I did some deassembly and the noise only went away after I took out both long x axis belts. Taking out the short x axis motor belt didn't seem to make any difference.
The machines is about 3 years old and it's in heavy use in a university but the belts don't seem to be worn down and there was minimal rubber particles in the corners, so it's somewhat odd why it suddenly started making noises.
The printer is already in pieces but we have several others so printing the alignment sticks won't be a problem. Can't find a belt replacement kit anywhere easily but the teacher probably can get them from the place we bought the machines.