Brand new MK3 (fully assembled), noises, starter observations

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pwntr

(@pwntr)

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Brand new MK3 (fully assembled), noises, starter observations

Hi all!

I received my MK3 (fully assembled) last Tuesday. It's my first 3d printer. I purchased it mainly based on the rave reviews of the usual YouTube and maker scene influencers, touting its silence and print quality for the price point. After all, I wanted a machine to print case prototypes and small pilot batches while sitting next to me in my home office/living room, or with the door closed while sleeping in my bedroom. Without breaking the budget and without an initial invest in kit assembly time, and coming with direct support.

Granted that I've had 0 exposure to live in-action 3d printers before, aside from countless videos and reviews, I was still surprised by the noises the machine emits:

loud hissing/sizzling "electronic noise" from the Einsy board in normal mode, can be heard from across the room. Greatly reduced, yet not completely gone, in "stealth" mode.

loud vibrations/rattling from the psu in an annoying frequency during certain (wide or long) x, y, and z movements (I checked this post about the psu rattling, but the trick with zip ties stuffed in the back of the unit didn't yield positive results just yet). The printer is sitting on a heavily loaded, thus supposedly sturdy, IKEA Kallax 2x2 shelf. Normal/stealth setting doesn't make a difference for these noises. Trying to locate the noise source, I'd say it's around the area where the large capacitor resides (upper right corner of the psu). There's also a ding in the metal case fins in that area (coincidence?).

the print fan running at 100 % is everything but quiet (reducing it to 85 % helped quite a bit, and PLA still prints fine). Just nit-picky here.

bearings or belts, especially on the y axis, are the most annoying. It's ok for slower movements, until quick and sudden movements kick in, then it sounds like someone is using a hacksaw to cut a piece of wood... Reducing speed with the knob dial during print helps a bit, as not all quick movements are being eliminated or reduced. Looking at polymer replacement bearings like the ones from Igus, I'd have to take the printer apart (yes, fun and educational and I'd be looking forward to do it, but this wasn't the initial purchase reason for an assembled unit). Belt status after self test says 272 on x and 282 on y. From my understanding lower numbers should represent more tension, but in reality the y belt has much more tension. Loosening or tightening the idlers shows no difference in sound emittance.

I also noticed some debris around the y-belt idler and motor area, possibly indicating some friction on the belt sides. Is this normal? Pics attached.

squeaking from extruder/hotend. I've heard this in other videos as well, so I guess it's normal?

Print quality is good (some holes and marks here and there), probably very good when I further fine-tune the settings, with no print failed so far.

But describing my machine as "silent" can only be done in comparison to other printers, I guess.

Are those noises considered normal or is something just really off with my printer? I attached a video with the noises recorded. No volume gain applied, raw sound straight off my camera (Sony a6000 and Galaxy S7). Completely silent room, silent pc, no ambient sounds, all noises are emitted from the printer.

You can jump to specific parts of the video by clicking on the timestamp:

Axis, bearings, and possibly belt noise: 0:00

Extruder squeaking: 1:27

Quick axis movement and fans: 1:54

Quick axis movements: 2:54

R2D2 squeaking, axis: 3:50

loud psu noises, rattling/vibrations: 5:30 and 9:20

For the record, I live in Germany, in case the psu frequency range is in question. The printer is running the latest firmware (3.1.3). Measurements with a dB meter will follow once I receive it in the mail.

Thanks a lot for your help and feedback,
Peter

Original Prusa i3 MK3