Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[Geoff]

Those of you printing on glass....whats your typical bed temp on ABS.

I have not had a print finish in going on 2 full days now. EVERYTHING pulls off the plate a little ways in. Even tried a few things still saved on the SD card that printed perfectly just few days ago. Even these are curling off the plate.
What the hell is going on here?
I know humidity can effect the material pre-melt, does it also effect adhession to the build plate?

If you are having issues with ABS sticking, use Blue tape with a glue stick (like a kids glue stick, or Bostik Blue stick... anything like that) smeared over the top of it at 110 degrees. Make sure you smear the glue stick immediately before the print, and not at the start of preheat or the glue will dry by then. Make sure if you are using blue tape, you put it over the glass, kapton or whatever when the bed is cold. Press hard, make sure that tape is stuck to the bed.

*Lay your blue tape down on your hot bed with a very small gap in-between each piece. Do not overlap the tape or it will rise during print.

*When you smear the glue stuck - make sure you also go over the cracks in between the pieces of blue tape - this will stop it lifting off the bed also. This is pretty important this part.

*Dry glue is much easier to scrape (with your fingernail even) off a glass bed than something like ABS acetone slurry. Pretty soon you will be buying glue sticks by the dozen.

By the time the second or third layer is being printed, the glue will start to cure and the base layer will be stuck well and truly to the bed, it will not lift off.

[kaznad]

Hi,

I just read through 55 pages of this forum.

I am completely new to 3D printing, It was through my other hobby of flying quadcopters that I got interested in 3D printing. Actually I almost bought a Micro3D printer, thank god I didn't as I would have spent almost as much as getting the Qidi but with much smaller print build.

I have been looking at some reviews of the Qidi printer and some of them say that replacement parts are hard to find for this printer, however I see that the ebay store has quite a handful of spares in their store. Am I missing something here? Or is it some specific spares are hard to source?
Also while the printer is printing does it make the surrounding very hot? If I get it, I plan to put it at a desk next to my gaming PC.

I am still thinking if I should just pull the trigger and get this printer. I am also worried I might not use it much and it would gather dust in my room.

And this forums seem to be full of helpful people, that is really wonderful. If I do get this printer I hope you guys can help me out as well.

[Syd_Khaos]

Hi,

I just read through 55 pages of this forum.

I am completely new to 3D printing, It was through my other hobby of flying quadcopters that I got interested in 3D printing. Actually I almost bought a Micro3D printer, thank god I didn't as I would have spent almost as much as getting the Qidi but with much smaller print build.

I have been looking at some reviews of the Qidi printer and some of them say that replacement parts are hard to find for this printer, however I see that the ebay store has quite a handful of spares in their store. Am I missing something here? Or is it some specific spares are hard to source?
Also while the printer is printing does it make the surrounding very hot? If I get it, I plan to put it at a desk next to my gaming PC.

I am still thinking if I should just pull the trigger and get this printer. I am also worried I might not use it much and it would gather dust in my room.

And this forums seem to be full of helpful people, that is really wonderful. If I do get this printer I hope you guys can help me out as well.

You can order ever part in the machine directly from Qidi, so its actually very easy to get anything you need to fix or maintain the machine.
The machine does throw off some heat, esp if printing higher melting point plastics. Its pretty easy to make a vent hood to deal with the heat though. However I would not suggest setting it up next to a PC, certainly not a gaming PC thats gonna be generating its own fair share of heat to deal with.

I wouldn't worry to much about the machine collecting dust. If anything you should worry about your drones gathering dust once you get a printer....this is not a hobby, its a very deep-rooted addiction.

[sygyzy]

Does anyone have any advice on scrapping items off the build platform in a manner that avoids messing up leveling? For example, sometimes when things are really stuck on the platform, I have to scrape pretty hard, which puts clear flex/stress on the platform. I do this at various heights (I rarely bottom the platform out). Sometimes I can feel the platform lowering and am guessing this is probably not good for the platform or the alignment? Is there some best practice like jogging the platform to the bottom Z position that I am not following? I try to be careful but like I said, sometimes things are really stuck on there. I know I can't be the only one either since you hear stories about people chipping their platforms or even breaking glass.

[dspdrew]

Hi,

I just read through 55 pages of this forum.

I just finished reading all 55 pages too, now that I just go my printer. I ended up getting it for $650 when bidding on it. I was just afraid someone would try to start a bidding war, when there was no need to. Luckily nobody did.

This package was about a million times better than the CTC Bizer III package I received a month ago. It was unbelievable that they were calling it "new". Every part on it was all beat up and thrashed.

Anyway, this printer looks like something I would call brand new, and all the other stuff it comes with makes it a WAY better deal. It only took me a few minutes, and I had this thing printing.

