Sizzling noise from one SO3 stepper

[zamp]

I've been using my SO3 with the controller powered for a couple of hours so far. It's all been fine until today. Today when I turned it on, it started making a sizzling noise from one Y-axis stepper. It makes the noise whether the USB cable is plugged into a computer or not. It makes the noise whether I'm jogging the y-axis or not.

With the power off, I swapped the two y-axis stepper cables on the controller (but didn't physically swap the steppers themselves) and the sizzling noise moved to the other Y-axis stepper. I'm guessing that means whatever is going on is isolated to a single driver on the controller board. BTW, all driver config switches are set to N23 and 1/8.

In spite of the new sizzling noise, the Carbide Motion app is able to jog all 3 axes, including both the noisy and quiet y-axis motor. I only spent a few minutes checking out the noise as I didn't want to leave the controller powered on if it might be damaging a stepper motor or the controller itself.

Is the sizzling noise something to worry about? If it is, any ideas on how I can troubleshoot this?

If the SO3 assembly section is the wrong place for this question, could a moderator move it to a more appropriate spot?

Thanks for any help with this.

[WillAdams]

I haven’t come across any mentions of the stepper motor driver chips themselves making noise, unless it was just before failure.

Best to contact support @ carbide3d.com and see what they say — they haven’t mentioned a warranty AFAIR, but I’m sure they’ll make this good.

[cvoinescu]

Turn the power off, and switch the N23/N17 switch of the noisy motor back and forth a few times, then return it to its original setting (N23). See if that makes a difference. If it doesn't fix it, I don't know.

[zamp]

Turn the power off, and switch the N23/N17 switch of the noisy motor back and forth a few times, then return it to its original setting (N23). See if that makes a difference. If it doesn't fix it, I don't know.

Thanks, cvoinescu. With the power off, I did that, and then powered it back on. The sizzling noise from the stepper motor is now gone. All stepper motors are now quiet when not moving and all move as they should when commanded.

I haven’t come across any mentions of the stepper motor driver chips themselves making noise, unless it was just before failure.

Best to contact support @ carbide3d.com and see what they say — they haven’t mentioned a warranty AFAIR, but I’m sure they’ll make this good.

The sizzling noise was coming from whatever stepper motor was plugged into the Y2-axis controller port. The noise wasn't coming from the controller board. Fortunately I didn't need to contact Carbide3D as cvoinescu figured out what was wrong (N23/N17 switch needed switching a few times to get it to make good contact). But I've got a good feeling about Carbide3D and think they'd be supportive if I still had a problem.

[rtlflatt]

hmm is that how motors react when ran at n17 instead of n23? or is this from maybe being only partially switched and connected to both n17 and n23 at same time? might be good idea to add this to wiki

[WillAdams]

http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php? ... oldid=9118

[newtothis]

Is this 17/23 switch on the Carbide Motion board or on the actual motor? The post says "on the motor" and that seems odd to me.

[WillAdams]

The switch in question is on the Carbide Motion Control Board --- any reference to motor was intended to describe which switch should be toggled.

[cvoinescu]

Is this 17/23 switch on the Carbide Motion board or on the actual motor? The post says "on the motor" and that seems odd to me.

The post says "of the motor", not "on the motor". The switch is on the board, of course, but there are four of them, all labelled N17/N23, each corresponding to one motor. I told the OP to frob the switch pertaining to the noisy motor, only less verbosely. (I think with the board in front of you, it would have been clear which switch I meant.)