Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[Syd_Khaos]

Does it help to power the machine off, crank the plate closer to the carrige, then power on and try to level?

No matter what I do I cant seem to get the plate closer that 1mm to the nozzle.

I just want to print lol!!

[rcleav]

Couldn't hurt
Under utilities on the front panel is home axis which should home all 3 axis's

[mtnride]

Strange. I emailed their eBay store and they said that all printers as of two weeks ago come with 7.8 and the fan. So, I have to wonder why they are now selling it what in their mind is a defective firmware? Probably growing pains of some sort...

[Syd_Khaos]

To me it seems like the relay (with the little red light) for Z axis is mounted to low.

I have restarted the utilitys leveling so many times, have powered off the machine, have tried hand cranking the plate up. I am 100% out of adjustment room with the hardware in question.
No matter what I do the plate is never less than 1.25mm away from nozzle.

I contacted Qidi, they said to watch the video on the SD card, that is telling me exactly what the vid just posted in this thread said.

[rcleav]

Are you sure you have the extruder assy is screwed down tight to the carriage.
Besides the build plate adjustment that is the only thing that can effect the nozzle height above the build plate
The z axis limit switch is hard mounted and not adjustable and why a z-axis shim is needed when you use a glass plate.

[Syd_Khaos]

Are you sure you have the extruder assy is screwed down tight to the carriage.
Besides the build plate adjustment that is the only thing that can effect the nozzle height above the build plate
The z axis limit switch is hard mounted and not adjustable and why a z-axis shim is needed when you use a glass plate.

It seemed to be seated properly to me. I will take it back apart and double check.

This gap is bad enough I could almost crank the plate as low to its carriage as it will go and fit the glass in...no shim.

edit:
Everything is fit together, seated, and bolted properly.
Does the machine have a hard reset button?....I cant think of anything else.
Starting to get rather discouraged.

[rcleav]

Use the Home axis menu selection then take a picture of the inside from the front and post it here.

[Syd_Khaos]

I got the buildplate JUST close enough to want to try a print.

Filament loaded fine (i think, how long do you let it pull when loading?) both nozzles and the bed seem to heat fine in preheat menu.
Tried to print 20mm cube from S3D and soon as it starts everything just starts to cool down. It sits there and does nothing.

Gimme a few for the pic, wife just getting in from work.

edit:
I just noticed that S3D makes 2 files when exporting a slice to SDcard. One file is the .x3g, and the other is a gcode file. Does it grab the coresponding gcode file when a .x3g file is selected for print?
The build plate is showing a temp of 100c too, but its not turned on, has not been at all.

[rcleav]

You the .x3g for your printer.

[KludgeGuru]

I first started printing directly from the PC via the USB cable. After that was working I changed to using the SD Card. I had my computer go to sleep which paused the print and created a small blob on the model. Luckily I caught it in time and the head was only stationary for 30 seconds or so.

Syd_Khaos, maybe you should try printing from USB. Also I've been copying both the .code and .x3g files to the SD card.

I tried a print last night using both extruders. The Simplify3D software creates this interesting shell around the parts that is used to prime the extruder when changing between the two extruders. It helps to keep all the blobs and stuff on the shell instead of on the part. It did a good job. This was printed with PLA which took about 6 hours... I was brave and went to bed after an hour into it. Was glad to see everything worked out this morning.

20160226_054752.jpg

20160226_054926.jpg

I have had a problem with the small fan on the underside of the printer. Sometimes the blades start to hit the fan housing causing a loud sound. I was able to bang on the fan a little and get it to stop but eventually it started up again. It is probably a cheap fan and I'm thinking of replacing it.