Answered Silent Robo3D

You may have to adapt the firmware. I have not looked into it in any depth, but it will be a consideration.

 

If you want silent go with SLA or DLP as they make almost no sound at all.

The shutter moving is a tiny click and the Z axis is the only stepper (and it moves slow).

 

There are several factors that go into the noise from many 3D printer designs, one of the least significant factors is stepper noise. From my personal experience I would rank them in this order

1. Fan Noise
2. Bearing Noise
3. Stepper Noise

Replacing fans with low volume versions is not always practical so we will just have to accept some noise there, But you can add fans or increase their size in key locations to make them less noisy.

Bearing noise can be mitigated with either plastic bushing/bearing, such as IGUS and their counterparts or with bronze bushings. Both offer considerable noise reduction in the X and Y axes and much less in the very slow moving Z axis.

While going to a 1/32 stepper or a TI based stepper driver might lower the overall noise of stepper motors used in our application, I think you will find that it is one of those things that will give you just a decibel or two and really should be the last resort if quieting the machine is the primary reason for switching them.

One very effective way to quiet the machine is to place it in an enclosure. Someone on here posted a thread that modified an IKEA Lack table (the Lack table is truly a universal resource ) to make it an enclosure. I don't recall how far he got with the project.

Personally I have replaced the fans, but the need to properly cool the electronics and printer itself did not produce enough results. The bushing/bearing upgrade did make a significant dent in the sound output and I would heartily recommend it. I have not addressed stepper noise nor considered an enclosure.

 

There are bearings on the X and Y rails*.
They are not silent by any stretch. You can buy quieter LM8UU bearings, but they are (IMHO) crazy expensive and the other alternatives are not.

I suspect this is the thread you want to read:

http://community.robo3d.com/index.php?threads/x-axis-bearing-upgrade.7207/



*technically two on the smooth rods for the Z as well

 

Yea, the bearings are not close to quiet.
I did some hunting and there are better ones available, but they are expensive and frankly... there are better things to spend the money on. The alternatives @WheresWaldo used are a better cost-benefit.

 

Hey, I'm all about ROI!

 

I swapped the cheapos out for much better quality ones on one of the units a while back. Did it help? Yea, but not like night/day.
The only good side-effect is that those are much better bearings and less likely to fail.

 

@Oisin both of my threads have short videos demonstrating the post installation noise from basically the bearings only.

 

I am telling you honestly, most of that noise is fan, what you hear as whine is the bearings. But it is your machine, replace the drivers then record a video and let all of us judge whether it really made any difference. Some people are more sensitive to higher pitched noises, but that usually diminishes with age.

I omitted a step when I did my mod, even though I know for a fact that the noise level is lower, I should have recorded a video using my sound level meter to 'prove' it. Stupid of me since the internet is so cynical of any claims.

Here is a video that shows the typical noise reduction between LM8UU and Bronze bushings.

 

Even the 'good' LM8UU bearings are still metal bearings and make an appreciable amount of noise. The more the merrier

 

I like the noise lol sounds terrible but that's how I keep tabs on the robo while I run my 2nd table on the end table next to me in the living room lol when the noise stops either 1. Robo Print is done or 2. Crap! What happened!?

 

Still too loud if you have a family. You can get the Robo to beep if you have an LCD smart controller, when it is finished printing.
M300: Play beep sound