My only complaint is the extremely flimsy build platform. I'm going to do the mod for the rods, which I'm sure helps a little bit. BTW, I was also getting the same wobbling of the build platform that other people have reported. It was happening while printing out that 10 cm cube test print. It acted as if it was laying down a slightly squiggly line, but it doesn't appear to be anything but a straight line. I'm not sure why it kept wobbling so much.

[KludgeGuru]

Does anyone have any advice on scrapping items off the build platform in a manner that avoids messing up leveling? For example, sometimes when things are really stuck on the platform, I have to scrape pretty hard, which puts clear flex/stress on the platform. I do this at various heights (I rarely bottom the platform out). Sometimes I can feel the platform lowering and am guessing this is probably not good for the platform or the alignment? Is there some best practice like jogging the platform to the bottom Z position that I am not following? I try to be careful but like I said, sometimes things are really stuck on there. I know I can't be the only one either since you hear stories about people chipping their platforms or even breaking glass.

I have a removable glass bed with hairspray, so I don't do any part removing inside the machine. Just take out the glass plate and remove the parts from there. I haven't had to level my plate since I installed the glass... maybe 3 weeks ago. If I let the plate cool down to room temperature ABS parts just pop off with slight pressure.

PLA is a little harder to get off but using this Razor blade tool it is still pretty easy.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o01_s00

I've been playing with the Maghold plate with the removable flexible Buildtak surface at work on a Makerbot Replicator 2X. Parts come off easy but printing with the Buildtak surface is a little more challenging. The plastic sticks better to my glass plate at home, I'm thinking of ordering some glass for the Makerbot too.

[dspdrew]

I have a removable glass bed with hairspray, so I don't do any part removing inside the machine. Just take out the glass plate and remove the parts from there. I haven't had to level my plate since I installed the glass... maybe 3 weeks ago. If I let the plate cool down to room temperature ABS parts just pop off with slight pressure.

PLA is a little harder to get off but using this Razor blade tool it is still pretty easy.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o01_s00

I've been playing with the Maghold plate with the removable flexible Buildtak surface at work on a Makerbot Replicator 2X. Parts come off easy but printing with the Buildtak surface is a little more challenging. The plastic sticks better to my glass plate at home, I'm thinking of ordering some glass for the Makerbot too.

Is there any particular reason to use glass thicker than 1/8 inch? I think I would rather take away as little of the build volume as possible.

[KludgeGuru]

My only complaint is the extremely flimsy build platform. I'm going to do the mod for the rods, which I'm sure helps a little bit. BTW, I was also getting the same wobbling of the build platform that other people have reported. It was happening while printing out that 10 cm cube test print. It acted as if it was laying down a slightly squiggly line, but it doesn't appear to be anything but a straight line. I'm not sure why it kept wobbling so much.

After playing with the Makerbot at work here are my biggest two complaints about the Qidi Tech:
1 - Build platform wobble. The Makerbot platform is much more stable. I'm thinking I need to figure out a way to upgrade my Qidi to the thicker rods and a stronger platform.
2 - Fan noise. The fans under the Qidi Tech are very loud. I don't think the Makerbot even has any fans underneath, if it does I can't hear them. I'm going to look into replacing the fans with quieter ones or reduce the fan speed.

Of Course I also have complaints about the Makerbot:
1 - The menu system on the LCD is very slow and when you scroll through the menu it seems to redraw the entire menu which blanks the screen for a fraction of a second... it is very annoying. The LCD and the Sailfish firmware on the Qidi Tech is much better.
2 - The Makerbot spools and the spool holders are annoying. The spools have a front and back, and are wound in different directions depending on the color I guess. I tried to put the black filament on the left but doing that causes the spool to sit about an inch away from the back of the box. I had to put the black filament on the right and then cross the filament to the opposite extruders. (I had to do this because the right extruder is slightly higher than the left and I haven't had time to tear it apart to adjust it yet, so I wanted to print with black filament on the lower extruder)

[KludgeGuru]

Is there any particular reason to use glass thicker than 1/8 inch? I think I would rather take away as little of the build volume as possible.

I prefer the 1/4" glass, I figure it is stronger and I'm less likely to break it. And really do you think the 1/8" build height will make that much of a difference? I haven't had the need to print anything at the maximum build height yet.

Also sygyzy has had a hard time finding a Z-Axis shim that will work for the 1/8" glass... I'm supposed to modify the design of one I made for 1/8" glass but haven't had time yet. Hopefully this weekend.

[dspdrew]

I prefer the 1/4" glass, I figure it is stronger and I'm less likely to break it. And really do you think the 1/8" build height will make that much of a difference? I haven't had the need to print anything at the maximum build height yet.

Also sygyzy has had a hard time finding a Z-Axis shim that will work for the 1/8" glass... I'm supposed to modify the design of one I made for 1/8" glass but haven't had time yet. Hopefully this weekend.

Oh okay cool. Parts are not a problem. I'll just modify them myself.