Hello, I am a total newbie to 3D printing and just started on this Thursday.
I noticed that when the bed is moving fast on the Y axis it often bangs loudly.
The vibration can be felt through the entire machine. It does not seem to affect the print quality significantly but I suspect that this isn’t normal and it could damage the axis?
I visually checked for cables getting stuck while moving or things being in the way - but it seems that this isn’t a problem here.
I observed the printer for about 20 minutes and was not able to observe anything out of the ordinary while it makes this sounds - this leads me to suspect that there could be something wrong with the belts or motors that is hard to spot while it moves?
Leveling was done according to the manual - other than that I made no modifications to the printer.
Can you help me troubleshoot?
When running at 60% speed the banging happens much less often. I debugged multiple hours today while it was printing but didn’t see any parts colliding. Would it be possible that the belt tension is incorrect and that it slips (therefore creating the sound and vibration)?
I can feel that the banging is definitely in the lower part of the machine and when touching the extruder I do not feel the vibrations. This leads me to believe that there could be something wrong with the bed and how it moves on the rods. I’ll let it finish the print on low speed and then investigate further. Since I’m a novice: What things should I check under the bed? Should I grease it to decrease friction?
Check the bed screws, but I don’t think this is the problem.
I would turn the printer on it’s side & move the bed back & forth to see if it hits anything.
Do this slowly at first than faster if you can (Unplug The Printer).
Look under the bed, around both sides & front & back of the frame.
If you still can’t see anything, it wouldn’t hurt to shake it a little…maybe you will hear something…JMO
EDIT: Also, check the frame screws, stepper motor screws & belt housing.
I put the printer on two boxes and used Gcode to move the axis. As far as I can see and feel, I do not see any obvious parts that collide.
When I touch the parts to feel where the vibration is the most noticeable, the motor at the back feels like it is vibrating the most. My friend also suggested that this sound could be normal but he never used a FDM printer.
I figured out that the sound doesn’t happen below 50% speed but this also significantly increases the print time.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear…I wanted you to move the bed by hand…that’s why I said to unplug the printer. I was hoping you could feel the bang when you moved the bed slowly then faster.
I do not feel any big resistance when moving it. The bang does not happen when moving it at any speed by hand. Interestingly the display lights up when moving the belt by hans
Sorry I thought that you meant the PSU cable, not the motor cable. Even with the motor cable unplugged it moves smoothly, even with significant accelerations.
I have not updated firmware but it shows 2.0.0_A in “Printer Information”. I saw some Reddit posts regarding firmware bugs that can cause stuttering. Newest seems to be 2.0.0_A - should I “update” regarldess? What next troubleshooting steps can I take?
Thank you again for your time and help. I really appreciate it.
I’ve been re-watching the videos you posted.
Try getting eye level with the front of the printer below the bed & slide back & forth making sure the plate extends past the front base. Also look for scratch marks on the top inside of the base under the bed.
I had a loose bed screw when I got my printer, the threads wouldn’t catch. I couldn’t find the right size at the time & put 1 size longer in the left front corner & it made that same sound…the bottom the screw would hit the frame each time the bed would pass over it. I moved that screw to the center & it fix the problem. Later on I replaced it with the right size screw.
I performed some of your troubleshooting steps but finally figured out that the cause of the sound is the stepper motor in the back. To test I removed the belt for the Y axis from the motor - and it still made the sound (this time definitely coming from the motor). I’m currently in contact with Sovol and will update this post once I have further information.
Update: Sovol support told me to replace the “42-34 stepper motor” in the back of the printer since it’s broken (therefore making this noise). Since I bought my printer from a local retailer they told me to contact them and ask for a replacement motor. They also seem to sell this motor themselves but because the purchase was not made directly I would have to pay for it myself.
I’ll update this post as soon as I get the replacement motor to report back whether this gets rid of the vibration and knocking sound.
You just have to make sure of the shaft length & if you can’t pull the gear off the old motor, buy one that has it already installed. If Sovol will sell you one, that would guarantee a fit.
Bad news: I did not use the printer for the last two days and started printing again today on 45% speed because I needed another part. The other axis is now showing the same behavior (the one moving the extruder). I can’t believe that two motors would fail. Is my printer maybe assembled incorrectly (maybe frame skewed)? Wrong belt tension? Bad leveling?
Again: <47% doesn’t happen. Video is at 100%. Haven’t heard back from the retailer yet.
