Loud Noise on Mars

[Jewelworks]

Hi All - weird problem, hopefully, someone can shine some light on.

my Mars has been running perfectly until this evening, 

I went to print a file and when the plate went into the tank for the first layer, the machine started making a loud sound. It's not a good sound so I cancelled it immediately.

I then took the tank off, levelled the plate and tried again with the same result.

its the same noise you get if you bring the plate up too high and it hits its end stop.

Any ideas would be appreciated - Thanks

[winstonhokie]

Hi All - weird problem, hopefully, someone can shine some light on.

my Mars has been running perfectly until this evening, 

I went to print a file and when the plate went into the tank for the first layer, the machine started making a loud sound. It's not a good sound so I cancelled it immediately.

I then took the tank off, levelled the plate and tried again with the same result.

its the same noise you get if you bring the plate up too high and it hits its end stop.

Any ideas would be appreciated - Thanks

Hello,
 I have the exact same issue.  I just received mine May 13th and been running perfectly everyday until this morning.   Any informatin would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[lylefile]

Hi Everyone,

I just started having this problem as well. The problem turned out to be some cured resin in the bottom of the tank. So when the platform tries to home to the start position, it can't go low enough to register as having homed. Fortunately, I was using clear blue resin, so even though I couldn't see anything, when I used the spatula, it met resistance and then I could see a rectangle of plastic lift up. Removed the plastic, and it's back printing! Hope this is your problem as well. If you have an opaque resin, you may need to just empty and clean your tank and you will see it then. But first try just running the spatula across the bottom of the tank. You might be able to fish out the obstruction without all the mess and bother of cleaning the tank.

Hope that helps!
Lylefile

[Azoarcus]

I had a similar problem with my new Mars printer. The sound was a loud sound from the motor and I noticed the all-thread shaft was wobbling. I used the allen key to tighten all the bolts and noticed the two bolts which secure the stepper motor were loose. I took the entire top platform off and saw that the bolts had become unthreaded from the stepper motor mounts. I screwed the bolts back in and snugged them up and all problems were solved. Did a test print and it worked perfectly.

However, looking at the way the stepper motor is bolted into the platform raised my eyebrows...I understand this is a relatively inexpensive printer but that particular junction is pretty janky. Especially for such a critical part of the machine.

Anyways, hope this helps.

[cliffyk]

The noise is the stepper motor "cogging"; i.e. trying to turn to lower the platen, but being prevented from doing so by mal-adjustment and/or cured resin or debris in or under the resin vat blocking the platen's movement. This can and has damaged the LCD shutter on more than one occasion (this is one of those "don't ask me how I know" topics).

It is VITAL that the resin vat be swept/probed (a playing card works great) before initiating a new print job. 99.44% of the time it will be clear, however that remaining 0.66% can end up biting you where you'd rather not be bitten...

[jeffgar2000]

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here. Been printing perfect and we just did a ton of lego guns. Next batch it started that growling noise and would not proceed. I cleaned the whole thing and found 3 of the lego guns din't stick to the plate and they fell to the bottom of the tank. That was enough to stop it from hitting true bottom.

I was printing in clear so it wasn't obvious.

[cliffyk]

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here.  Been printing perfect and we just did a ton of lego guns.  Next batch it started that growling noise and would not proceed. I cleaned the whole thing and found 3 of the lego guns din't stick to the plate and they fell to the bottom of the tank.  That was enough to stop it from hitting true bottom.

I was printing in clear so it wasn't obvious.

That will do it, it does not take much... Run the exposure test to make sure the LCD is OK... I use a 20 mm stiff artists brush to "sweep" the vat between prints, to make sure it's clear, a playing card works well too...

[Aquiles76]

I have the same problem but Is not due by a cured resin in the vat. My mars make this noise in the middle of the axis.

[cliffyk]

I have the same problem but Is not due by a cured resin in the vat. My mars make this noise in the middle of the axis.

What you describe can occur when the Z-axis needs to be lubricated and/or when the preload on the Z-axis trolley guide wheels is too high (see this YoutTube video, this fellow calls it "calibration", but it really isn't as no comparison to any standard is involved--it's just an adjustment).

As your printer had been running OK I would try lubricating the lead screw and guide rails first--use any premium grease (Super Lube's PTFE grease is good for this) or any good grade of lithium or synthetic grease (most auto parts stores stock Green Grease--it's good stuff too.

[jeffgar2000]

I know this is an old thread.  I was in it back in mid 2020.  I wanted to post that I have definitely figured something out with regards to the growling noise.

I now have my mars (still running), an Elegoo saturn and an Anycubic Photon Monox.  They all stay pretty busy and I have a kickstarter Elegoo Jupiter inbound soon.

I have had growling issues in both of my Elegoos.  My vats were clean, everything was tight and the threaded rod was lubed when it happened.  I now know what my issue was as I have fixed it several times.

When you set zero with the screws holding the plate in position loose then it kind of compresses the shaft holding the plate.  I was going to set zero and I had accidentally (or in a hurry)let the plate come up off of the bottom without tightening the screws that hold the plate in a fixed position.  If the shaft comes out too far it always growls.  I simply loosen the screws and reset zero making sure to keep the shaft compressed.  Then I tighten the screws.  Then I lift until the paper is just lose and set zero at that position with the shaft compressed.  I've fixed the gowling dozen of times like this.  

If I let the shaft decompress it growls most of the time.  This always fixes it for me.  Your mileage may vary but I know this is happening and I have not seen this answer posted yet so here is my experience when you have checked all the obvious stuff.  

It happens on my Mars and my Saturn and I bet it will happen on my Jupiter when I get it.

Yes, loose motor screws, dirty threaded rods and pieces in the vat will absolutely do it too but if all of those are fixed, try making sure you:
1) Loosen the screws on the plate
2) Recompress the shaft
3) Tighten the screws
4) Come up till the paper is a little loose
5) Reset zero.