noise of idle steppermotors

Hello everyone.

Recently I have been building my own 3D printer. While testing my steppermotors (Nema 17, 75oz-in and driver DM420A) I noticed that my steppermotors - while idle - make a lot of noise.
My steppermotors and drivers can handle a voltage ranging from 12 to 36 volt. I am using 24V to power them.
when I start up the power supply for the steppermotors and drivers, the stepper motors make a 50dB whistling noise while idle. Once I power the Ramps 1.4 (repetier) and home the printer, the steppermotors make a 68-70 dB noise while idle.

I have the following questions:
- Is the noise normal?
- Am I damaging something?
- How can I reduce the sound?

Regards,
MrWizz

Are you saying that the motors are rated for 12-36V? If so, there's at least part of your problem. You want motors that are rated for just 3V or so. Don't worry, it's OK to run them from a 24V supply- they work better that way.

How much current are you driving the motor with? What is the rated motor current (and voltage)?

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Singing songs usually happens with too much current for the motors and / or low stepping.
If I run my motors on 1/8 stepping they scream at me, running them at 1/64 stepping and they produce less noise than the moving bearings.

Thank you for your replies. I haven't been able to reply earlier due to holidays.

Quote
the_digital_dentist
Are you saying that the motors are rated for 12-36V? If so, there's at least part of your problem. You want motors that are rated for just 3V or so. Don't worry, it's OK to run them from a 24V supply- they work better that way.

How much current are you driving the motor with? What is the rated motor current (and voltage)?

I have been mistaken. The motors are voltage rated 12V with 0.4A. I am using the DM420A drivers which allows me to set the maximum current to 0.44A peak. The model of motors i'm using is 17HS8630N. The drivers have an option which allows to use only half the current when the motors are idle (which I am using).

I tried using them at 1/16 and 1/32 the difference is only 1dB