Z axis motor struggling

I've been meanign to replace the z motor gears for a little while now as the zaxis has become fairly noisy.

I just did a print which totally bodged up because halfway through the zaxis stopped moving upward but carried on printing.

So I've just changed to Iamburny's lovely herring bone gears, seem to work great.

but it turns out the issue wasnt the gears... instead the motor really struggles lifting the X-Axis upwards..
it just makes a really loud noise (very similar to Jim Carrey's most annoying sound in the world).

if i help spin the Zaxis thread even a tiny amount it sorts the issue for about 2-3 seconds...

has this happened to anyone else? anyfixes or is the motor buggered?

... sorry just solved this myself... WD40...

I have been struggling with the same problem - like a lot of others. The noise you hear is the motor skipping steps.

There has been several posts about the threaded rod and nut wearing out. When they wear out, the nut begins to stick to the rod causing the motor to skip steps. My problems began before the first kilo of filament was printed.

I have replaced the rod with an A4 stainless steel rod and the nut with a long brass-nut - bought from ebay after a tip in this forum. It works very well.

You should definitely lubricate the rod. Anything will work on the rod. For the plastic-gears I would use a non-oil/petrolium based product - like silicone oil (used big-time in RC-cars). WD40 might not be the best as it might leave a sticky surface over time.

Best regards,

Carsten

+1 on that fix, long brass nut from eBay and 3-in-1 oil is better than WD which leaves a nasty residue when dry.

I am still using the original thread though as I fitted the new nut when it was all still new, steel nut on steel thread is very bad.

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Another RS Ormerod Mk1 meets the world

Retired now but I used to make....
CNC Machined Mk1 aluminium bed support plates for the Ormerod
CNC machined X-plates and ribs for Mk1 & Mk2 Ormerods
CNC machined bed support arms for the Mk2 Ormerod.
Dual Hot-End heatsink blocks.

I have gone a little further and ordered some stainless steel threaded bar to go with the brass nut. But 3in1 oil deffinately made a big difference for the steel on steel.

Just as reminder the suppliers in this post supply a long (12.5mm) brass nut and there is also a link for 12" SS threaded rod which seems at a reasonable price.
[forums.reprap.org]

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Ormerod #007 (shaken but not stirred!)

PTFE spray lube fixed my noisy/slipping Z drive and dries to leave a slippy surface that does not attract dirt etc. After a few hours of printing before i lubed it, the threaded bar had a very sharp feel to it and there was a lot of Metal dust below the bar. I will have to replace it with a new bar/nut.