OK looks like a rebuild is in order. Maybe time to change over the extruder at the same time anyway.

In the meantime I got out a Makerbot Mini I've had in the garage from winning in a competition a few years back. Never got around to selling it on ebay and figured I could use it if things went wrong with SD...anyway, an evening spent with a piece of over-complicated proprietary junk (it printed just one part before the nozzle crashed into the bed and clogged itself) and I'm all-in with going back to the SD!

SD used cheap tool steel rods on these things, and bushings - sounds like they are done.

get yourself some good hardened steel, plated rods, linear bearings, and a set of Lawsy carriages and it will be good to go again.

If you have no way of printing the carriages yourself, you can get a full set of the printed parts here: https://www.printitindustries.com/colle … s-by-lawsy

They also have the linear bearings available.

For the rods, I got two of these for one SD4 (I have 2 of the SD4s, btw):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002B … &psc=1
Then cut to length with an angle grinder.
I bought mine in 2015 and they still look great - no signs of wear at all.

I've been using my S3 for a few years with relatively little difficulty (even my clogs have been easy to fix, so I haven't even upgraded the jigsaw). Anyway, yesterday in the middle of printing, the head got stuck at a position half way along the x-axis.

The x motor still works, it just doesn't move the belt. I disabled the motors, switched everything off then tried to manually move the head. It is stuck fast and won't move at all. When I mean stuck fast, I mean I feel like I'd break something if I put more pressure to try moving it.

Doing some searching I've found lots on how to fix the y-axis, but nothing on the x-axis. Before I start disassembling it, does anyone have any idea where to start with troubleshooting?

Thanks in advance

Martin