3D Printer stepper motor mod 

For anyone who is concerned with the loss of torque by disassembling their motors, don't be. This does NOT apply to the hybrid stepper motors that we use in our 3D printers. Here's a video that debunks this myth: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-A4WZm45XJ84.html

I was following your instructions but I took my stepper motor apart and now I can't glue it back together because I can't print the stir stick, because my stepper motor is tore apart...

My magnets came apart, and I had to do this twice. Make sure the N and S magnets are out of phase when you goue them back together. Also, I really had a tough time getting the glue to break and I scratched up the magnets a bit. It's performing fine, and since it was basically scrap, I'm happy I did it. Thanks for the tut.

You sound very similar to Dave from EEVblog

Thank you Tech2C for this video. I have been able to swap the lead screws in a couple of ANYCUBIC/Aliexpress integrated lead screw stepper motors. I used hot water to soften the adhesive and held the magnets in the wood-lined jaws of a vice rather than in multigrip/water pump pliers but otherwise the method was the same.

I just took my stepper motor apart about 4 times trying to fix it. I traced the problem to it's connector - it was wired wrong. Now it is working great. I am just proving the point that taking the stepper motor apart doesn't affect it's performance. The rumor about demagnetizing it is a bunch of BS. And thanks to Tech2C for great videos and designs. Keep them coming PLEASE!

Rather than using channel locks and vise grips and potentially messing something up, try submerging the end of the shaft with the rotor into a jar of acetone for a couple hours. It will most likely allow you to easily unscrew the rotor with little effort.

Hey man, I love your channel. You show people how they can achieve so many DIY projects with just ordinary knowledge. You make the impossible look simple. You turn the 'black box' designs of items into a see-through part. I hope you will always keep on producing such interesting videos.

How's this mod holding up? I've found that those those super fast cure 2 part epoxies tend to be very brittle. The faster the curing, the more brittle it is. Curious if the heat and vibration has caused any issues for yah.

Hopefully, reversing the order of the two plastic washers won't have adversely affected the operation of the motors... There now appears to be a gap between the lower ball bearing and the bearing seat - so once a load is put on the screw, you may find the motor doesn't rotate correctly. (edit: just checked and there was a gap to start with - so maybe it won't be a problem).

Thanks Tech2C! I have exactly the problem you had - ebay seller put two nema 17 with lead screws in a plastic bag with no padding whatsoever! God they must get some boomerangs. Some sellers put a bit of plastic pipe over the lead screws this is the smart way of doing things. I am going to build your Hypercube soon - you get really nice petg prints on yours! Love your channel mate! :)

doing this with smooth rod could create a very interesting quadrap/ultimaker style mechanic driven directly by the motors, no belts connecting the motors and the turning rods. might just try it for my next build

Actually two screwdrivers will do a great help in bearings removal. Just like a wing corkscrew) Force from one side makes an axial bias and produce a lot of friction.

Loosing Torque by screwing with your stepper motor......I've been reading the comments and realizing now I've heard it all... Here's my experience.... I have disassembled modified and reassembled MANY steppers as I used to salvage them from printers, drives, copy machines.... The answer is, some did some didn't. I can't tell you which were more of a problem and which weren't but I have torn apart and successfully rebuilt- bipolar AND unipolar drives. Whatever I did to mess up some and not others is a mystery. I didn't​ start having problems until someone told me it was possible to screw them up and I started being careful. I would have sworn when he dropped it on the table to knock out the threaded rod it was done for, and again when he used them as refrigerator magnets.... I don't mess with them anymore. I have ruined maybe 1 out of 4 or 5??? Now I either take them as I get them out of other things or I buy them the way I need them. I've never found a way to "recover" one, but I have kept all the reassembled drives put together and in a good sized box in the hope I could fix them some day. I have swapped bearings in a couple of very expensive drives and when doing so didn't remove the magnets from the housings. I also have found banging on them seems to ruin most of them. I press out shafts and bearings. I did mess up one drive that I bought new and had a timing pulley already on it I had to remove. I was careful but firm when I drove it off by holding the pulley and hitting the spindle with a dead blow hammer and punch. It turned so smooth after that you couldn't feel the steps at all....

