Confused. Worked perfect, then suddenly Y-axis is bound up.
I built from Kit, and its worked perfectly. I've used it a fair bit and had no real issues (except filament sensor doesn't work right). Anyway, I didn't used it for a month or so, then when I went to print, I got a crash alert and found that the y-axis is all bound up and barely moves in several points. What could cause this? Can dust get bound up in the bearings or something? I'll remove the rods and put on new bearings, but this seems really odd.
Best Answer by jsw:
Do you lubricate it at all?
I'm in the habit of putting a few drops of hardware store synthetic machine oil on the smooth rods every so often.
The heat bed should move freely without any sticking or binding. You can take off the belt for a good check of this. The bearings should not dry out in only one month, but I don't know how much you used it or what the storage conditions were.
If you did not try to use it much when it was binding, you'll probably be able to restore it by lubricating the bearings and checking over all of the other mechanical aspects of all axes.
RE: Confused. Worked perfect, then suddenly Y-axis is bound up.
Do you lubricate it at all?
I'm in the habit of putting a few drops of hardware store synthetic machine oil on the smooth rods every so often.
The heat bed should move freely without any sticking or binding. You can take off the belt for a good check of this. The bearings should not dry out in only one month, but I don't know how much you used it or what the storage conditions were.
If you did not try to use it much when it was binding, you'll probably be able to restore it by lubricating the bearings and checking over all of the other mechanical aspects of all axes.
RE: Confused. Worked perfect, then suddenly Y-axis is bound up.
Some grease in the bearing is important. If you didn't pack them with grease when you built the printer - ditto to jsw - a drop of oil on the rods now may help free up the grease-seals in the bearings and let things move more freely. Also - if the printer was moved around, check for wires that might have been moved with handling - ones under the bed platter.
RE: Confused. Worked perfect, then suddenly Y-axis is bound up.
Thanks for the feedback.. I took off the plate and cleaned/lubed stuff. It was just dry bearings after all. I've been 3D printing a long time, and this was a first.. Must be the Prusa oil is very light. I cleaned with a light oil, then used some zero weight synthetic which won't evaporate off. All's well. Thanks!