Straight replacement for stepper motors

Discussion in 'Calibration, Help, and Troubleshooting' started by Duncan Chivers, Sep 14, 2018.

  1. Duncan Chivers

    Duncan Chivers Well-Known Member

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    Hi All,

    There are a few threads talking about upgrades to various parts, but I'm just looking for some confirmation of what I'm going to need to just replace the stepper motors on my v1.1 hybrid. The X and Y motors are just really noisy and have become more so over time, the Y axis one is the worst.

    When I got the printer, it was pre-built by E3D rather than a kit, and I got the smaller motors (Nema 17?) being offered at the time.

    What's best to replace with? - can I just swap them out like for like without messing with any settings?

    Any help appreciated as always.

    Thanks,
     
  2. Old_Tafr

    Old_Tafr Well-Known Member

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    Many moons ago there was a vibration damper for the Y axis talked about a lot, but I don't think replacements will make less noise if you are still using the Rumba controller?

    The answer is slightly more complex, especially if you didn't or haven't built a 3D printer or similar before or have that kind of experience?

    Look for all the posts on using a Duet controller, I haven't installed mine yet but every account you read says this is the solution to the noisy motor problem. I'm sure lots of people who have already installed the Duet will confirm this.
     
  3. mhe

    mhe Well-Known Member

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    Most of the noise, especially from the Y axis comes from a combination of drivers and resonance of the frame.

    To make everything signifant quieter, you should switch to Trinamic motor drivers (either by replacing the A4988 ones that the printer came with with TMC2100 or TMC2130) or the board altogether (Duet is the board to go for when replacing Rumba).

    Then you get yourself a motor dampener for the Y axis and it should be a night and day difference. Changing just the motors won't do much.
     
  4. Ephemeris

    Ephemeris Well-Known Member

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    If I recall correctly, the Astrosyn damper for a NEMA 17 stepper is less than $10 USD. Not sure who the best source is in the UK. The consensus seemed to be that it only made much difference on the Y-stepper
     
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  5. Old_Tafr

    Old_Tafr Well-Known Member

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    I think E3D used to sell the damper.

    Goggle or better still duckduckgo.com does a better search of the forum than the built in search engine when looking for this
     
  6. Old_Tafr

    Old_Tafr Well-Known Member

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    Are there any firmware changes needed on the Rumba or are these just a plug in replacement?
     
  7. jfb

    jfb Well-Known Member

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  8. Old_Tafr

    Old_Tafr Well-Known Member

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    A good read. This is the part relevant to firmware....

    " The key to an installation is preparation. The TMC2130s are not plug-in replacements for other steppers. You need to be enabled with firmware and wiring to be in place before they will move the axes at all. Most of the preparation is hardware and firmware that can be done away from the printer - it only takes a minute to replace the old steppers, connect wiring to RUMBA and flash the firmware."
     
  9. mhe

    mhe Well-Known Member

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    The 2100s are, the 2130s feature on-the-fly config change via SPI bus and hence need a bit of extra cabling, Tom did a video about it here:

     
  10. Spoon Unit

    Spoon Unit Well-Known Member

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    I did fit Trinamic drivers on the Rumba prior to the Duet upgrade and they did have a big effect. The Astrosyn damper definitely has an impact, but not as much as the Trinamics.

    It's possible you're just overjuicing them too. The Duet allows you to easily reduce the voltage, but with Rumba Marlin you'd need to recompile code which is a small pain, but not insurmountable. I mention this because you also mention X is noisy and I never recall that being a great concern.

    If you're running on original voltages, no astrosyn, and delivered drivers, that's one noisy machine. After you get done with all that though, you'll end up with a quieter machine and noisy fans; there's also a fair bit of mileage in switching stock fans all over the place and you will again further damp the end result. I think the noisiest thing thing on mine right now is probably a fight between the PSU fan, which I've never read of anyone switching, and the rear exhaust fan which you can actually plug into a PWM output on either Rumba or Duet and tweak it down that way. The Duet runs pretty cool, but the PSU still kicks out a fair bit of heat when everything is running, so you do want to kick that out of the box.
     

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