You can replace the screw with a larger diameter one, if you make sure the end of it, will fit through the motor hole. (but it will be harder to mount, if you need to glue it). You can do this, in a lathe, if required. It would also be nicer to break the glue bond chemically, instead of brute forcing it.

thanks buddy this is a great demonstration of how it all works in there. its easy to get threaded rods and stuff and motors but the motors with the threaded rods all cost more and all this sorta stuff and i just wanna be able to change em out. thanks dude i appreciate it

@Tech2C be honest with me... did this motor even run (let alone turn) after doing this? Steppers are built with such an incredible high tolerance. I attempted this with a NEMA 17 motor that I wanted a length of the screw sticking out of the top of the motor (for a knob). Using the same spec screw, I made the longer shaft & reassembled it. The shaft would not even turn in spite of going together very nicely with just the right amount of press-fit (or so it would seem). The original screw had a few radial serrations where it pressed into the stator. Apparently the lack of them in the replacement screw was enough to cause an issue. Once reassembled with the original screw, it did run after much messing around with it, but it just wasn't the same. Turning it by hand you could feel where it would 'catch' occasionally. This of course translated into lost steps when running. It also had much lower holding torque. So, in spite of a screw swap seeming to be a fairly straightforward modification, it just doesn't work unless you happen to be extremely lucky, or extremely skilled in stepper motor disassembly.

thanks for giving me the courage to take a hammer to my only stepper, in the end it worked out lol

Just did this on my old z motor but didn't use cardboard to protect the magnetic rotor. I will on the new one when I have to switch out the lead screw for a longer one. Good tip!

I wouldn´t be concerned with loosing torque just from taking it apart and back again but if you do this be careful with the bearings and don´t pry them off with a screwdriver, there are tools that remove them without damaging them. Also get the washers right, they arent the same. I would also make sure you put the magnet on the same way as it was from the beginning ie. north and south.

Fantastic tutorial, thank you so much. I've been eagerly waiting for this, ever since you mentioned it on a previous video. I didn't realise how simple it would be.

Did int even know you can change those... Always just assumed they were welded in place or something... Good to know...

After seeing this I have ordered some SFU1204 ball screws with custom machining to fit my steppers. Wish me luck :)

Good tutorial! Thanks. My motor was sticking in one spot. I was able to open it up and clean out some accumulated dust and debris using this. It seems to be spinning smoothly now.

I am now just thinking would there be a benefit to having a second motor on the same lead, like adding torque to the top and bottom of the Z axis?

Instead of mutigrips, I would recommend a strap wrench. Perhaps apply a little heat to the glue joint. Cheers.

thank you. did just put a 500mm long steel shaft 5mm thick in one. stuck with red lockite, works great.

Best to align the magnet on the threaded rod before the glue sets or your rod at the opposite end will wobble

nice video! did you happen to get any insights into the machineability of the rotor? ie, could it be machined? bored out? Drilled out?

My stepper motor lead screws are attached with a coupling , the shafts in all my stepper motor's are about 160 mm with a flat spot that the coupling attaches to then the lead screw just attaches to the coupling with a grub screw .... the coupling is meant to break in the event of a jam and with absorb a minor out of alignment .

Thank you very much ! The shaft on my motor was unglued for a unknown reason... I was wondering why my z-axis was always out of sync, then I realized that I can manually rotate the shaft of the motor (without feeling magnets), when the motor is supposed to be blocked.

lots of comments about using heat to take the rotor off the shaft. too much heat will damage the magnets, stick with hot water. also if you do not use a high temperature epoxy then this will fail when if ever your stepper gets really hot. The ball screw I used when trying this was 0.001 in. smaller that the shaft the stepper came with. additionally the shaft had crimp marks on it possibly to make the bearings and rotor snug and centered. I was not able to recreate this crimping perfectly. my rotor rubbed on the stator because it was not centered perfectly. I put it on my lathe with a high speed grinder and straightened the rotor enough for it to work. However I have to think this will not function 100%

Is the bearing inside a 698zz bearing?

Hi, nice video, do you think we can take a normal motor with standard axe and integrate a lead screw? to better and easier to buy a native motor with already integrate lead screw? thanks you

sware you've been binge watching tjhunt with that music xD

It seems like you are having a bit more fun with editing your videos. :P

Always note the thickness of your SPACER WASHERS,they center the rotor to the field windings. he reversed his on reassembly.

Creative video, well done, thanks for sharing it :)

Next time, heat the shaft with heat gun on both sides beginning with short side and apply gentle rotating pressure. Use leather between component and channel locks and vice jaws. That way, you're not harming either component. The melting temperature of the glue is well bellow the temperatures needed to harm the magnet.

Have to take a look at the insides of a couple of steppers now. As my i3 uses 5x.50 threaded rod for it's z axis, I'm wondering if I can pull the 5mm smooth drive shaft out of one, and epoxy in a 5mm threaded rod in it's place. And yes, that's going to require validating that the 5mm threaded rod I consider check out as true first, and not be damaged in the process, but I was thinking of that as a given. Also going to have to come up with knurled grips of some sort to allow me to fine tune each axis independently. Perhaps a g2 drive pulley....

my stator just separated into a bunch of pieces, i don't get why

I've got my parts for the frame coming in the mail, going with black extrusion and painting the brackets blue. Cant wait. But Banggood takes over a month to ship to the US, so..

Great instructions! Even better cliffhanger!

