We’re assembling new swerve modules to get ready for the 2025 season. Everything regarding this post is brand-new. Students assembled two of the modules at the last build meeting; they were much “crunchier” or “clicky” than the students or I would have expected. (We have not run them, just turning them manually on the bench. They are dry of grease at the moment.)
SDS Mk4i, L2 gearing, Neos. I’m posting without a supporting video because we only meet once per week off-season and that meeting is tomorrow; I’ll grab some video (and hopefully be able to capture the noise on the phone video), but I wanted to start with a quick gut check of whether this is “oh yeah, they all do that; it’s fine” or “no, it should sound pretty smooth, so you’ve made some assembly error somewhere”.
They will sound crunchy and clicky until you give them grease (see this post for info on what to use). Make sure you grease the bevel gears! Those are some of the loudest, and are often left ungreased (they need to be greased).
I’m not sure if this helps, but here’s some GoPro footage from our bot with audio. Other than the shooter, all you can hear are the SDS modules (mk4i L2+). They’re greased, of course, but they can still be quite loud when moving and switching directions.
They shouldn’t sound like a blender full of rocks, but a metallic whir is normal. I second the “ringing” sound too. Once you grease them up, its usually not as bad.