Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[cncartist]

Just received my QiDi 3d Printer. What's cuasing these horid prints? (sloppy, muddy, melty looking).

PLA Makerbot filament.
Temp 220C
Bed temp 40C
Leveled the best I could using printer paper and nozzle making some "slight resistance" But I've seen some people using thicker card stock?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y3OKlTpn5I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZUALDNIUoM

Attachment 9492

Very cool and welcome!

Without seeing settings and knowing what slicer you are using we are shooting in the dark.

Can you share further detailed information about how you produced the g-code for this print, and what the thing is you are trying to print?

[Syd_Khaos]

Just received my QiDi 3d Printer. What's cuasing these horid prints? (sloppy, muddy, melty looking).

PLA Makerbot filament.
Temp 220C
Bed temp 40C
Leveled the best I could using printer paper and nozzle making some "slight resistance" But I've seen some people using thicker card stock?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y3OKlTpn5I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZUALDNIUoM

Attachment 9492

First off, welcome to the Qidi club =P

I have never printed with Makerbot brand filament, but I know that 220c is WAY to hot for all the brand PLA I have used. PLA is VERY heat sensetive due to how viscious it becomes when melted. It's this higher viscosity that makes PLA ideal for artistic/fine detail applications, but it can be a double edged blade so to speak.
Try running your nozzle temp at 190-200c. For the PLA I have used (Qidi, MakerGeeks, and OrbPolymer) the sweet spot seems to be in the mid 190s. The picture you have provided is case n point your running to hot.
Also make sure your running the active cooling fan for PLA, though I typically dont start that till 2nd layer.
If your using paper to level your plate your best off using standard stock business card, but your ALOT better off going to Lowe's or Home Depot and spending the $5 on a set of metric Feeler Gauges. Make sure the set has a 0.4mm slat, and use this to level. The issue with any type of paper is it can fray at the edge, leading to a false reading.

What slicing software do ya use?

[JSensebe]

Has anyone tried pushing the QIDI below its specified minimum layer height? I've stumbled upon a blog post where a guy claimed he got the Flashforge Creator Pro (essentially the same machine) down to 0.05mm.

[JSensebe]

If your using paper to level your plate your best off using standard stock business card, but your ALOT better off going to Lowe's or Home Depot and spending the $5 on a set of metric Feeler Gauges. Make sure the set has a 0.4mm slat, and use this to level. The issue with any type of paper is it can fray at the edge, leading to a false reading.

The beauty of having a 3D printer is, once you do the initial leveling, you can print a 0.4mm slat. You don't even need to model it; just scale a calibration cube to the right size.

[vbx]

Very cool and welcome!

Without seeing settings and knowing what slicer you are using we are shooting in the dark.

Can you share further detailed information about how you produced the g-code for this print, and what the thing is you are trying to print?

Using Makerbot slicer with the default PLA setting. This is an artificial knee I rendered in MAYA and exported as an STI. I changed the temp to 220c because that is what QIDI tech support recommended.

I'll drop it to 200c and re-level the bed with a business card and see what happens.

I already printed this at my campus using Makerbot and it came out decent.

Trying to pull off a 2 color version with the QiDi dual extruder.

[vbx]

First off, welcome to the Qidi club =P

I have never printed with Makerbot brand filament, but I know that 220c is WAY to hot for all the brand PLA I have used. PLA is VERY heat sensetive due to how viscious it becomes when melted. It's this higher viscosity that makes PLA ideal for artistic/fine detail applications, but it can be a double edged blade so to speak.
Try running your nozzle temp at 190-200c. For the PLA I have used (Qidi, MakerGeeks, and OrbPolymer) the sweet spot seems to be in the mid 190s. The picture you have provided is case n point your running to hot.
Also make sure your running the active cooling fan for PLA, though I typically dont start that till 2nd layer.
If your using paper to level your plate your best off using standard stock business card, but your ALOT better off going to Lowe's or Home Depot and spending the $5 on a set of metric Feeler Gauges. Make sure the set has a 0.4mm slat, and use this to level. The issue with any type of paper is it can fray at the edge, leading to a false reading.

What slicing software do ya use?

Turn the Cooling fan on? The stupid bed sticker on the QIDI printer says when using PLA, turn cooling fan off! As stated earlier, I'm using makerbot.

[Syd_Khaos]

Turn the Cooling fan on? The stupid bed sticker on the QIDI printer says when using PLA, turn cooling fan off! As stated earlier, I'm using makerbot.

They also say the best bed temp for PLA is 40c....
Qidi makes decent printers, far as I know they are not a print shop as well. If you have technical issues call Qidi, if you need help with print settings and such your better off asking other makers on forums like this.

I run most PLA prints with the cooling at 100% from layer 2 on. It really helps the material set in place fast where it should be.

Honestly I don't use PLA unless its something that NEEDS to be PLA to come out right. 90% of my machines runtime it's printing ABS.
For something like a prosthetic knee (or anything else for that matter) your gonna want more rigidity and impact tolerance than PLA will provide. For this you wanna look at higher grade ABS, or some nylon, though I don't think you can print that with stock setup.

[cncartist]

Thanks for the information, I still have to try out dual extrusion myself. I agree with the others that you should try with the bed temp at ~40c and extruder temps 190-200c for PLA.

[Syd_Khaos]

Thanks for the information, I still have to try out dual extrusion myself. I agree with the others that you should try with the bed temp at ~40c and extruder temps 190-200c for PLA.

I have to run my bed at 60-70c for PLA...and still often have curling issues.
Printing in high humidity is a real pain in the rear at times....

[cncartist]

I have to run my bed at 60-70c for PLA...and still often have curling issues.
Printing in high humidity is a real pain in the rear at times....

Interesting, what humidity are you experiencing? Based on my sensors, the humidity in the enclosed space is consistently 15-17% while printing and 42-48% when normalized.

This is while printing ABS with a 110c build plate and 230c extruder.