1 Topic by pirvan

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Topic: Lots of creaking noises

I've been using my printer for about 2 weeks now, but I probably have less than 30 hours of actual printing done.

My printer is making a lot of groaning and creaking noises, especially during the slow movements.

I checked the belts and they appear to be nice and tight.  With the print head in the home position, pressing on the top belt midway, lets me push it down about 3/8", just about 1/8" short of touching the bottom belt.  To me that's normal, but if any of the gurus here know different, please let me know.

What else should I be looking for?  Do I need to lubricate the rails and rods? I wouldn't think that would be necessary after only a few weeks.

Any ideas?

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

2 Reply by pcpoirier

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

Never hurts.  wipe clean and grease the rods

3 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

It's the y-belt idlers, I'd bet. The pulleys at the front of the case.

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4 Reply by frozensoda

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

Is this not normal? Mine has always sounded this way.

I edit my posts a lot.

5 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

frozensoda wrote:

Is this not normal? Mine has always sounded this way.

It should not creak, no.

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6 Reply by Arcadenut (edited by Arcadenut 2013-04-22 06:46:56)

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

pirvan wrote:

I've been using my printer for about 2 weeks now, but I probably have less than 30 hours of actual printing done.

My printer is making a lot of groaning and creaking noises, especially during the slow movements.

I checked the belts and they appear to be nice and tight.  With the print head in the home position, pressing on the top belt midway, lets me push it down about 3/8", just about 1/8" short of touching the bottom belt.  To me that's normal, but if any of the gurus here know different, please let me know.

What else should I be looking for?  Do I need to lubricate the rails and rods? I wouldn't think that would be necessary after only a few weeks.

Any ideas?

Yeah, mine makes sounds similar to that and I've had mine for 4 weeks.  I've put grease on the rods and it didn't change it.

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7 Reply by Boz

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

I have also had this issue as of yesterday evening.  It sounds like it's coming from my y-axis, specifically the right side.  My printer is fairly new (received last Tuesday, which will make it a week old tomorrow), so it's rather strange that it's doing this already.  I want to keep on printing but I'm afraid that I'm ruining something.

8 Reply by Leghk

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

My 2-week old SD3 began creaking last week. Upon inspection, one side's Y axis belt was loose (opposite side from the creaking.) I tightened it and started another print.

By the 2+ hour mark of that 3 hour print, the belt had loosened again, and skipped teeth several times; cancel print. As I began to inspect again, I discovered that the idler pulley bracket (front end of the Y belts) was pulling off over its mounting screw. In fact, it pulled off in my hand with just a slight tug, leaving me idler-less on that side. When I removed the idler pulley and bolt, the bracket folded nearly in half.

I was able to ABS glue it back together, and built it up with more glue where the screw head had removed some of the bracket. Left it in a vise over night, mounted it with an extra washer to spread the forces a bit, and managed to print a mediocre copy of the replacement bracket from Thingiverse (also reduced speeds drastically to avoid excessive force on the idler.)

The new bracket appears to be working fine now. I made more copies first thing, to avoid the near downtime incident in the future.

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9 Reply by pirvan

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

I for one would like to hear from SoliDoodle support on this issue.

What do they have to say about this, is this something we need to be concerned about, what should we look for, etc...

OK SD Support, the ball is in your court...

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

10 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

Pull the bolts in the front idler pulleys, grease, reinstall.

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11 Reply by frozensoda

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

pirvan wrote:

I for one would like to hear from SoliDoodle support on this issue.

What do they have to say about this, is this something we need to be concerned about, what should we look for, etc...

OK SD Support, the ball is in your court...

Nah, I think this is more of a regular maintenance thing. Even if it happens a few days out of the box, it takes a journey through untold variations of humidity and other environmental woes. My machine creaks and squeaks and so I will re-grease the rods and follow the other advice found here on the forum. I haven't noticed any quality issues because of it, but if the regulars say it shouldn't do this then I will take steps to correct it. You can't expect the manufacturer of a product to be responsible for every little issue that is easily corrected.

