Hi guyz, being a newbie, I have what I think is "chatter" on the y-axis? I did a search for "chatter" and found a few clues, like that I need to ocasionally clean foam dust from certain areas? I've probably cut a dozen pieces of foam so far. The Y belt seems tight, but the Y axis chatters even when I'm not cutting anything, I'm just jogging the axis. And on that note too, it seems like there are a lot of pieces to remove to get at the Y stepper motor, let me know if that's not true and there are easier ways to access it, especially when you need to tighten up the Y belt, etc. Finally, related to this, for the newbie and probably for experienced guys, it would be cool to have a general maintenence list for the machines if one does not exists already, ie, like cleaning and checking common problems and areas to keep clean.
I have not experienced this issue but, I 'm thinking you may have not gotten all the glue off of the surface of the rods inlayed for the Y gantry track. You should be able to move the gantry side to side (slowly) without any power to check for glue obstructions on the track. If that is good you will have to look at the stepper for pulley issues, slippage or misalignment comes to mind. Another place to double check would be the fit of the Z gantry onto the Y track, for lack of a better way to describe it at the moment. I had a little bit of issue getting all the play out of the rollers at first. Using the leverage method I eventually got a zero slop fit to the Y & Z rollers/rails. I'm still thinking residual glue is likely the issue. Make sure you eliminate that as a possibility before you start tearing down the machine.
May be glue, but it's been smooth sailing for about a month up until yesterday. I will check the Z Gantry on the Y track, because I had a tear down recently too about a drive roller issue, and the machine was tilted on it's back, so it could be really related to that.
Well, the more I look at it, it just feels like the Y axis has more distinct feeling of being less "smooth" or like "more segmented" running than the x. It may not be "chatter" at all. When I run it back and forward by hand with machine off, it feels smoother than with machine on and jogging it. Don't know if it's an issue or not.
Had more of it explained to me from a guy at work about stepper motors. Seems like the y stepper's microsteps are less than the x stepper and z stepper.
OK, does your issue show in cut quality or more of a chatter sound during jogging? If it's more of a sound thing during jogging and not effecting your cut quality, I would say that's some what normal for the equipment. On occassion, when jogging the machine I hear stepper noise that might be considered "chatter". If we are on the same page with those descriptions - those sounds are normal. Herky-Jerky actions would not be normal stepper functions.
I think we are on the same page. Sounds like it's more of a sound issue, although I can "feel a little herky-jerky" when I slightly touch the gantry during jogging. But I would say it seems to be not affecting quality of the cut at this point.
Make sure your Y/Z gantry bearings are fitting tightly on the Y axis rail. I had an issue similar to yours when I built my MK II and it was because I hadn't gotten the bearings tight enough against the rail.
