My Sovol Zero x-axis just started making an awful crunching noise when moving.
Not too sure what has happened but i started a print and heard an awful noise.
My first thought was that the nozzle was scraping the bed but upon investigation it turns out the x-axis is making an awful sound like crunching metal. I can hardly move the toolhead by hand with the steppers disabled.
@sovol3d what should I do?
Hi,
Have you checked that all the pulleys are properly loosened, without being too loose?
Y axis moves are okay?
Both belts, both motors, and all the rollers are involved in a Y axis move.
The only thing left is the X rail and carriage. I’d remove the toolhead and see what I can see.
Yes, they looked fine. And the belts didn’t seem to have been damaged by idlers rubbing on them.
Yes, totally fine on y moves.
I’ll try this in the morning. My hope is that it’s just some dust or filament bits stuck in there which is can clean easily.
Hopefully disassembly isn’t too hard
Haven’t had time to take the printer apart to inspect the rail carriage but I did just notice these scratches. Hopefully the pictures are clear enough
Email at info@sovol3d.com with your order number.
They will likely be able to help you.
Took off the belts from the toolhead. I really appreciate how the clamp holds onto both the belts so it’s easy to put back again.
The crunch is still there.
Did send email to Sovol so awaiting their reply after the weekend
Looks like the cause for x has lost all lubricant.
took off the rail and cleaned it. Greased up again.
Hopefully I don’t have to do this to y as well. But I have a sneaky suspicion I might have to sooner or later
To be fair the process of taking off the tool head was just three easily accessible screws and the rail is mounted in drilled and tapped holes so no issue with re-aligning when putting it back which I did appreciate.
I managed to not lose a single ball out of the rail carriage which I was also very happy with.
Lubricating it again could probably happen on the rail, but I needed to inspect for foreign material, which there was none of.
I’d request a new rail from Sovol. No possible way it isn’t damage. And if properly lubed when it was originally assembled it should NOT have gotten that bad in 6 months.
Y axis started being noisy too now. I have informed Sovol of this as well via email. So will see what they plan to do this time around.
This isn’t to the point where it would impact the print performance, but it’s enough that I’m not comfortable running the printer
Had a similar issue recently so posting my experience in case it helps anyone viewing this thread in the future.
During a print had a major layer shift and the tool head slammed into the end stops before I could e-stop. After this had the same crunchy X axis. Contacted Sovol support and they advised lubricating the rail which caused the tool head to move more freely again, but I then noticed pressing up on the nozzle caused the whole tool head to lifting up a few mm. Contacted support again and they sent me a new X rail which fixed the problem fully.
Support was really helpful with the diagnosing the issue and were quick to work out the rail needed replacing and sending a replacement.
My zero only had around 160 hours on it so not sure what the root cause is but I will be taking the X and Y rails off, cleaning with IPA and re-greasing every 3-6 months from now. Found some Triax Atlas 600 NLGI-2 high temp grease which seems to be working ok for now.
