Y-Axis rattling despite lubrication and tightening everything.
Is this a bad bearing?
Feels like 1-2 bearings stick when sliding either of the rods through it, despite lubrication.
It only sticks at a certain length of the rod shaft.
If it sticks, replace it
If lubrication = "I removed the bearings from the rod and packed them with lubricant packing tool that came with the printer" - then it's probably time to come up with a bearing/rod replacement plan if you are still seeing them "stick" when sliding the Y carriage full length.
If lubrication = "I put some grease on the smooth rods and moved the Y carriage back and forth a bit" - then go back and lubricate them 🙂
RE: Y-Axis rattling despite lubrication and tightening everything.
Take the build surface off and tighten the 9 or so screws. BE CAREFUL to make sure you tighten one and THEN tighten the one that DIRECTLY OPPOSES IT. This is important. Tighten the middle screw LAST!
Then come back and thank me!
RE: Y-Axis rattling despite lubrication and tightening everything.
Just took off my Y carriage for this same reason. Pretty much what Dan said, pack the bearings with the grease that came with the kit. The manual implies the bearings are pre-lubricated but this is just factory oil.
RE:
If lubrication = "I removed the bearings from the rod and packed them with lubricant packing tool that came with the printer" - then it's probably time to come up with a bearing/rod replacement plan if you are still seeing them "stick" when sliding the Y carriage full length.
If lubrication = "I put some grease on the smooth rods and moved the Y carriage back and forth a bit" - then go back and lubricate them 🙂
Unfortunately same issue after redoing it properly.
Oddly it only occurs:
- When the belt, carriage, frame and motor is attached with tension.
- Roughly at the same spot. It might be due to the number of balls inside of the bearing require a certain amount of travel before reaching the same problematic area though.
The rods have no scratches and are as straight as I can tell. The carriage looks level as well, though unsure if all these things are below the threshold of what I can notice, but above the tolerances of what causes these issues.
The machine is still under warranty (~5 months old), and having 2 bearings replaced by https://www.voxelfactory.com support, so fingers crossed.
Take the build surface off and tighten the 9 or so screws. BE CAREFUL to make sure you tighten one and THEN tighten the one that DIRECTLY OPPOSES IT. This is important. Tighten the middle screw LAST!
Then come back and thank me!
The issue occurs when the build surface is off the carriage unfortunately.
try this
Sometimes the Y motor is rattling against the back chassis bar it mounts to. The stock motor mount leaves the motor touching the back frame - so when the motor moves it buzzes against the back frame. As a test - take a large zip tie and tie it around the left hand side of the motor, allt he way around the back frame and tighten it down really good. Does you noise go away or change?
I eliminated this buzz early on in my MK3S days by re-printing an improved motor mount (motor is not touching the back frame any more). On my second printer (MK3s+) I eliminated the buzz while I built the printer by shimming the stock motor mount away from the back frame with a small two layer plastic bag as a shim, in between the mount and the back frame. The goal is to make sure the motor body doesn't buzz against the back frame.
Another Y movement buzz is in the front panel. Hold the corners of the front control panel when you are hearing the rattle/buzz. This one can be eliminated by putting some putty between the housing top and it's inside mounts (need to unscrew).
RE: Y-Axis rattling despite lubrication and tightening everything.
I eliminated this buzz early on in my MK3S days by re-printing an improved motor mount (motor is not touching the back frame any more). On my second printer (MK3s+) I eliminated the buzz while I built the printer by shimming the stock motor mount away from the back frame with a small two layer plastic bag as a shim, in between the mount and the back frame. The goal is to make sure the motor body doesn't buzz against the back frame.
Do you still know where you got the stl files for that motor mount, or still have them somewhere? I got a similar problem with the y axis, and (having so far eliminated all other possible culprits) I think the origin might be the motor in my case, too. Now I wanna check whether it's vibrations from the motor being transferred into the frame, or whether the motor itself produces too much noise.
RE: Y-Axis rattling despite lubrication and tightening everything.
I've got a pretty crude workaround (not a solution) to my particular Y axis bed rattle. The part I've uploaded to Printables is literally a weight added to one corner of the bed which, for me, dampens most of the vibration. If applying weight to one corner of your bed dampens the rattle sound, then this might be an avenue for you to test with. Tossing this into a few forum posts so future people having the same issue might find it useful.
https://www.printables.com/model/330665-prusa-i3-mk3s-y-axis-bed-bearing-vibration-rattle-