Dear Tech2C, just for the sake of using correct terms: the 2K epoxy resin is not "drying". It is "set". You know, glues with a volatile solvent, they are drying: the solvent evaporates, and what remains is the gluing agent between the two parts to be glued. Epoxy resins are so-called thermosetting polymers, hence they will set or cure, not dry. Keep up posting!

I can't get enough of your videos I would love to replace my printrbot metal plus motors with these and advice or should i

Fascinating that you call them "Vice Grips" in Australia too. We do in America too but there is always the one who has to point out they are locking jaw pliers and blah blah... xD

soaking the lead screw magnet in boiling water will soften the epoxy.

Is the flange on the back end of the motor adjustable for preloading the bearings? It looks like an adjustable part, the part with the two opposed small holes. Looks like you could use a spanner type wrench to adjust.

I'm planning to mount a motor in the middle of a smooth rod, to reduce a set of pulleys, so I would get a direct drive. I'm thinking of filing the rod to get better adhesion. Would regular two-part epoxy be good enough or should I use JB Weld?

Stick with a standard nematode 17 and coupler. That way you can change lead screws easier and if you want to go longer it’s also a good idea to increase the diameter. No need for a new stepper motor

Hi. question. i know this is an old video... im working on building a printer, and i have motors id like to use for the z axis, but they are not the type that have the leadscrews integrated in the rotor, like these in the video... ive looked for replacement rotors that have an 8mm hole, to no avail.. am i able to drive out the 5mm shaft, and use lathe to open up the center hole, to 8mm? will this affect the torque of the motor, or mess with the magnetics? is this possible, to create integrated leadscrew rotors for these motors, by modifying the existing rotors?

I just did this to use longer lead screws for my hypercube and now the torque is now super low . It won't raise or lower the bed under load. Any recommendations? They each rotate freely unpowered.

Would like to add. Clean rod & inside magnet with acetone before reglueing. And a question: Does it matter what side of the magnet goes on first?

Gotta love the 3D printed "stick". Forget this fancy unbent lead screw WE GOT PLASTIC STICKS!!!!!!

you really have to print a stick.lmao

Do you know if any places sell just the rotor magnet so I can convert some motors I currently have? I only have one set of motors like this but I need more than that and I would rather not buy a whole motor if I dont have to.

Thank you for the clear instruction. It is good to learn new things. However,, I use Flashforge Creator, and I've been having problem with bent lead screw too. I tried to replace the lead screw, but it's impossible. I chipped both the lead screw and the magnet pretty bad, and they are still not separated. I just have to get the new motor. This could have saved me like $90. Just didn't work for me. So, I gotta say, "Do it at your own risk. if you own flashforge, don't."

Very interesting and straightforward video. I don't wish to be alarmist, but I have always been told not to disassemble a stepper motor, as the rotor will partially de-magnetize and the motor will not produce the rated torque ever again. I do not know this to be fact, so I will just throw that out as a caveat. This has the potential to fall into "wives tale" territory, so maybe someone with actual knowledge on the subject can weigh in. Perhaps some rough testing of torque between modified and non-modified motors might be useful. I have tested torque using an inch-pound torque wrench on a suitable nut (actually two nuts jammed together) with the motors energized to measure roughly the stall torque. This would be an easy test to compare two motors to see if any substantial deterioration occurs because of disassembly, and could put the issue to rest. But please do not consider this a criticism- I found the video very instructive and applicable to my current situation.

A smoothrod in a stepper motor can be used for a ultimaker style printer, this removes the need of a belts

I wonder if you could attach a nut to the rotor instead of the rod, for the motor to be part or the carriage being the one sliding up and down over a rod fixed to the frame. I think this may reduce the need to hace couplers to deal with the bend the rod may have when spinning: if the rod is fixed, then the only lateral movement to decouple wold be the one from the motor itself, but since the rod is fixed this shouldn't result on a wobble at the peace of one time per whole spin, but it would happen smoothly along the entire rod height. A spinning rod bent in the middle would transmit a wobble even to its base affecting the print quality from the very bottom up, while the same rod, when fixed, shouldn't affect the print quality but perhaps up to the height in which the bend becomes noticeable, and then the strain over a coupler for the motor would be negligible since the period of wobbling would be just one per a displacement over the entire rod. Does this makes sense?

if you just cut the lead screws and leave the part inside the motor as it you could save a lot of your time. and keep the motor safe of any damage.

I used your instructions, not the magnets are 2 parts glued together but mine came lose, now I have 2 halves :-( how is the alignments? just next to each other ?

This video made me laugh more than any other you've done! I like it!

