Notifications
Clear all

X axis stepper doesn't move in silent mode  

  RSS
michal.o2
(@michal-o2)
New Member
X axis stepper doesn't move in silent mode

Hi, after gathering information and trying to troubleshoot i decided to make a post on here.

FIrst of all i purchased an mk2 printer and i have one problem that i dont fuly understand, nor know how to fix it.

Straight to the problem, when i try to print in silent mode and have belt tension on x axis the same as on y axis and dialed in to what i believe is "tight enough" the motor does not rotate. The controller thinks the motor rotated by a number of steps, while it actually did not. Please see video below @1:30

When i drop the tension by a little (2 teeth on belt) to point where it's loose enough that i don't need to unscrew the motor mount to put it on, then i am able to print in silent mode but the belt seems to "travel" up and down as in video below.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=VdYrsB-KqCo

The printer did print fine in high power mode until one day it decided to fail quick calibration procedure which is programmed every time it prints. It happened when moving in x axis to another calibration point but in reality it was only half way, so the calibration failed.

Now it is a problem for me since with lowered belt tension i get flat spots on curved features of parts.

It appears to me that this might be a problem with the motor which changes its operating characteristics due to force of belt pulling on the shaft.
I checked if the free spinning pulley is adding any significant resistance but everything looked fine.
Is there way to gauge the proper tension on the belt?
I would appreciate any feedback on this issue!

Posted : 20/01/2017 3:10 am
MrMik
(@mrmik)
Honorable Member
Re: X axis stepper doesn't move in silent mode

The belts should have enough tension so that they make a sound when you pluck them like a guitar string.

Not much, and not a high pitched sound, unless you pluck a short part, but just enough so it swings for a fraction of a second when you pluck it. Maybe a bass guitar rather than a guitar. 🙂

Posted : 28/01/2017 9:17 pm
Share: