Rattling Vibration Noise

[weste2533]

Helllo,

I have been printing with my Rostock Max V2 for ~6 months now. I have been noticing an increasingly obvious rattling/vibration noise during my prints. Print quality is not affected, but it is starting to get annoying and I would like to make sure there isn't a more serious underlying issue. The rattling only occurs when printing on the 240 degrees from Z tower -> X tower -> Y tower (it doesn't rattle when printing in the 120 degrees between the Z and Y tower). My equipment/conditions are:
- Rostock Max V2 (Stock, no upgrades)
- Rev 6 heated bed
- Repetier-Host with Slic3r

To date I have tried the following to determine/eliminate the issue without success:
- Removed glass bed and binder clips. Dry ran a program.
- Manually changed %feedrate from 50-200 while it was running to see if it was stepper motor related
- Checked/snugged screws holding the heated bed pcb down.
- Lifted heated bed pcb and checked for loose wires.
- Tightened jam nut retaining hot end in its housing
- Checked hot end resistors.
- Removed power supply and checked for debris inside of the power supply housing.
- While the program was dry-running (no filament and heaters off), I pushed in areas on the carriages, hot end, and bed to see if the sound increased, decreased, or was eliminated.
- Checked layer and shroud fans.
- Checked general fastener connections (haven't found any loose yet).
- Checked (4) screws that fasten the RAMPS board.
- Currently all side covers are removed.

As I said above nothing that I have done yet has even changed the sound of the vibration. It seems like it has to be related to the bed/base since it so clearly stops in that one area of the bed. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

[teoman]

A couple of days ago i found that one of my motors was lose. Check those.

The screws on these things do come lose. So i would guess about 6 months is a good time to go over them all and thighten them.

[KAS]

Check the belt/pulley alignment. The teeth of the belt could be rubbing against the edge of the pulley. I'm not sure that would have anything to do with the higher temps. Unless the temps are somehow contracting/expanding parts that could cause belt tension to change.

[Jimustanguitar]

All of the annoying buzzing noises that I've noticed in the past were actually the finger levers on my binder clips.

I cut some electrical tape and put a rubber "pad" on each side of the clips so that they were silent.

[bot]

Speak of the devil. I had this thread open. Was trying to troubleshoot some slight underextrusion of infill when using the .35mm nozzle. Started tighetning up screws at the Ezstruder... and now the thing buzzes LOUDLY, and it barely did before. So... check that? Also... why is it buzzing? How do I fix?

[weste2533]

Thanks for the quick replies. I performed a check of the motors and all 3 were solid with no loose fasteners. I still need to take a closer look at the belts, but it didn't appear that they were rubbing the edges on the outside of the visible idler bearing. The vibration persists regardless of temperature (I dry ran a program with no heaters on with the same result) and when the glass bed and binder clips are removed. While checking it over last night I found my Y-axis cheapskate was not very tight (the bearing rollers could be spun without resistance). I went over all 3 axes cheapskates and adjusted the rolling tension and was sure that was going to solve the issue, but I ran another print after with the same vibration.

[jdurand]

My wife this morning said the Afinia printer was making strange rattling sounds. It turned out to be a stack of empty spools on top of the printer enclosure rattling against the wall. Sounded much like a chicken at our back door.

[KAS]

In all honesty it could be anything. Literally put your finger on everything to pinpoint the noise.
The stock peek fans are garbage, and most get replaced with a ball bearing type or a new hotend all together. Unplug that or flick the hell out of it and see if the noise changes.

[Eaglezsoar]

The plastic panels could be rattling around making that noise. Putting a finger on them while hearing the noise could stop the noise.