Toolhead clicking sound
So - after some time investigating this and fixing quite some errors on the way - they don't seem to be the one i am actually looking for.
Maybe somebody recognises this clicking sound and is able to tell me where the heck this is coming from, because i sure as hell am not able to pinpoint this 
i thought for a long time this is the nozzle rubbing over infill lines and "flipping" them for this sound...
i thought for a long time this is the nozzle rubbing over infill lines and "flipping" them for this sound...36 Replies
mmmm....it sounds plastic to me...but hey, I'm no expert. Guess you've checked your bearings?
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
the axes, as in belts, pulleys etc are definitely not related to the sound. if i touch the filament above the extruder, i can't feel the clicks either.
the extruder itself internally would be a probable culprit, but i am not sure what could even go wrong there that would produce this sound
correct-apricot•3y ago
what infill linewidth are you using? have you stopped mid print and checked the infill for broken lines ect.? I had similar issues at the beginning with my v-minion. After some back and forth I solved the issue by setting the line width for infill to 0.6 for a 0.4 nozzle. You can try that. Also check the part that houses the belt tensioner system. It is screwed onto the kind of triangle shaped black aluminum part with two screws. After I don´t know how many print hours they where both loose and the hole assembly klicked everytime the bed changed direction. But that sound was not plasticly at all.
belt tensioner of the printbed*
What also comes to my mind. The superpinda is far away enough though?
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
😬 i already did this in an attempt to tackle the problem - didn't change anything unfortunately
the belt motion is not related to the sound - not any belt - i checked
yes, definitely not touching
correct-apricot•3y ago
mhm but the sound defently comes from the toolhead? Any way that the umbelical from the bedwires is making that noise? Kind of sounds like an endstopswitch beeing pressed
umbilical*
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
No, it is the toolhead for sure, there is basically nothing that CAN move at the toolhead, except the filament atm - ich checked it , not related :/
the bedwires are in a chain - which actually makes a sound at a certain point, but it does not at this print and it sounds differently
correct-apricot•3y ago
strange. Idk in your case I would go over again and check every screw on that printer. If that doesn´t help I would first try the same print without the extruder attached to check if it belongs to motion/acceleriation or extruder related. Also is it only at that perticular print and with this particular filament?
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
yeah - a lot points to some extruder internal issue atm i guess. will have to take him off and apart and see if i can find anything
had the same problem with PETG and PLA Filaments now - on any print, it always only starts a bit into the print though
correct-apricot•3y ago
what extruder are you using?
orbieter?
orbiter*
That sounds like your extruder is skipping
If you print a bit slower, does it still happen?
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
Yeah, Orbiter 2
The skipping you would feel when you touch the filament before it goes into the extruder - but you don't. i also tried to heighten the temperature just for safety, and tensioned the extruder way harder - no difference there
correct-apricot•3y ago
As I said I would try and disasble that extruder. inspect it and do a "dry print" without extruder attached to the toolhead and check if it still appears. If yes then there is a problem related to acceleration/montion of you minion. If it doesn´t then the problem is somwhere in the extruder area
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
that is actually a pretty simple but effective idea, i should've thought of that myself 😅
then again, that's why we employ the swarms intelligence here, aye 😬
correct-apricot•3y ago
let us know when you have some updates
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
i can't detach the extruder from the toolhead though. and i think the stepper driver will complain when there is no motor plugged in, butt we'll see ^^
(using a toolboard with a short wire)
correct-apricot•3y ago
I meant mechanicly detach it any leave it somewhere where it doesn´t hit your bed or x-carrige
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
yeah, classic zip-tie job, but nothing to fasten it too. Anyway - less talk, more do. I'll just try something ^^
Alright, i took the Gearbox off and screwed just the extruder motor on the toolboard mount. good news: it does not seem to be the gearbox ^^ bad news: it still does that sound. i am trying to find a tool to stabilise the video on the extruder shaft to figure out if there is a relation, my old eyes are too slow to follow at those speeds 😂
correct-apricot•3y ago
so then there is a problem related to your motion system i guess
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
i am not sure actually gimme a minute ^^
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
the best i could do
correct-apricot•3y ago
do you have a different extruder motor that you could swap out? Or any other stepper motor to connect there just to check that motor of the possible issue list. But I doubt it
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
ffs, yeah, i put a NEMA 17 on the extruder port, and ofc i STILL have that sound - not from the motor 🤬
this is going to be fun, will have to disassemble the toolhead and look for this
Thanks for ideas mate ♥️
since had to do some prototyping work on the toolhead anyway, i took the opportunity and tightened some screws i could get to.
there are screws on the linear rail carriages side which you can access from the sides - those were relatively loose, so i tightened them a bit. i do notice quite more resistance when sliding them along the rail now.
this could absolutely be the culprit, in the sense of loose ball bearings in the carriage, but i get the feeling there should be a specific tension set by the screws, which i most likely screwed up completly now 
i'll check in about this with my CNC guy 😅
uhhhh, also der druck läuft jetzt seit ner viertel stunde, und ich hab noch keinen mucks gehört 
cough the print is running since a quarter hour, and i don't hear any clicking sound !
i'll check in about this with my CNC guy 😅
uhhhh, also der druck läuft jetzt seit ner viertel stunde, und ich hab noch keinen mucks gehört cough the print is running since a quarter hour, and i don't hear any clicking sound !correct-apricot•3y ago
coole Sache, dann drück ich dir die Daumen das es so bleibt👍
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
Well, it turned out - the carraige was NOT the problem 😅
i am looking into the x belt tensioner atm. idk how, but there seems to be a correlation to the clicking
after taking the tensioner apart, aligning the screw with two square nuts to stabilize this and realising it was NOT that, i could definitely track the sound down to be tension dependend. when it was loose enough, the sound was even gone, but that was too lose.
so i fiddled around with all this, trying to stick my head wherever i could, and i think i finally found the culprit.
Of COURSE it was a frakking Idler. The one at the end of the x-axis. The micro-shims had settled a bit into the printed part, which gave the idler just so much play, that under certain circumstances, the idler clicked against those. if you manually trtied to reproduce this, it would ONLY work, when you manually moved the toolhead and the planets aligned correctly. when i tried to get it to click with just a belt over the idler, it would just not do it.
anyway, i put a nylon shim which is a bit bigger in there instead of the micro shim, made sure everything still runs smooth, and until now, all is silent.
Hopefully this will not return tomorrow, for another round of "my printer is trying to drive me insane" 😅
Well done! That's some serious sluething!
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
it is quite astonishing how hard it can be to track a sound down...
I use a screwdriver held up to my ear to find noises like that easier
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
yeah, thats an old but golden trick. at work i even have a stethoscope with a metal tip just for that.
i am not sure why i did not think of this... then again, i thought it was coming from a total different place anyway, i'll keep it in mind, thjanks ^^
It's great, I found multiple idlers that had failing bearings
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
dem idlers man 😅
the bane of my RatRig existence ^^
Yeah I am in the middle of doing a 3.0 mod using 126 bearings
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
omg, the horrors just must see
Isn't bad, just replacing the motor mounts with full metal motor mount mod and then using 126 bearing stack with a brass tube as a cheap shim from the bearing M6 to the M5 bolts
conscious-sapphireOP•3y ago
oh wait, you meant TYPE 126 bearings?
i thought that's the NUMBER you have to put in there 😅
Yes, type 126