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Topic: Y axis seems to be jammed.

Hi
Just got my solidoodle 2, everything it installed but it seems to be jammed in y axis direction. A noise from motor is all I get. Any ideas? Software or a screw too tight??
Rg Kim

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

My X-axis carriage 'stalled' from just running dry of grease. But as yours is new, should not have that issue.

If you unplug the SD, how easy do the Y carriages move? This video from solidoodle covering perfect circle calibration shows off how to tackle/examine Y axis problems. http://vimeo.com/55031028

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

On mine, the tiny screw on a bearing that holds the belt to the rod came loose. Maybe that's what happened to yours. Try manually pushing and pulling the carriage. If it's not stuck, then check if all the motors spin while pushing and pulling.

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

@caswal It was the rod as seen on the video that was out of place. About 8 mm out of place. Maybe it happend during transport, will print my first print now :-)
Thanks!!

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

Hello All,

Are all the pulleys on the rod that was adjusted in the video supposed to move? I'm having issues moving the pulley right above the y motor. It seems to be jammed. Doesn't seem that the rod is bent though. But if someone can verify this that would be great.

Thx!

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

no rods should be bent? maybe i misunderstood? with my machine when i got it my Ymotor was catching on something internally. does your  Y axis move at all? when powered off  can you pull the carriage back and forth? if it catches, take the belt off the Y motor and try spinning it back and forth kinda quickly it should spin freely if it gets stuck, you have a bad motor.

make sure when you put the belt back on that you hold it down tight but not tight enough to bend the rod.

hope that helps

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

no rods should be bent? maybe i misunderstood? with my machine when i got it my Ymotor was catching on something internally. does your  Y axis move at all? when powered off  can you pull the carriage back and forth? if it catches, take the belt off the Y motor and try spinning it back and forth kinda quickly it should spin freely if it gets stuck, you have a bad motor.

make sure when you put the belt back on that you hold it down tight but not tight enough to bend the rod.

hope that helps

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

If you refer to the Vimeo video that was posted earlier on this thread it shows one of the guys at solidoodle adjusting the rear rod to align the y axis. My y axis would jam up moving forward so after watching the video I tried adjusting the rear rod however the far left bearing that the belt rides on doesn't slide left and right like the other 2 bearings (there are 3 bearings altogether on the rear rod). So I was wonder if that left bearing was stationary or should it slide left to right. Hope this clarifies things.

Thanks for the speedy reply.

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

Do you mean bearings or pulleys? Bearings are the brass parts that allow the rod to spin. Pulleys are what the belts use to move the rods (and are not supposed to slide around unless you loosen the set screws).

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

he means pulleys. and yes they are kinda stuck the rod isnt  exactly [recision ground the set screws kinda dig into the rod. and they dont move easily. your rod isnt bent. 

check the motor as i described your catching might be a bad motor

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

Hazer,

Sorry, I mean the pulleys on the rod. I loosened the screws to adjust the rod and align the pulleys. Two of the pulleys slide nicely once I loosen the screws however the far left pulley doesn't move at all when I loosen the screw.  So yeah, I just wanted to know if  all 3 pulleys on the rear rod suppose to slide once I loosen the screws. 

MolecularConcept,

Thanks for the reply.

My next question is are the pulley supposed to sit up against the bearings to keep the rod from sliding? I believe my issue is the pulleys don't sit up against anything so the rear rod shift and hangs up my carriage when moving in the y directions.

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

So I believe I found my issue with the pulley not moving thus not allowing me to adjust the rear rod so my y axis doesn't get jammmed when moving forward. There is a gouge on the rod that didn't allow me to adjust the far left pully. So I took the rod off and used a socket to move the pully. Next ill use emery cloth to remove the gouge and hopefully then I can properly adjust the rear rod so my y axis doesn't cock to the side and jam up.

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

ahh i see now. yeah sand  that  gouge out. i had to sand a good long while to get my pulleys to slide.

while you fot you Y rod out id throw some flange bearings in there to moves so smooth its nuts

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Re: Y axis seems to be jammed.

After sanding and polishing the rod. I was able to adjust the pulleys accordingly which allowed me to adjust the rod. Now the y axis operates smoothly. Thanks everyone for helping me diagnose this issue.