I edit my posts a lot.

12 Reply by pirvan (edited by pirvan 2013-04-23 06:52:42)

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

frozensoda wrote:
pirvan wrote:

I for one would like to hear from SoliDoodle support on this issue.

What do they have to say about this, is this something we need to be concerned about, what should we look for, etc...

OK SD Support, the ball is in your court...

Nah, I think this is more of a regular maintenance thing. Even if it happens a few days out of the box, it takes a journey through untold variations of humidity and other environmental woes. My machine creaks and squeaks and so I will re-grease the rods and follow the other advice found here on the forum. I haven't noticed any quality issues because of it, but if the regulars say it shouldn't do this then I will take steps to correct it. You can't expect the manufacturer of a product to be responsible for every little issue that is easily corrected.

So when you buy a new import car (which came on a ship across an ocean, "through untold variations of humidity and other environmental woes"), and on the first month of ownership your car starts making weird noises, like things coming apart, you just get your grease gun and grease everything in sight until the noise "disappears", regardless of whether that is fixing the problem or just masking the the noise, right?!

As I said, I'd rather ask the dealer and see if they heard of the this problem (if indeed it is a problem), and ask for their input as well before I start putting a screwdriver to it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm quite adept at fixing mechanical and electronic things, and I enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together, but that is not what this is about.

This is about a device that, at least to me and a few others here, is not behaving as expected or within the norm of what we should expect, and we'd like to get the manufacturer to take some time to explain why this is.  Yes, I know that these printers don't come with any warranty per se, but expecting some modicum of support is not too much to ask.

That's my $0.02 for tonight.

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

13 Reply by frozensoda (edited by frozensoda 2013-04-23 15:55:37)

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

pirvan wrote:
frozensoda wrote:
pirvan wrote:

I for one would like to hear from SoliDoodle support on this issue.

What do they have to say about this, is this something we need to be concerned about, what should we look for, etc...

OK SD Support, the ball is in your court...

Nah, I think this is more of a regular maintenance thing. Even if it happens a few days out of the box, it takes a journey through untold variations of humidity and other environmental woes. My machine creaks and squeaks and so I will re-grease the rods and follow the other advice found here on the forum. I haven't noticed any quality issues because of it, but if the regulars say it shouldn't do this then I will take steps to correct it. You can't expect the manufacturer of a product to be responsible for every little issue that is easily corrected.

So when you buy a new import car (which came on a ship across an ocean, "through untold variations of humidity and other environmental woes"), and on the first month of ownership your car starts making weird noises, like things coming apart, you just get your grease gun and grease everything in sight until the noise "disappears", regardless of whether that is fixing the problem or just masking the the noise, right?!

As I said, I'd rather ask the dealer and see if they heard of the this problem (if indeed it is a problem), and ask for their input as well before I start putting a screwdriver to it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm quite adept at fixing mechanical and electronic things, and I enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together, but that is not what this is about.

This is about a device that, at least to me and a few others here, is not behaving as expected or within the norm of what we should expect, and we'd like to get the manufacturer to take some time to explain why this is.  Yes, I know that these printers don't come with any warranty per se, but expecting some modicum of support is not too much to ask.

That's my $0.02 for tonight.


I am sorry if my reply was rude.

I was just saying that it is less of a "problem" and more of a "quirk"

using your car example, if you had purchased the first commercially available car for such a low price, would  you expect it to be perfect? It's a model T not a Lamborghini.

I edit my posts a lot.

14 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Lots of creaking noises

pirvan wrote:

This is about a device that, at least to me and a few others here, is not behaving as expected or within the norm of what we should expect, and we'd like to get the manufacturer to take some time to explain why this is.  Yes, I know that these printers don't come with any warranty per se, but expecting some modicum of support is not too much to ask.

This is an import car at bicycle prices. The pro grade machines cost $20k. If you want reliability and support, you can get it...

For 20 times the price.

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