
Whether to add/repack/whatever or not in regards to the linear bearings is something that the members of this forum are never going to agree upon.
My personal opinion, which is not shared by all, is that the Prusa folks run thousands of these printers close to 24*7 in their 'farm' and if repacking or top-off lubing were essential to making the thing work, they would know it and would include instructions for doing so.
What I think is important, however, is that the printbed and extruder assembly move freely and without sticking. A good sanity check is to release the belt(s) and move them without any need to turn the motors. If they stick or bind at all, something is wrong. If they require any significant effort to move, something is wrong. If there is any obvious 'play' in their motion, something is wrong. If they move obviously more easily in some positions than in others, something is wrong.
My routine is that every so often I'll apply a drop of regular hardware store oil to all of the rods and every so many so-oftens I'll rub a dab of Superlube across the rods.
If you feel a need to disassemble and repack the bearings, it won't hurt, and you will most likely pay more attention to detail when you disassemble and reassemble it than with the initial assembly. 😉
One other thing that the folks here will never agree upon is whether water-based solvents or organic solvents are better for cleaning the plates. Some proponents of both appear to have consistently good results, and some report one or the other to be a magic bullet in getting a tricky PLA print to stick. 😉
RE: Newly assembled printer is noisy
@karl-herbert
Thank you for the link. I did not know about that. I will leave the bearing repacking for the next maintenance interval. They are running perfect now.
@jsw
I fully agree. I made sure the axis move perfectly before hooking up the motors/belts. Its very easy to spot if something does not run smooth. You never know, it could be a rod that has a slight damage or a bearing that sticks. (Defects do happen) Better to test the smoothness of such critical mechanics before connecting everything else.
RE: Newly assembled printer is noisy
@jsw
Yes I guess we wont ever agree 🙂 Stick around here long enough and you will see the number of problems that can be attributed to poorly lubricated bearings. Those who do the lubrication get a far longer initial good run time before having to do that first maintenance cycle. The bearings as they come in the kit are only packed with shipping oil. This is primarily to stop rust during storage and transportation.
I'll leave you with a thinking point - the prusa print farm does not care about noise of individual printers. There are hundreds of them. All packed into a relatively small area. No one is sitting down near them, having to listen to them all the time. They are monitored remotely and someone then does the care and feeding between prints. Contrast that to 'most' users who are at home with them generally sat near them while working on other things. Whats acceptable in a otherwise noisy work environment generally will NOT be at home. Especially if the significant other doesn't like it 🙂