Somebody posted on G+ a video of their carbon fibre printer going quickly and quietly. I just found a Tom Sanladerer video talking about the stepper driver brand - Trinamic - that was used. It gets quite technical but by the end Tom's giving the drivers ( over a year ago) a big thumbs up. Interestingly there's a focus on noise and drivers Tom cites as being their competitor - by Texas Instruments - I think were the ones tested and rejected during the kickstarter campaign. Anyone know anything about this stuff?
These are highly recommended, very silent compared to A4988. German seller: http://www.watterott.com/de/SilentStepStick
@Kick2box that's the driver that Tom is reviewing. He says that one can't make use of all the features but suggests overall it's a good thing. Did you already experiment with them, or other drivers? Of course it's not just about quietness....
I replaced my Y-axis stepper with a Geetech driver because I had troubles with the movement, and it is also very quiet.
So interesting @Rob Heinzonly: it's based on the same chip as ours but perhaps it's the: "Intelligent chopping control that automatically selects the correct current decay mode (fast decay or slow decay)" which is different? In any case there is an economic argument that, from a noise perspective alone, it's smart to replace just the Y since even post-Astrosyn, that's 90% of motor audible vibration.
I use them (not yet on the BB, because I'm lazy), and I do recommend them. I use them in spreadcycle mode with 16 steps (256 extrapolated). You will find a lot of videos via their github site, where you can listen to the difference. https://github.com/watterott/SilentStepStick
Was it worth it? I am currently suffering from some vibration from the Y-Axis, I have lowered the voltage to 0.47 which has cured most of the issue but from the videos I have seen it still seems it could be a lot quieter.
Yes, it was worth it. It's as 'loud' as the X-axis now. It is cheap, and replacing the driver is a piece of cake.
I'm using them (on a Beaglebone as part of a Replicape) on another printer. Yes, they're quiet, yes, they improve surface quality, but only if you've already squeezed everything you can from the printer mechanics. From everything i've seen, BB is far from the print quality where the actual improvement in surface you'd get from these matters. But would benefit from the lesser noise. Two caveats: 1) you won't be able to use the higher microstepping divisions because RUMBA's atmega is too slow 2) Stealthchop mode is utterly silent (i have a video somewhere, need to dig it up), but not very usable because it greatly reduces torque and increases heat dissipation Back during the kickstarter days, i've recommended using DRV8825 drivers instead of A4988, not just for the acoustics, but because they improve quality as well in most cases. I was laughed out for reasons unknown. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
PS: if you really want to go the whole nine yards, look into buying quality steppers as well. Trinamic steppers (NOT drivers, motors) are optimized for microstepping and produce much more even microstep lengths and torques than typical cheapo Wantai crap. Oriental Motors steppers are very nice too. They both cost an order of magnitude more than the El Cheapos, so - like i've said, whole nine yards.
Something like this: http://www.oriental-motor.co.uk/Pro...+Auflösung&filter2=42+mm&arid=10412&dwn=artnr
Ny wife asked me if the new printer really was this noisy!? So I had to reassure her it was just initially. I turned down the stepperdriver on y to 0.4 and that helped a lot! Will have to see if it is too low. So I have also ordered some Astrosyn like dampers and 6 SilentStepSticks TCM2100. Their wiki has instructions about the config and jumpers. Did not look too difficult to figure out.
Normally the Astrosyn is only needed for the Y because the back panel acts like a loudspeaker. But I wonder if people with a Bowden setup are considering doing something for that back-panel-mounted extruder motor?
Do you have them already or waiting for delivery still? I would be interested in your jumper setup...
Ya I saw the docs but just read it diagonally, a how to would be nice when you got them and up running...
Still unclear if these Sticks are a better choice than the DRV8825 in terms of noise and simplicity of swap in.
I am thinking about to get 2 for the Y and X axes to test them out... about 10€ a piece is a lot and the pre-soldered are out of stock, would have to solder the PINs myself...