Snap sound during print

[mdharrington]

I'm getting an intermittent but somewhat repeatable sharp snapping sound during my last few prints.....

-It mostly happens during a transition from X to Y travel when the head is turning a 90 degree corner
-usually (as far as I can tell) only makes the snap when going in the negative Y axis (towards the back of the machine)
-it seems to only do it when going from a dead stop (sometimes during infill as well, but its too fast to determine whats going on)

I was not hearing this until last night, when I did a 10 hour print. I noticed it in the morning as the print was finishing. I cant identify where the sound is coming from so I watched the print movement for visual cues....
It was happening at predictable times in my print....usually as described above

I put my finger on the steppers to feel them for vibrations.....and boy do they get hot. I knew the extruder steppers would be hot but I didn't expect the XY steppers to get so hot

Anybody else experience this before? I hope a stepper isn't going on me after owning this for 7 days...

Flashforge Creator Pro

Thanks

[mdharrington]

I played with it in jog mode and found 2 spots along the z axis that make this snapping sound.

they only make the sound from a dead stop....it's fairly hard to find in jog mode causing me to believe the spot is very small. One locations is much louder then the other, and they are 100% repeatable (if you hit the jog at the right spot)

i was was thingking a stepper gear, but that doesn't make sense because the stepper would rotate dozens of times over the z axis travel.....then the snap should happen in dozens of places, but so far only in 2 spots

[Geoff]

I played with it in jog mode and found 2 spots along the z axis that make this snapping sound.

they only make the sound from a dead stop....it's fairly hard to find in jog mode causing me to believe the spot is very small. One locations is much louder then the other, and they are 100% repeatable (if you hit the jog at the right spot)

i was was thingking a stepper gear, but that doesn't make sense because the stepper would rotate dozens of times over the z axis travel.....then the snap should happen in dozens of places, but so far only in 2 spots

Not your stepper gear, as you assumed correctly.. possibly your belt tensioner hitting something and getting caught?

[LakeDuck]

Just something to check, I had a couple of spools that got the leading edge under some of the other wound strands and as the material fed, sometimes it would make a "crack" noise when the line finally got enough tension to pull itself out from under the other strands, might not be your issue but others might experience the same thing

[basfud]

Had identical thing, never identified it. It stopped after a while. This printer is like a violin with string randomization function, you never know what sounds it's gonna make tomorrow :P

[mdharrington]

Not your stepper gear, as you assumed correctly.. possibly your belt tensioner hitting something and getting caught?

I concur with your logic.....

The thing here is it is only occurs when starting from a dead stop....you would think the tensioner would make the noise every time while moving past

Worth checking out though.....I am often guilty of over thinking when the simplest answer is right in front of you

[mdharrington]

Hmmm....

It's getting much worse...happening backwards and forwards in the Y direction, almost to the point I am afraid to print something.

The snapping sounds like an electrical spark....my dad heard this and commented the same. I am pretty convinced it is a spark in the Y stepper.
It still mostly happens on acceleration from a dead stop...but now anywhere along the Y axis (usually towards the machine)

This has gone from a minor annoyance to a concern. Its fairly loud and happening 1-2 times per second at the worst...like popcorn going off.
The belts and tensioners look 100%...it does not seem visibly mechanical

How does one get a hold of flashforge support?

[mdharrington]

Did some googling, and another possibility would be the belts angling towards the edges of the pulley and riding up the pulley and snapping back down......

would make more sense then the spark theory

[Geoff]

Another user had this issue also (Bassna) and Guitartoys had this suggestion, which ended up working from what I can gather..

Originally Posted by guitartoys
I just went through the exact same thing not a day ago. What fixed it for me was to loosen all of the Allen keys on the pulley in the back right corner for the y-axis. Move the head back-and-forth in the y-axis. And then re-tighten the Allen keys fixed a perfectly for me. The belt is hitting the edge of the pulley and that's what's making the taking noise.

[mdharrington]

Yup worked....well 90% better

Probably something I will have to do from time to time

Thanks