Where do I get such a seppermotor, because your link for it is dead , because this opens a huge variety of possibilities🤔. There are printer constructions out there where they use two Nemas and e long shaft to move a gate with this you could place just a strong one in the center of the long shaft simplifying the construction a lot. 😏

Does the rotor magnet have to go back in the same way you took it out.

i replaced the shaft in my nema14 guys and now they make horrible noises and vibrate differently when its at a certain angle. i wish i ran these things first before i changed the shaft. i think i may have damaged the teeth. it might have been when i had em in the vice and whacked on the rod to remove it.

I think you swapped positions of the washers and one is thicker than the other.

Hello , I needed to know if you as manufacturers of electric stepper motors, what materials in your sheets do you use? are: Do you laminate silicon steel sheets? (Yes: 5Fe)? other sheet metal materials? silicon sheet steel? SID-ELE1? And I don't know what thickness maybe? Thank you so much

Or 3d print an adaptor so the stator can ride on the leadscrew that way the motor body is the z axis and the leadscrew is fixed to the frame.

Hello, an question, What , Wich is the name of the white Plastic (meaby not an Slot Cell Insert), of the Stepper Motor? Min 0:06 , because i need to google it and find it, material? Is it a plastic inyection? Thanks

Have you printed a threadless leadscrew nut for your smooth rod stepper yet?

taking apart the stepper motor is not a good idea.. you might result with some torque lost. When you decouple the magnet from the housing, you mess up the magnetic field. To re magnetize it, you will need a special machine. Not saying your stepper wont work anymore.. but chance is you will end up with a less efficient stepper motor. Keep this in mind

Hi, I suggest heating the magnet and lead screw to about 200*C to break down the glue bond. this works great for both epoxy and super glue. I do not feel that at this temperature the magnetism of the magnet would alter

Hi! would have loved to see it working in the end. Did it still work?

What size bearings are found for that, I'm presuming 8mm Acme lead screw?

You switch the washers around? Could this effect the motor? Original 4:00 After 11:28

You have to use a tool so called bearing /pulley remover to maintain your bearing and axle persuasion.

Possibly a dumb question here, but in order to do this kind of a conversion, you have to have a lead screw stepper in the first place so the inner diameter is 8mm, this conversion is not possible with a 5mm shaft stepper correct?

In answer your question; call the smooth shaft a drive shaft. Now what could we do with that?

I'm confused u don't line the lead screw up u just shoved it in and glue it That is not gonna be straight

Wow, magic. Now turn one into a non-captive version. ;)

Ehhh.... "Soak in acetone for 12 hours before trying to twist your rotor magnet off the rod" is missing from this video. Damaging that rotor magnet in any way is going to be at least as bad as having a bent rod. Acetone can weaken epoxy, if only very slightly, which can save yourself some headache. It might be worth while to experiment with some different solvents, but I do see that might only have limited results.

Smooth rod coming out of the motor to drive an axis using 3 808 bearings at 23.5 deg angle in a aluminum frame. This concept is used in larger scale cnc machines, wherein large long lead screw setup's would be impractical.

Can I modify my 5mm shaft stepper motors by drilling it on a lathe to acommodate the 8mm shaft ? Same goes for the upper and lower bearings which would need to be machined to easily slot in 608zz bearings.

Can i change the shaft from 5mm to 8mm?

Is it possible to spin the leadscrew manually when the leadscrew is in the motor ? I mean spin it with your hand. Thank you for your video

Wonderfull, i love the style of this Video, had some good loughs. So if i want to build my HC with 200mm Z Hight, i ll need the 400mm Leadscrew? So i will need 400mm Extrusions for the Z Axis, 390mm Smooth rods, and a 400mm Lead screw? Btw wouldnt the build still profit of a dual Z Motor setup?

I found I couldn't get enough grip without damaging the teeth, so I sat the cog thing on top of a vice with the diddle thing pointing down & hit it with a hammer. Bang! Came out. The motor I have has internal teeth that resist turning

how can run this motor without driver. i am use this motor for another project. so how can run only in power supply 12v in

Use Heat to make the glue tacky before removing shaft (warning excessive head will lower the strength of your magnet, so don't go insane heating it up) I'm sure someone will have already said this, but just hope to make the comment more visible.

Actually I was planning standart nema17 5mm shaft replace with t5 leadscrew.

Long lead screws are a problem with high speeds. Bent or not. a long lead screw starts to wobble. The solution is to turn the nut with the stepper motor instead of using it to turn the screw.

Smoothrod can be used for a threadless ballscrew witch removes all backlash --> www.thingiverse.com/thing:112718.

Thank you dear, that was very helpful..

great trick, will do it once my new motor arrives ps what a nice residence you must live in.. with a estimated rental value of 1700 USD a month: to say it borat style "nice, I like!!" ;)

love the mod mate

You swapped the nylon washers

good tut. how about a self build delta printer someday? ;)

You can probably break down the glue with a heat gun and make this process much easier.

Did you slow down the printer to make that stick?, I thought you print faster than that.