Ultimaker S5 vibration problem

[thelemurking 2]

Hello,

 

I have some problems with some of my S5 printers, and I wanna see if you have any recommendations.

Firstly, I have some serious grinding noise coming from the 2 motors. It sounds like they are coming from the belts, as if they are grinding on to something. I have tried tightening the belts as per UM's instructions, and sometimes it works for a few days, but the noise just comes back afterwards. For this, I am not sure if there is something I can do. If it gets worse, I'll just send them back to the supplier, but since our business is providing 3D printing services, I wish to not do that if possible, as the printers gone for a few weeks would hurt us.

Secondly, where I hope I can do something quicker, is that the whole printers and print bed seem to be vibrating pretty hard. When I have 2 color prints, it's obvious to me that the extra movement made by the print-head is messing with the whole print, and leaving some nasty stripes on my prints. The printers are placed on a VERY solid piece of furniture, but without any silicone feet or dampeners (would these help? something to dampen the vibrations in between the printer and the furniture) Any other advice as to how to stop everythng from vibrating and leaving nasty traces on my prints?

I added some photos for reference.

Thanks a lot.

Cheers!

[Framar 38]

This is what I get with my S5 too; even after many maintenance... I don't know what too think about the quality of the printer since I get better prints from chineese ones...

[Torgeir 242]

Hi thelemurking,

 

Pleas add a video of your printer when this is going on, make sure you get all four corner from below up to the pulleyes, belts etc.

Often such a failure will leave some rubber remains (from above) on the floor at the corner where such a failure occur.

 

A video is a very good way to present such problems.

 

Thanks

 

Torgeir

 

[thelemurking 2]

Hello,

 

Here is a we-transfer with 2 videos, taken on 2 different S5's. Both have the same problem.

 

vids / also attached ZIP here, if link expires.

 

Thanks!

wetransfer-e27d18.zip

[Torgeir 242]

Hi thelemurking,

 

Just been looking and listening to the sound of your printer and must say this is kind of weird..

Sounds reminds about faulty bearing in a stepper motor, however, this could also be something loose inside the extruder unit, as those stepper motors is quite robust.

If you move the extruder manually back and forth in X-axis (printer not powered up), is this sound still present in a way. (This sound seems to be worst in the X-axe.)

When moving the head manually, there should be just an even humm without any other strange additional sound.. Kind of difficuld to explain using word..

Also, is there any play when you hold the extruder at the lo end, pushing carefully in X-axis and Y-axis. There should be no play when doing this. When the two bearing inside the extruder become worn you may find a little play here.

The sound we can hear here comes from the "small stepping" resonance that makes such a strange sound.

A stethoscope can be handy for faultfinding such problem.

My best guess is something in the extruder, as this is not a belt problem I'll think.

How many hour have those two been printing?

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks

 

Torgeir.

[NovaStarGX 1]

Hi Thelemurking

I had a very similar issue when I received my S5 last week.

My problem was the X rail guide had a 9mm difference from either side of the machine, and so the head was not exactly centered on the shaft.

What I did was turn off the machine, bring the rail far forward as possible, then used the machine housing as a reference point and measured the distance from the guide rail to the edge of the machine.

I literally pushed the black belt holder on the X axis to where it was parallel to the other side. That centered the head and now no noise.

Mind you this is a $6k machine that you won't expect to have these problems. The dealer said it probably moved in shipping. NOT A CHANCE. the X axis was strapped in with a cable tie, and with all the foam packaging ....

Anyway, check to make sure both axis are parallel. I founf if you're slightly off parallel you get weird noises coming from the machine as the head moves around

[thelemurking 2]

@Torgeir If I move the extruder manually, the sound is still there, but only during certain types of moves. For example, on the X axis, it will sound horrible going left to right, but right to left there is no sound, just that silent humm you mention. There is also no play on the extruder, however the sound seems to be coming 99% from either the small motors or the belts, specifically in the corner of the printer. There is no real sound coming directly from the extruder. They have been printing quite a lot. I can't say an exact number, but since Sept 2019 they have been printing about 30-40% of the time, so let's say about an average 8 hours per day - times about 5 months, you get the idea. However, that's the reason we went with the not quite cheap Ultimaker S5's, on the premise that they can and will work that much.

 

@NovaStarGX That sounds like a plausible scenario. Can you please explain a bit more how you fixed it? I can't seem to quite understand. 

 

Thank you both for the answers.

 

Cosmin

 

 

[NovaStarGX 1]

Hi

OK this is what I did and it's fixed my problem.

Measure from the edge of your frame at each of the arrows. Making sure measurements are the same at each end of your guide rails. Make adjustment of each axis as required

This should make sure your rails are perfectly straight.

 

Alternatively, you could download and print an alignment tool like this.. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2862274

Hope this helps

Edited February 19, 2020 by NovaStarGX

[thelemurking 2]

@NovaStarGX Ohhhh I seeeeee now. I will try this ASAP. If I need to make adjustments, how did you do that? just pull the axle down, if you need it to move down a bit? Or pull it to the right, if it needs to go to the right? No unscrewing or anything like that?  

[Enigma_M4 119]

Hi,

 

if you want to do it right, you should use the ultimaker-recommended procedure for calibrating the print head, as described for the UM3 here:

https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/50679-check-for-play-on-axles

 

The procedure for the S-line is the same, only the calibrating sticks are different (@NovaStarGX has already posted the right source).

 

Regards

 

[Torgeir 242]

Hi Cosmin,

 

So, sound is still there when moving the X-axe. What I notice is that the upper pulley on both the X and Y belt from the stepper motors is touching one side of the pulley guide-wall. After some time the surface on the pulley guide wall become very well polished and the friction here, will make it "singing" so to say. "Normally" a belt should never rest on the guide wall at the pulley on both sides of a belt they share. This is very important on short belts. Then check that the belts do not touch guide wall on the stepper pulleys. Also worth to notice is that if the stepper pulley is too much offset v.s. the upper pulley, you can see the belt will twist a little when mowing the extruder head. Actually twist one way for moving right and the other when moving left.

Correction here must be done at the pulley on the stepper (adjusting more in, or more out).

I sure agree with @NovaStarGX about axis side offset as such offset give lots of friction and make the stepper work hard and 9 mm is a lot of offset.

 

Ok. you have lots of suggestions so good luck with fault finding.

 

Thanks

 

Torgeir