Y-axis rattle

[Larry]

(First time posting, though I’ve monitored the forum frequently since completing an M2 kit a few months back. I’m always impressed with the level of knowledge and helpfulness of the folks here, so I’m hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction).

Briefly, I’ve noted an increasing level of ‘rattling’ or ‘buzzing’ associated with y-axis movements on my machine, something I didn’t observe during the initial several weeks of use. (I run the machine nominally 10-20 hrs/week, so it’s got maybe 100-200 total hours on it now). I'll also note a similar rattle as I move the bed back and forth, though to a much lesser degree than while printing. I’ve checked things over on the bed and extruder and everything appears tight.

I haven’t noted much discussion of this on the forum, but searching around indicates this type of noise seems to be commonly caused by bearing problems, so I’m beginning to focus in on the possibility of the y-axis carriage as the source of the rattle. (I haven’t noted any impact on print quality, it’s mainly an irritating sound, suggesting maybe something is starting to go south).

Anyway, before I go too much further down this path, disassembling and replacing things, I wanted to toss out my thoughts to the forum for a sanity check and to see if there are perhaps any suggestions for other things I might look into or try to isolate this problem.

[PcS]

How bout a video of noise ? or at the very least some an audio clip ? It would be helpful.

[Larry]

Ok, it's looking like perhaps a false alarm. As I was setting up a print to try to capture the rattle, I noted that the screw for one of the rear bed corners was quite loose. (I'm not sure how many times I've checked over the various extruder and bed fasteners, and simply missed this .. quite embarrassing). I tightened it up, and haven't noted the issue again yet.

So, at this point I need to stand down and continue to observe. Will report again (with a video) if I note anything, but hopefully this one is closed.