Y-Current, not rail issue. Motor? Pulley?

[genericname]

I've been getting an excessive amount of Y-Current errors on the JV3 lately. I haven't lapsed in maintenance, and in fact, cleaned and oiled the rail just this morning, but I've had two Y-Current errors today, and far too many within the last two weeks.

At this point, I'm fairly certain it has to do with the drive, not the guide. So I'm looking at either the Y axis motor, or the pulley assembly. As a note, Y movement is incredibly loud, but it always has been, and in the past five years that the printer's been here, there haven't been any issues with the Y movement system. It doesn't seem to have gotten any louder than usual either.

Anyone have any experience or advise on this? I'd hate to replace both the motor and pulley system if only one is needed. Also, I'd love to upload WAVs, comparing the carriage sound of both our JV3s, but they're not permitted as attachments. Think including a dropbox link would be frowned upon?

 

[genericname]

Well, let's give this a shot. Below are links to the .wav recordings of our JV3 carriages moving. Blue is the newer one, and noticeably quiet, at least in comparison to Red, the old stalwart. Ignore the click at the beginning of Blue's Y movement; just a sticky captop I need to clean. Since they were both recorded with the mic right next to the head, it's a little deceiving, but we generally can't tell if Blue is running while we're out of the room, though we can hear Red from the other side of the building. We've even had people on the phone in the front office ask what the noise was.

My goal, as mentioned above, is to figure out whether the noise, made by Red, is due to the motor or the pulley needing replacement.

Admins: If the links are frowned upon, and need deleting, I understand. If that's the case, what's the likelihood of getting short audio files added to the list of acceptable attachments?

Thanks all!

JV3-Blue
JV3-Red

 

[Redz Signs Inc.]

Did you hear any grinding? and its a simple replace on both parts so no need for a tech .

 

[artbot]

they both sound awful. i can't hear my printer when i head down the hall (30-40 feet away). of course it's got very very low miles. is there anything you can do to the pulley that might be "isolate-able"? like get an IR thermostat... while both printers are running, hit the axle of both pulleys see if there is a temperature difference? the bad pulley should be running hotter. that said, it does sound like a straining electric sound.

 

[genericname]

Nah, no grinding.

And no worry about a tech visit. I'm pretty technical, and do everything on the printers myself. Last time we had a tech out, it cost us over $600 and the problem still persisted... I then fixed it for $15.

I'm just trying to be spend-thrifty. If I only have to replace either the motor or the cake wheel pulley, I'll be happy. I'd hate to have to replace both just to test the problem.

Not my money, technically, but I know the value of it, and in the end that value directly relates to my value.

 

[genericname]

they both sound awful. i can't hear my printer when i head down the hall (30-40 feet away). of course it's got very very low miles. is there anything you can do to the pulley that might be "isolate-able"? like get an IR thermostat... while both printers are running, hit the axle of both pulleys see if there is a temperature difference? the bad pulley should be running hotter. that said, it does sound like a straining electric sound.

That's an excellent idea! Never thought of it. I've got an IR thermometer at home, and I'll bring it in tomorrow to give it a shot.

Blue does sound bad in the .wav as you mentioned, but the mic being right next to it seems to have really exaggerated the sound. It's whisper quiet from my work station (15 feet away), and completely silent in the next room as well.

 

[PDD]

Just to be clear in the world of stepper and servo motors the drive is the electronics that runs (drives the motor) the motor of course is the motor and the pulley part of the mechanism. I work with stepper and servo systems all the time.

Please note that you could be having a problem in the drive electronics (output transistors or power supply that feeds I have not troubleshot a y current problem on this printer before, but you may want to try to slip off the drive belt and run the motor "unloaded" to see if the motor noise changes a lot since its not working hard. It will probably set and error code as it won't get the encoder signal since the carriage won't be moving, but it might run long enough to give you some more information. Its just a thought.