Thumping sound on power-on

Community Support
1

Hi,

This has been the case since I got the GF, but I thought I should check if it’s “normal”? Here’s a video of it https://photos.app.goo.gl/KjaJhU4JSGprr2oT6 (taken about 10-15 seconds after power on). It’s quite a lot louder IRL than the video makes it seem.

I can’t tell if this is a stepper skipping… my CNC mill has bigger steppers but they sound quite different when they skip. I’ve seen other videos and descriptions on the forum that look a lot more serious (i.e. you can see the head shaking).

If it is normal, would be great to get this added to the manual / faq / troubleshooting.

Thanks

2

It might be a little louder than mine but it’s normal. The series of rapid clicks is the head lens stepper motor doing a calibration, and the last louder click is when the gantry motors energize.

2 Likes
3

That doesn’t sound normal to me… mine clicks, but doesn’t have the loud thunk at the end.

1 Like
4

I should clarify also that the machine seems to work just fine, and I don’t have any problems with dimensional accuracy.

5

Haha, so it was the repeating thump noise (that @ChristyM and @rpegg refer to as clicks) that I was worried about. The thunk at the end sounds exactly like the gantry steppers (my mill makes the same sound).

Glowforge - sounds like this is normal, can you please add it to the manual/faq? Just some sort of description of “what power on sounds / looks like” would be really useful.

1 Like
6

I think there’s something similar available already in The Matrix. :slight_smile:

1 Like
7

One other thumping sound I encountered on my PRU was if you get a blob of stuff on the X-rail where the roller engages, when it moves the head to the center to “scan” a job it bumped the head off it’s magnets and then snapped back. I now clean that rail every time I clean the mirrors/lenses just to prevent that ever occurring again.

4 Likes
8

One person’s click is another person’s thump. Glad it’s nothing to worry about!

I had the benefit of using the maker space GF for a few months first, so I had a good idea of what it should sound/look like.

2 Likes
9

My does that same thing. The thud you hear is the tension being places the x y axis motors.

1 Like
10

Thank you all for chiming in!

@jim.mussared I’m so sorry the noise worried you.

I watched the video and I didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. I appreciate your suggestion, and I’ve passed it on to the team.

2 Likes