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Power Supply Fan Whine

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Echoshard, Jul 4, 2017.

  1. Echoshard

    Echoshard New Member

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    It's been printing for 24 hours with no issues.
     
  2. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Cool. Do continue to give feedback, I'm tempted to do the same (or add a voltage reg to slow it down a lot so there's still SOME airflow but much less noise).
     
  3. jwmueller

    jwmueller Active Member

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    I have some other higher quality power bricks laying around not getting any use, so I might order in the connector and play around. Once I move the machine into the shop I won't care, but since it has been sitting on the kitchen tables I am getting the evil stare... ;) Current power supply is louder than the printer.
     
  4. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Pretty sure that on the R2 we could actually put a decent standard PSU inside the printer.
     
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  5. jwmueller

    jwmueller Active Member

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    So true, there is plenty of empty space down in the bottom of the printer. Even a Prusa Meanwell supply would fit with some space left over. If they would just allow me to keep a machine I would play around with this idea, it is a good one. I don't think cooling would be much of an issue.
     
  6. Echoshard

    Echoshard New Member

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    I have printing for over a week without the fan. It seems as long as I don't draw too much power it seems to be running fine.

    I am printing PLA 195c with a 60 C bed. the power supply is only at 44c
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    You can always replace the fan :)
    I would lean on them for a new power supply.
     
  8. Echoshard

    Echoshard New Member

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    I already did they don't have any in stock they can send me.
     
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    So... Make sure they do when they get them.
     
  10. Seamus

    Seamus Member

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    My fan quit entirely sometime about a week or two ago.
    I already had it suspended vertically in order to minimize the amount of vibrational noise, so it's been relying on convection for cooling since then.
    I have an outstanding pre-order for a new supply when they come in, but no word on an actual ETA.
     
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  11. Seamus

    Seamus Member

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    My replacement power supply arrived today, so that means it's...... <studio audience> Autopsy time! </audience>

    Short version: The original supply can be salvaged, but it's got some really sketchy build details, and the fan was broken at the factory before it went into the case. The replacement power supply appears to be of better quality.

    *** *** ***
    Four #2 philips screws under the little plastic feet in the corners, top lifts off (plastic power LED lens falls on the floor), to reveal the guts. Points for easy opening.
    First look reveals a separated cold joint connecting the shield to ground - probably knocked loose by the factory-recommended "percussive maintenance", but it wouldn't have broken free if it hadn't been a cold joint to begin with. Fortunately, there's a good solder joint on the other end.
    Unwrapping the shield, it becomes evident from the wrinkled plastic sticker on the fan that this thing has seen some heat in the process of failing. This isn't terribly surprising, as the fan's rotor is frozen. Not just slow or draggy - frozen to the point that it requires a deliberate amount of positive pressure to move the rotor, and there's no way that the motor is ever going to move on its own anymore.
    Popping it free from its moorings (glued in with a large amount of silicone goo), it's now obvious why the fan always sounded unbalanced, and made a ton of noise from day one: four of the fan's five blades are broken. Snapped. No trace of the blade pieces inside the power supply enclosure or among the components on the board, and the vent holes are way too small to have allowed the missing pieces to pass. This fan was broken before it went into the case.
    Well, that's that part of the mystery solved; the next step is to assess the state of the rest of the unit, to see how I'm going to approach re-casing it.
    Looks like a decent amount of isolation on the high-voltage side, with spark gaps and isolation slots, leading to...ummm.... the cold joints on the varistor, common-mode choke, and one corner of the heat sink/shield, which isn't even connected. The other three corners have good joints, but since this is a single-layer board, and the cold joint is on the only corner that actually connects electrically to the ground connection on the power jack, power supply grounding is intermittent at best. The glaring elephant in the room, however, is the bridge rectifier, sitting at an attractively jaunty angle of about 30 degrees to the surface of the circuitboard. Seriously - it's not even seated on the board. It abuts the heat sink, but is not connected, so no real reason why it would be raked over like that.
    Technically, nothing failed other than the fan. I'm sure that the cold joints and wonky component placement isn't an issue in every unit, and is probably attributable to a "bad day in quality control". The cold joints can be reflowed, and the fan replaced with a large silent case fan and modified heat sink that will keep everything cool without the noise and vibration of the stock unit (my replacement unit runs quieter, but still imparts a certain amount of motor vibration to the desktop).
    It'll come back, once I address these issues, and it'll be better than before.
    In the meantime, the replacement power supply seems to be working just fine.
     

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  12. JeffreyB

    JeffreyB Member

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    Wow! That is really bad QA. Robo better get a grip on this and fast! I'm waiting on some bad reviews to start coming in, bent rods, noisy power supplies, scratched doors, ringing in the prints, etc...
     
  13. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Robo doesn't usually send out "review" units and most people that have a bad experience (I think a study showed 8 out of 10) dont leave reviews, they just wont go back. I do know of 2 "youtube" reviewers that have units so may see something from them. Hard telling.
     
  14. Seamus

    Seamus Member

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    To be fair:
    This was all just in the original power supply that came with the unit. It's certainly just an off-the-shelf, white-label unit that Robo3D bought a bunch of to go with their units, and not something that they designed and built themselves. We have similar power supplies, with identical output ratings and output plugs, powering equipment in the data center at work, and I think it's the same sort of standard supply that at least one brand of game console is using. They just chose an initial supplier that maybe has some sketchy quality control. My replacement unit - apparently from a different manufacturer, though I haven't really given it a thorough going-over since getting it and plugging it in - has been ticking along like a champ.

    Bent rods, shipping related issues, etc. are more directly under Robo3D's control, and are definitely something that they should address (and apparently _are_ addressing); the issues with my original power supply, though numerous and glaring, really just boil down to an unfortunate choice of supplier for a ready-to-use part.
     
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  15. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    All manufacturing unfortunately.
     
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  16. Echoshard

    Echoshard New Member

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    So some good news if any of you saw the 3D Printing Nerds video they have a new power supply!



    At 8 mins 38 Seconds
     
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  17. sgomes

    sgomes Active Member

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    It's somewhat frustrating that they talk to one YouTuber about this, rather than reach out to their actual customers, on the official forum they set up. I know the folks here would love to prototype the fan shroud that he also talks about, for example. And they actually paid for their machines :-/
     
  18. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Ping him, he may post it.
     
  19. JeffreyB

    JeffreyB Member

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    OK Braydon, I'd like the redesigned fan shroud, the redesigned bed, the fan less power supply and most importantly new STRAIGHT rods I ordered in June! Thank You! And yes I realize he doesn't necessarily read these posts... ;-)
     
  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yea, he doesn't come on here :)
    Try facebook: https://www.facebook.com/braydonmoreno
     

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