Any notion what might cause this noise? When homed, the printer mis-positions in X. When moved manually, the movement as normal (for this printer). This is a Monoprice Maker Select Plus (which is a re-branded Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus -
Chinese clone of the Prusa i3).
Sent a message to Monoprice support. Seems I have had the printer a day or two less than one year, so we shall see if they cover. (Had good response with a prior problem.)
I’d say pull the belt and feel out all the components, something’s dragging?
Maybe a bad motor or controller would be my guess but I’m not a pro with printers. It just seems like the printer is giving instructions to move but the motor isn’t responding properly. Have you checked for a loose connection? If one of the wires isn’t connecting properly, that could cause an issue. If it were me, I would take the belt off and (after checking the wires) and see if the motor can operate on its own. If it can’t, try moving plugs to run different motors. Maybe switch your X and Z (if you can) and see what happens. If the other motor starts acting up and the original is fine, you probably need a new controller. Otherwise you could just have a motor going bad.
@DayRider76 Not so far as I can tell. When moved manually, seems fine. Kind of guessing this might(?) be either a failing stepper motor or driver. This was my fourth or fifth print of the day, so this is new.
Check the grub/set screw on the drive pulley on the stepper. I. would also advise you to remove that spring from the belt and get the belt tight without the spring. Just my 2 cents.
That seems to be the behavior of a break in the stepper cable or a loose connection. Try wiggling the cable and see if the behavior changes. @Kevin_Danger_Powers has some additional good suggestions to narrow down the cause.
This sounded more mechanical to me rather than electrical but the community seems to disagree. Kinda like the ball bearings in the linear bushings aren’t seated correctly and you moving the printhead by hand properly tensions them. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
The belt should not flap like that, something is too loose or rubbing. If you have a belt tensioner, see what its doing and tighten things up. Once that is fixed, reset the axis stop because the system is trying to move the carriage even though the stop is being pressed. Verify continuity of that switch. Sometimes that stop switch gets flattened too many times, moves in the housing, and even though its compressed, the internal contacts are not making proper contact. Bending the lever outwards so it makes closed contact before its fully flattened from contact usually fixes that. The Z axis on all 3D printers is notorius for that problem. And just for giggles, recheck all your stops for that issue.
@Adam_Steinmark Can’t say your wrong but when he was manually moving the carriage it seems to be smoother sounding on the motion but still sounded a little grindy to me. When using the stepper to move it the top belt was vibrating quite badly which would seem to indicate a stepper vibration issue.
@Jeff_Parish Ah gotcha. Maybe something with the motor axis?
Maybe. The fact that it was vibrating the top belt moving in both directions all the way across again makes me think it is something electrical like a loose connection. On the mechanical side it could be a loose pulley on the stepper motor. Maybe the motor mount is loose? That might give a similar symptom for this mechanical configuration.
The belt tensioner on the bottom left side does not seem to help much in this case.
@Adam_Steinmark The top belt was flapping arround and I would guess this to be a physical problem like Adam said.(Though it may very well do that if there’s an electrical problem as well.)
It seems to me that the drive gear on the motor itself is slipping and the belt is also too loose. It may also be the case that the motor leads might also be loose too.
Good luck!
i would agree with the guys suggesting mechanical problems. The sound seems to come from the belt slipping over the gears on the X stepper motor. one ovious reason for that seems to be that the X belt is too loose. tighten it.
If the tightening of the X belt doesn’t fix your problem, check the X stepper gear. if both are ok, check the bearing of the extruder carriage, perhaps add a little silicon grease, it seems a little hard to move (from the video i can’t tell exactly).
If you can easily remove the tension on the belt, pop the belt off and re-test the motor to quickly isolate the motor and driver from diagnosis
Apparently, the problem is not the controller (my first guess).
Swapped the connectors on the controller that go to the X and Y motors. Doing X moves from the control panel now moves the bed (in Y) … smoothly. Doing Y moves from the panel now moves the printhead in X … roughly (as before).
Another clue: When doing X moves from the control panel, the actual direction of the X move seems to be random, rather than the direction commanded. In fact at times it alternates direction in a single move.
Did try re-seating the connector, at the X-motor, of course.
Either the wire/connector or the motor for X, it seems…
Other bits…
I am also not keen about the spring-tensioner on the belt(s), but they have been there all along, and worked well enough. The belt tension does not seem to have changed. This printer has cheap bearings, so there has always been a bit of grind/rumble when sliding the printhead by hand, so again, not a change.
Found a few loose screws, but nothing of moment.
Going to try dismounting the stepper for X, and driving through the wire now going to the Y stepper. (Not obvious how this beast disassembles…)
“Another clue: When doing X moves from the control panel, the actual direction of the X move seems to be random, rather than the direction commanded. In fact at times it alternates direction in a single move. “
I have experienced exactly this problem before and it was caused by a break in one of the four stepper motor wires.
@Richard_Gain As seems to be my current case.
Last night I “fixed” the problem by straightening the ribbon cable (it had a slight twist, as assembled), and pushing each wire firmly into the connector, after re-attaching to the stepper motor. Moved normally in test. Ran two successful prints.
Assuming the cable/connector is dubious, and I need to make or buy a replacement. (Are there any elegant solutions for making ribbon cables? Something to research.)
The below is meant to serve as a door-hinge for a printer enclosure.
Hi. I dont know. But the transmission belt in the X axis is vibrating too. Maybe is not properly tensed. Or some trouble in the subjection of the X stepper
@german_madinabeitia The tension on the belt is adequate. (That was one of my first questions as well.)
There is an intermittent connection between the X-motion stepper and the controller board. Seems @Richard_Gain had the same problem.
Just un/re-plugging the connectors does not help. (Also a first guess.) My guess is a break in the ribbon cable. Noticed the section of the ribbon cable that flexes during Z-motion had a slight excess twist. Took out the excess … and I had a working printer! For a while. Did several more prints.
Got to planning an OctoPi install. (Pegboard, clips, 24v-to-USB power converter, Raspberry Pi, camera and mounts…) Turned the printer on the side to verify I could get 24V off the printer’s power supply. (Yep.)
Righted the printer to print the clips (to mount the pegboard to printer), and … back to the same problem. (Did not expect the “fix” was more than temporary.)
Fiddled with the cable a bit - no joy.
Seems buying a cable with a 4 pin JST (2.0mm) connector on one end, and a 6 pin connector on the other … is not(?) possible.
Monoprice (the seller) is in driving distance, so going to drop off the printer … to get a replacement cable. 
