You made me do this…

3D printer ringing is a tricky problem to hunt down and fix - can your wacky suggestions after my last attempts improve them?

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[euandykes]

Try removing the sand blocks from the moving parts. Keep them on the non-moving parts.

[iAmTheSquidThing]

There's an amazing technique called "Motion Amplification" which uses special cameras and DSP to visually exaggerate imperceptible movements in video. It's used largely for identifying sources of resonance in structures and industrial machinery. I'd be fascinated to see it used on a 3D printer. I predict the main source of resonance is the belts.

[tachywubdub]

Not documenting "failures" is a huge problem in the medical industry b/c peeps don't want to embarrass themselves. Props to you for posting this. It helps inspire new hypotheses to come and still makes good content 👌

[ADBBuild]

In the machine tool world, "epoxy granite" is used to fill machine frames to increase rigidity and dampening ability. It's basically just epoxy resin and sand. What the epoxy adds is it connects the mass of the sand to the structure, making it one. The aluminum extrusion with sand in it will ring nearly as much as without the sand as the sand is able to just move and allow the aluminum to move (ring).

[roderik]

I still feel like the sand in the frame might marginally helps, but adding the "sand containers" to all of the moving parts really just serves to add weight and increase the problems.

[AlexanderGee]

Those sand containers are a great solution. Did you try adding the sand only to the static portions of the frame?

[truantray]

FYI: I put a FDM printer on a $20K active dampening vibration table we use for laser alignment and it made no difference. I think the issue is amplitude and frequency is not consistent.
What about hanging the printer from a pivot point, with a mass dampener at the other end of the pivot point? A sort of Foucalt's pendulum with a mass dampener.

[HeyPatch]

I’ve put my printer on a square of *memory foam* . Using tick square of plywood on top so the printer doesn’t just sink into the memory foam. It works great & definitely makes the printer quieter.

[galoheredia]

The sand on a rapid-moving part was totally a mistake on my opinion. Getting down the rabit hole you could try with some mineral oil, like the ones that are inside car/bike suspensions...?

[FilamentStories]

Tom, this is such a great video! No meaningful results are still results, just as you said. Only you would build a Suspensorium Love it! I'm chasing resonance reduction as well and would be interested in how different belts affect things. You are both thorough and entertaining and it is always a pleasure watching your videos.

[Dwonis]

Lol, you seemed so tired & disappointed by the end of the video, but you make a good point that even the failures are useful information! This has taught me that if I want to deal with vibration, I'm better off putting my time into brushing up on my old engineering courses rather than on messy, half-baked quick-fixes. Thanks for that!

[creative_stwb]

Another great video Tom.
This is just a collection of thoughts.
Sand alone isn't great at dampening. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Solution Epoxy "Granit" (a with Epoxy damped mixture of sand that is filled and compresses in forms or extrusions to minimize resonances and vibrations on Professional Machines like Kern cnc mills)
Weight alone helps a bit but Weight and a Dampener works great. I would love to see the printer mounted to the paver and than placed on a 2 to 5 inch think piece of upholstery foam.
Oh and i think stifer belts will make a noticabal difrence (steel cored belts, heard that there are some out there in the wild)

Keep up the great work and i cant wait to see the next episode in this series and the escalation that it could bring with it.

[francisduvivier]

Hmm, makes sense that you shouldn't put weight on the moving parts. So I'd try the same sand setup but excluding the print bed since it's moving quickly and weighting it gives more inertia so a higher probability of skips.

[flyingcadet]

I would recommend removing the sand from the print bed. Then, run the tests again: With Feet, without feet, and then suspended.

This series is great, and your willingness to be honest is appreciated.

[ailivac]

tuned mass damper are also commonly used in skyscrapers to absorb vibrations from swaying in the wind. there's one in Taiwan where the architects famously decided to make it a tourist attraction - instead of tucking a concrete block away in some utility room they made the main damper a large shiny decorated sphere hanging in the middle of a big atrium.

[jasonbyars]

Thank you for going through everything that didn't work. I've been really curious about sand on smaller machines. I'd love to see a video on the different belts. If you could please have one cheaper belt case using an old piece belt that would be great. I honestly wonder about my belts every time I see ringing.

[trevorrichert]

Love your honesty one of the reasons why we come to you you always keep it honest so we all don't go out to the store and buy lumber and try to make what you made lol I can only imagine how many people be trying to pull out their hair cuz they couldn't get what you have thanks again for keeping it honest and real

[urufushinjiro]

Or you could try Input Shaper, I sure hope that's where this is going, try a bunch of physical solutions, show they don't really work, then show the absolute magic of Input Shaper tuned with an ADXL.

[haenselundgretel]

Wow!
I really thank you soooo much for showing all this and still be so sympathetic! Cheers a lot!

[doogssmee]

Yes definitely do a video on the belts please Since I starting playing around with 3d printing and my velleman k8200 many years ago you have taught me so much, and are normally the go to videos when I have a problem or just want to improve something. Keep them coming and hope to see you around for many more years to come
THANK YOU Tom