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Hiwin Bearing Failure???

Anyone else have a premature Hiwin bearing failure? I haven't disassembled it yet. The printer, pre assembled, arrived a few days ago and began running thru the normal tests: Esteps, probe offset, flow calibration, temp tower, fan tower, retraction tower etc. during the retraction tower I noticed some substantial grinding in the Y axis movements. It sounds like a Hiwin rail bearing failure, I took two videos, both of manual and stepper induced Y axis movement. There is definitely a binding in movement which can be seen and heard in the video. No visible Hiwin rail scarring or signs of wear present.

Any insight from the hive mind before I tear her apart? This is my first Core XY so I thought I would ask before jumping the gun.

Side note, anyone else have a preassembled unit with a lot of electrical tape for cable management? Initial prints on the list are definitely cable management guide covers before the tape gets all sticky in a 50C+ chamber environment.

Manual Movement

https://photos.app.goo.gl/s59pXtQH6FeBik759

5 comments

5 Comments

Jeremiah Wennermark

Jun 09, 2022

Greasing resolved the issue. Thanks for the insight!

Robin Benford

Jun 05, 2022

The bearing definitely need a little lubrication. After that their fine.

Matteo Gennari

Jun 05, 2022

Had same problem, Y axis grinding which caused shifts during prints, pre-assembled ofc. Solved using huuuuge amount of grease on the rails and moving the axis by hand a few times to remove excesses. Now prints and moves smooth. ATM I have only one problem left with the pre-assembled: fumes fan won't start by M106 P2 command. Is yours working?

Jeremiah Wennermark

Jun 05, 2022

Replying to

Did you have to disassemble the rail to pack it with greese? Or just added more and more on the rail and moving the bearing back and forth on the rail.

Regarding the fan, most of the time yes, I haven't used the printer much, but a few times it would not start. I then sent M107 P2 to turn it off, then tried to turn it back on with no luck in those instances. I then power cycled the printer and it worked on the next request. This was all from the terminal, I thought about writing a g.code that turned it on and off a dozen times with pauses in between to see if it worked more consistently when commanded via SD card code.

Another side note, does your left side hot end thermistor cable touch the camera/bracket during x,y axis homing? Mine does just a little bit, not enough to bend it, but over many prints possibly a concern to cause premature wear.

Another side note, does you hot end primary cable bundle drag the back half of the printer bed during movements towards the front half?

Matteo Gennari

Jun 05, 2022

Replying to

@Jeremiah Wennermark haven't disassembled, just "fingered" (lol) with grase the rails, both sides. That's important cause I noticed that greasing only one side is not enough. It's a bit tricky to do on the hidden side, but if you don't have very big fingers it's doable, there's enough space between the rail and the enclosure. Then, when fully greased, I started moving by hand back and forth the bearings until i felt movement was smooth.

Unfortunately my fan won't start nor from terminal nor from gcode command. Thinking about disassemble it and test, but it's too hot there days...guess I'll do it the first rainy day.

As for cables, mines are not colliding the camera and the hot end ones don't drag the bed.