Tricklaser stepper motor dampers

[int2str]

I recently bought a set of the cork stepper motor dampers from Tricklaser to be installed in my ORION.

Has anybody retrofitted dampers on their Rostock/ORION before?

Seems a bit of a daunting tasks, with a high likelyhood of messing up a perfectly aligned printer. Any thoughts on what might be the least invasive method for this?

Thanks!

[int2str]

I had hoped Tricklaser would chime in and offer some advice, but I couldn't wait and soldiered on....

Here's the state of my ORION at the moment:

Two out of three dampers are on. Let me cut to the chase:
If you own an ORION, this is NOT worth it. Buy some earplugs at Home Depot instead

The good news is that the stepper motors can be removed without relieving belt tension first and they pop right back in with no real effect on belt tension or tower alignment. But you'll have to remove the power supply & Rambo for sure, cutting cable ties etc. in the process. Even then, one of the stepper motor screws (on each motor) is very hard to reach. It's a huge pain in the butt.

I've only performed a quick test so far with one of the motors and also have to say that I don't think it makes a lot of difference. Most of the noise seems to be coming from the stepper frequencies and not so much wood resonance.

Oh well. At least now people will know - cork dampers are not useful for the ORION.

[enggmaug]

You should wait until you installed all 3 dampers, I believe.

I recently installed dampers on my RMax, and I also tried to install them one by one. You won't realize how well it works untill you install all 3 dampers.

I don't know about these cork dampers, but I installed dampers that look like the ones discussed in this thread : http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2608

The RMax is really quiet now.

[lordbinky]

The rubber dampers in that thread worked GREAT. To further reduce noise I clamped my R-Max to the table it's on with cork layers between it and the table (I think 3 layers). It also improved printer stability at high speeds.

[GeraldO]

I purchased a set of those dampers and am eagerly awaiting assembly of my RMAX. I had an MBI Replicator before and it was loud as heck: made Skype and printing a real PITA :p

That being said, there's a lot going on when it comes to damping out vibrations and noise in stepper motors. I threw this topic out to the Vancouver Hack Space and they came back with some really interesting resources to help wrap your head around what stepper vibrations really are and how best to combat it.

Check it out!

http://xylotex.netfirms.com/OSCommerce/ ... onance.php
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/stepper_m ... post249645

[bvandiepenbos]

Hello In2str,
yes, installing the sound dampners on a Orion is more work than a MAX because everything is so tightly packed in there.
The dampners where designed for the MAX, but since Orion uses the same steppers and mounting method it should work fine.
One thing to check after installed is that the motor does not touch the outer cover panel which could cause noise. If it does touch just grind out a pocket for clearance on inside of cover. ( a dremel tool works well )
Make sure to use the longer allen head screws we supply and the cork washers with metal washer.
I hope it all goes well putting it all back together.
If you have any issues or questions don't hesitate to ask.
Please post back your results, I think you will like how much quieter your machine will be. It sure helps on the MAX.