I finally got all of the pieces to my xcarve and have everything assembled, im an in the process of doing test cuts and the machine is machine some funky noises (almost music), everything seems to be working well, but these noises are worrying me. seems to be coming from the steppers. Are my belts too tight? What else might be the cause? Thank You
I think steppers make a kind of musical hum almost kind of like hard drive motors do…
This is actually pretty normal. It is more pronounced since the steppers are connected to hunks of metal. Basically if it sounds similar to music from an old 8-Bit game then I would say it’s normal anyway…
The below link is not from an X-CARVE, but it does demonstrate the principle.
This occurs because stepper motors are multi-pole motors that are being driven by switching these poles on/ off at varying rates. The varying frequencies that the poles are being switched on/ off cause resonance in the motor itself and hence everything it is connected to. The faster the stepper poles are switch on/ off the higher the pitch of the sound produced. This makes the X-CARVE a nice megaphone and your ears get to enjoy it.
This type of thing actually surrounds you everywhere you go…
The next time you’re near a decent sized pad-mounted transformer just lean over and enjoy the 60 Hz hum…
{:0)
Brandon
Thank you for all of the quick responses, I was honestly enjoying the noise just wanted to make sure I didn’t mess something up.
I have seen this before. Long before I bought my x-carve.
I just don’t want to use my system for making music.
The first time I had seen something like this is with old Floppy drives.
Some guy hooked up several to make music. They use similar motors.
yup,there’s nothing wrong.
Mine does it too and its music to my ears.
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