Quietest reprap? + Ideas on how to make any reprap quieter?

I'm looking to build a new printer with an eye (or rather an ear) towards noise levels.

I've seen both REALLY loud and quiet prusas, but the quietest printer I have ever seen has been a mendelmax. I think the rigid frame and fewer nut/washer/rod intersections may give for less opportunity for vibrations. I'm probably going to do a few mods to whatever style I choose, but I was wondering if anyone had run into any really quiet printers before.

Also, has anyone done any interesting mods to quiet their machine down? So far, adding rubber feet, tightening and locktite-ing bolts and tuning motor drivers has had the best effect for me. I'm unsure of how bearings / bushings changes noise levels, but I am sure that cheap lm8uus combined with poor quality rod can make for a loud machine.

I haven't seen much discussion of this, but I'm positive that there is a lot of info out there. Let it rip!

Oh yeah, one other interesting discovery is that the table that the printer is on can make as big of a difference as the table. A sturdy, heavy table with a padded top will absorb a TON of vibrations compared to a flimsy plastic fold up table. Fewer vibrations = less noise.

Yes, you can definitely quiet down a noisy machine by changing out the bearings. Even tasty, choice LMUU bearings are going to produce noticeable noise. You can try going to hard anodized aluminum rods and IGUS bushings. I did this for my MendelMax on the X & Z axis and it improved IMMENSELY (~$30 per axis)! You can also look into getting a rail / carriage assembly for the Y axis for a little over $60. These will probably be your best bet (cost wise) in addition to the remedies you suggested above.

Hi there,
How quiet do you want it? The noisiest part of my printer is the fan on the extruder. The general whizzing noise the bearings make don't bother me and aren't really that loud. When setting up I turned the motor pots up until the motors squealed then back them off until they went silent (Gen6 electronics). They don't make any great noise now, just a slight background hum perhaps.

What I did recently was build a simple box around the printer and fitted a removable acrylic front panel. (The box has an extractor fan, ABS printing). When the front door is clicked on you can't hear a think from the printer. It's amazing just watching it working away with no noise from it. Again the only noise now is the cooling fan on the electronics which is outside the box, and the extractor fan when it's on.

I suppose to make a printer quite you need to establish what's making the most noise, and address that first. If you want it completely quite you might consider a box over it is an option.

Is your printer in a room where it would disturb others or be heard elsewhere in the house? Just curious.
Regards,
NumberSix

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[numbersixreprap.blogspot.com]

my biggest advice would be use micro stepping, wow when i first got my Huxley going i tried it with full stepping and all i can say is wow it was louder than i was expecting, with micro stepping over 1/4 its pretty quiet minus fans that is.

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[mike-mack.blogspot.com]

@numberSix,
Yes, my machine is in a big communal room and it makes it hard to watch tv or relax. My lady doesn't really enjoy the motor whine, so any amount of it is tough.

The Igus looks like a good choice. Has the community decided on any specific model? I'm looking at the RJUM-01-10, but I don't know if self aligning matters in this useage. $10 each - wow! I'll definitely be trolling ebay for a cheaper set.

Microstepping? check.

I think some details on your machine would help.

Prusa, Mendel, etc? Modifications?

Linear bearings, bushings, roller bearings (Mendel)...?

Electronics? Microstepping mode?

Noise is hard to pin down unless we can all start measuring it and reporting the noise in standard units.

And as a last resort, turn up the TV volume.

I have a bone stock makergear prusa. It uses "Precision, Self-Aligning, Press-Fit 8mm Bronze Bearings" for the x and y axis. Would switching to igus bearings help? Side note, when people around here say igus XXXX do they mean bushings, bearings, or something else?

I will measure its sound output later this week. If I had to try to explain the noise I would say that the psu fan is about 1/3 the volume of the machine.

One thing that is pretty sure to make noise is that it has a laser cut y carriage. From my experience with makerbots, all of those wooden edges vibrating on each other generally mean noise.

I believe it is set up for 1/16 mode. It uses ramps.

One other thing that I wonder about sometimes is that it has a heated bed with glass on top, held to the plywood bed with binder clips. I took the handles off the binder clps (WOW did that make a difference!) but I wonder if the glass and pcb could be making some noise. I guess a layer of tape on one of the mating sides of the pcb/glass could definitely help me test that theory.

I printed a set of custom feet for my other machine (now sold) that I will definitely re-print for this one. I'm also considering asome kind of rubber mat to put under it.

Oh, the last thing - I'm not printing that crazy fast. 30 or 40mm/sec. Could speeding it up help at all?

I suspect that that plywood y-stage is responsible for most of the noise coming from your printer. On my Mendel and Prusa2, I've noticed that it makes the most noise on y moves compared to the x moves. I think that laser-cut plywood stage is probably resonating with that vibration making it louder. You can try to turn down the stepper motor current by turning the trimpot in the pololu boards to reduce the reference voltage but it might lead to missed steps.

Increasing the print speed from 40 mm will definitely make it even louder.

just to add some info

my reprap (prusa I2) was vibrating a lot (have it on some worktops which are moutned to the walls) and having it upstairs you would hear it like crazy downstairs!

what i did was get some sponge foam (quite stiff sponge) then put some highdensity foam (the stuff you cut with a knife) and put that on top of the sponge.

seems to dampen the vibrations a hell of a lot.

i now print up till around midnight without complaints from family sleeping around 20 feet away in another room (closed door 2 walls)

another thing i used on one was squash balls cut in half on the feet, workes allot better than i thought.

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[mike-mack.blogspot.com]

Here's an update - I greased everything and tightened some loose bolts up. That helped a tiny bit. I moved it from the table to the floor, that helped a LOT. I also have isolated it to mostly the y axis. That is the laser cut axis.

I took wood glue to all of the joints on the y carriage, but I doubted that would work, so I halfheartedly applied it, and I didn't take it apart. Needless to say, it had a minimal effect on vibration.

I had previously neglected to take off the arms from the binder clips. That made a BIG difference when I finally removed them.

I also ordered some aluminum sheets from onlinemetals.com just now. I'm hoping that a lighter, less flexible aluminum bed will resonate far less than the plywood one.

I also switched up some firmware settings and I'm running it at 50mm perimeters. It's still quieter than before, even though it is running faster (but only due to the other changes)

Just in case anyone ends up wanting to make an aluminum bed themselves - I was looking at the one from lulzbot for $25+shipping. I didn't need the tapped holes, so I ended up getting a custom cut 9x9 one from onlinemetals for ~$10. I also got a smaller piece for the bearing mounts, and it ended up at ~20 + shipping. They also gave me a coupon code to share for 5% off - FCF93D

I'm hoping that less mass and lower center of gravity (ie shorter overall) will help the y axis be a little bit tighter as well. Maybe It'll get quieter AND more precise!