Y Carriage Base - Bolt loose
I have been chasing a noise which I thought was a stepper motor failing, but the printer has low time. (that is relative I realize)
I found the left Y axis carriage (which mounts the Y axis to the bearing block) had a loose bolt that would rattle like crazy. The carriage is made from two parts, a top and a bottom. From looking at the CAD model, it seems there is a nut in the bottom part of the assembly which is inside a hexagon hole to keep it from turning. The cap screw comes from the top. It seems to me that this nut has come loose, but with the bearing installed you have no access to get to the nut. It is probably laying at the bottom, out of reach for the screw.
Does anyone have a solution? I had to admit it, but tipping the entire thing upside down has crossed my mind. I think I would rather attempt that vs taking the Core XY apart...
Thanks
RE: Y Carriage Base - Bolt loose
I thought I would post some pictures for anyone who may have this problem in the future.
I had to remove the enclosure (easy) and then remove these side covers to access the Y carriage blocks. I also took about 4 turns out on the belt tension, just enough to give me the ability to remove the belts from the Y-Carriage.
Below is what I found when I removed the Y carriage from the linear rail bearing. As suspected, the nut had come loose and dropped to the bottom of the slot it is retained in. The screw was too short to be able to engage the nut and tighten things up.
I added a small O-ring below each nut. This holds the nut in place and allows the screw to engage it completely.
The Right Y-Carriage block had suffered the same failure, it just hadn't fallen all the way out yet.
These were both the inboard screws on the Y-Axis, which holds the metal bar that the linear rail bolts too. Considering both sides were loose, I would check your machine and make sure those are tight. I think you can get to that inboard bolt, just barely, while it is fully assembled. I hope maybe this will help someone in the future. ~Tom