Strange noise from extruder .. ?

[askernas]

Hello!

After having my M2 for a year and half, I've started to have strange noises emerging from what seems to be the extruder area.

For completeness sake, I do not currently have rubber spaces for the print bed, but rather ABS printed ones (The video that shows the noise attached is actually when printing new rubber spacers out of polyflex rubber)

Anyway, as far as I can tell, it sounds like it is from around the extruder area, but it is really hard to tell.

Notice that when I'm running outlines, the noise is not there, but as soon as the infill starts, more noticeable towards the end of the video, the rumbling is starting.

The extruder drive gear is firmly attached, so that is ruled out.

I am worried about a few things:

1. Does my extruder motor need lubricant in any way?
2. Could this be a result of having the X or Y-belts too tight?
3. Should I just keep quiet and mount my rubber pads (newly printed) and be happy ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QduNrAYmZm0

[jimc]

hmmm, the m2 makes so many noises with all the steppers going its hard to tell in the video which noise is coming from your extruder. there really isnt much on the extruder to make any noise other than the motor and the gearbox. the only thing i can think of is that your little pinion gear may be stripping out and is slipping. only way to know that is to pop open the gearbox and have a look.

[askernas]

Well, it is mostly evident in the end of the video.

It is a sort of chugging noise, not as prominent as the extruder skipping, but sort of a rumbling grind, especially when it is moving around a lot.

I will do some experiments, remove retraction and see if it is still doing the same sounds.

At first I was wondering if I had some issues on the glide paths somewhere, but I think it is something else, just don't know what it is ... yet.

[thecadman99]

I'd say Jim is right (as usual!). Sounds like a classic worn pinion gear.
You'd need a replacement extruder motor, they come with a new pinion gear.
http://www.makergear.com/products/motors

[jereywolf]

Hey Askernas,

My printer is making a very similar noise.

I think in your video the sound is more noticeable because it's making longer X-axis moves. On my machine it only happens on X-axis moves.

If I put pressure with my hand on the motor mount while a print is running, it dulls the sound. That makes it seem like something is loose, causing a vibration, but I know everything is tight. I just switched over to the single V4 and the sound remains.

I haven't seen any decline in print quality, so I have just kind of looked past it.

[jimc]

rails are all lubed?

[jereywolf]

Yeah, I use lithium grease on them every week.

[rcdon]

Hello, I am new to the forum. I just wanted to voice my experience with the "mysterious X axis noise". I first ran into the noise on my M2 at around 1500 hours of printing time. The X carriage was becoming sloppy on the rail enough to feel it when the machine ran. There was a noticeable "backlash" that you could feel from front to back (in the Y direction) which might be considered normal wear for that type of rail but was really annoying. It made very noticeable noise when certain harmonics would occur on the X axis motor leading me to believe it was not the extruder motor. The prints never visibly showed the "slop" but the noise bothered me as it is a precise machine and shouldn't sound like a tin can of screws. I injected lube into the carriage regularly from day one so I don't feel it was lubrication problem that made the carriage wear. The Y axis carriage has about the same amount of "slop" it it however it does not make noise ever and so it keeps on trucking to date with no issue. I do know that print speed changes the drive frequency of the stepper motor which effects the noise considerably. I recently changed my X carriage with a replacement from MakerGear ($25) which immediately fixed the noise problem. Unfortunately the noise came back after 200 hours even without the slop the earlier worn carriage had. In fact there is no noticeable play in the new carriage in any direction. I am positive it is the carriage making noise because I can make it go away by putting side force or torsion on the extruder during a print. Without changing the whole rail system I am not sure how to fix that issue. I do know that the Y axis is showing play in it but doesn't seen to effect the prints. Too bad there is no (easy) way to adjust the preload on the carriages to clean up the play. Maybe these odd harmonics can cause premature wear of these types of linear rails? Either way I will get to the bottom of it and post my findings if I can.