This topic contains 9 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by 
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Good morning from the noobiest noob. Actually I have some two plus years experience with the Solidoodle printer. Which is why I so appreciate the beauty and engineering of the Robox. I consider myself a designer as much as an inventor and as such, I’ll offer a couple thoughts based on my very first impressions running the machine.
If your inspiration is an Apple-like product then perhaps you might want to consider a bit of sound management in the next version. Some nice rubber (or Sorbothane) dampers and maybe PlastiDip or foam coating on the inner panels to knock down the clunky sound of the carriage running around. Perhaps a quieter fan or a sound baffle for it would be good too.
A front-mounted power switch would be nice. Oh, and that 200x200x200 build platform (s0rry).
But, I LOVE my Robox!
Kent
Damn Solid DesignI don’t know why are you really pushing for 200mm x 200mm x 200mm platform? It, kind of, doesn’t make any sense.
If yo had said 350mm x 250mm x 225mm - that would make sense. Increasing Robox for just a few cm at each direction isn’t going to do it. As it is at the moment it covers nicely ‘medium’ parts. (almost like a A4 printer). Next size is closer to the double. (A4 -> A3-ish). Wouldn’t you agree? 🙂
BTW Rubber dumpers (as feet) were already discussed and there were a few people who claim it reduced noise quite a bit…
There’s a few times some extra height would definately have been useful. Even just a couple.
I would also like it to be quieter, but having tried putting dampers under the feet i dont think it makes a difference. The whole box seems to act a bit like a guitar body and amplifies the noise. My feeling is that the stepper motors need some isolation from the chassis, and/or the drivers need microstepping if not already implimented.
I might try and paint/spray on some plastidip on some of the removable panels. Good idea kent. It shouldnt be too tough and might help. It also peels off cleanly if needed.
I have three printers and have tried all of the above solutions - rubber feet, rubber sheets under the printer, sound dampening sheets on the metal faces, rubber between the stepper motors, etc. The problem is that the resonant frequencies that are created during printing are not within the ability of most dampening systems to remove.
The majority of sound comes from three sources - Stepper harmonics, fans, and bearings. There are some printers that shipped with a poor fit between the x and Y linear rails and the bearings. I am not sure which part is to blame, but I have seen this in several printers. They rattle during printing. There are a few printers, older units, that have been assembled with extra clearance between the bed mounts and the bed bearings. It is an easy fix, but you have to be really careful if you do it, so if you find that your bed can be rattled by hand without moving the belt, open a support ticket to see if this may apply to you.
Some X carriage bearings have similar fit problems. Once the bearings and shafts are matched, the printer gets a lot quieter. Proper lubrication helps eliminate squealing and cleaning the top bar also helps eliminate squealing. Look for excess wear on your X and Y rails; you may have a failed bearing carving a path in the rod.
With all three of my printers running, I get a sound measurement of 60-64 dB at 24 inches from the midpoint between the three of them. This will spike during rapids. For some reason, the speed that infill and support material is generated causes a large amount of resonance in the printer. I haven’t played with the infill and support material speeds, but I suspect a change of 5 mm/s may solve this noise source without affecting print quality.
I am also experimenting with a nylon damper that could be installed on the X and Y axis to help with any vibration, but I haven’t gotten very far with my experiments due to time requirements and the need to keep the tolerances very tight on the printed parts. If I come up with something I will share it.
Printing with PLA will cause the ambient fan to turn on high. This makes a huge noise difference. Changing out the fan with an expensive quiet unit helped a lot. The electronics fan also got changed and made a difference. The fans I bought were 25.00 each, but since I sit right next to my printers all day it was worth it.
Not much you can do about stepper harmonics except enjoy their song. There are some new drivers out that help, but from what I hear, they loose so much torque they aren’t much good when run under load at the quiet setting. My understanding of stepper harmonics is that the sound is actually waste energy from the electromagnetics operating in the motor and can’t really be changed except by smoothing the signal, which is what these new drivers do.
You may also want to put your printer on a table with mass. I noticed that when I moved my printers to a hardwood plywood cabinet, the noise went up. I may add some granite tiles to the tops of the cabinet shelves to reduce the noise.
I operate two Betas and one Production Robox.
See my 3D Hub site at https://www.3dhubs.com/phoenix/hubs/ben@bhudson thats a lot to take in, thanks for taking the time.
Can i just check? My bed does have some play in it. Predominantly on the right hand side away from the y axis belt. In other words it can twist slightly around the z axis. Maybe like 0.5degrees worth, but you can definately feel it.
Would you suggest that this is not normal and should be raised as a ticket?
It also lifts up and down by a few mm(again on the right hand side(when looking at it)), but i think thats normal right?.
@hagster The bed should not move around the Z axis. You should open a ticket, though nothing may come of it. Ask if they have removed the fiber washers from the bed mount. If they have, you are looking at a bad bearing match.
The lift on the right side is normal.
I operate two Betas and one Production Robox.
See my 3D Hub site at https://www.3dhubs.com/phoenix/hubs/benThanks again. I will raise a ticket for it, but unless there is a simple fix i will probably wait until the DM upgrade is on general release (im not allowed to use pre orders) then do the full service/upgrade pack and get it fully fettled.
Its actually been printing some astonishingly detailed stuff today(cant share sorry) so its clearly not having a massive impact.
@bhudson Thanks for the write up. I am in the process of making corner cabinet to suite all my printers (most of them normal 2d printers 😉 ). One of the things is to make an hole through the wall for ventilation of the cabinet (with an extraction fan which is supposed to be on when printer is on). I was, kind of, hoping that enclosing printer (and putting it on rubber feet) would dump the sound a bit. Even if that means I need to soundproof insides of the shelf printer is going to be standing on.
My study is a small cubic room with wood floor, wood desks and a piano so is perfect for reverb unfortunately.
I put a big encyclopaedia (3-5kg of dense paper) on top of my Robox at home when I need it quieter. Seems to soak up some vibration.
Ha. Now have another reason why I am making my corner with same timber as stud walls (38x63mm timber) - so it can have big concrete patio slab on top where Robox is going to sit! Thanks for sharing!
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