Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

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Originally Posted by DarkAlchemist

Agreed. Honestly, I saw this printer originally and after all I have found out this is at most a 400 dollar machine delivered. The only thing it has going for it is the all metal housing. People will think otherwise but for the money this machine costs I could make one hell of a 3d printer myself in the fashion of a RepRap or wander over to OpenBuilds and make one of those and save a few pennies. basically this is really an over priced machine for what it is. I am not saying it is a horrible printer I am just saying their "Engineers" need to go back to school.

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I have to disagree with you.
This is a good $700 printer as is and really only needs the removable glass build plate.
From what I've printed with it out of the box with very minimal tweaking it blows most I3 kits away in quality of print.
A CTC is a good $400 printer. I have one that has been updated with Qidi Tech parts.
A Flashforge is a good $1000 printer
If you need something bigger and badder you will have to spend more money or wait for Qidi Techs $1000 machine.
Sorry but you really need to try one before criticizing it.

That is 1/3 the price of a Creator Pro, I don't think it is that inferior. The metal sides, front and back aren't really that much difference. I actually am not sure which I like better. The Plastic or the metal... Both adequately stabilize the machine frame. Metal is probably a little heavier, but could have some more panel resonance than the plastic.

The Z axis mounts just need a little better plastic, and 10mm rods at mininum. There is no real need for the bottom mount to have those big cups. I guess at one point a Makerbot Rep 1 may have had a bearing that went down into that cup. It isn't needed any more.

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Originally Posted by DarkAlchemist

Agreed. Honestly, I saw this printer originally and after all I have found out this is at most a 400 dollar machine delivered. The only thing it has going for it is the all metal housing. People will think otherwise but for the money this machine costs I could make one hell of a 3d printer myself in the fashion of a RepRap or wander over to OpenBuilds and make one of those and save a few pennies. basically this is really an over priced machine for what it is. I am not saying it is a horrible printer I am just saying their "Engineers" need to go back to school.

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Originally Posted by jfkansas

If you reprint your top bracket and bottom bracket with the holes spaced .1mm (total or each side) wider than stock you might be able to preload some slack out of the bearings.

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That's a good idea. I will try that. Thanks! Of course that means another dissassembly... Ugh.

haha ya, at leas you should be getting good at it. It isn't that bad. all 4 sides off then take the top side screws out, except for the front. And of course take the screws out of the Z stage. It just needs to be loose enough to flex the top so you can pop the Z stage out.

I don't know how much you should move the rods out. Maybe start .05mm per side? That should take most of the play out.

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Originally Posted by KludgeGuru

That's a good idea. I will try that. Thanks! Of course that means another dissassembly... Ugh.

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Originally Posted by rcleav

I have to disagree with you.
This is a good $700 printer as is and really only needs the removable glass build plate.
From what I've printed with it out of the box with very minimal tweaking it blows most I3 kits away in quality of print.
A CTC is a good $400 printer. I have one that has been updated with Qidi Tech parts.
A Flashforge is a good $1000 printer
If you need something bigger and badder you will have to spend more money or wait for Qidi Techs $1000 machine.
Sorry but you really need to try one before criticizing it.

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When fan boys attack and I wondered who would be first, no offense.

Fact is I am so sick and tired of people apologizing for inferior printers. We get that with the repraps and people say "you can't expect much for 350 dollars" and we nod. Now we are getting that with a finished printer and "we can't expect much for 630 delivered"? I am not going to nod at that and I have to disagree because, as I said earlier, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for them to have went to 8mm smooth rods when I buy them in single lot I can buy a 10mm for the same freaking price as an 8mm. Seriously, there isn't if their engineers are worth a darn.

That is all I am saying as the rest of the printer I don't have any issues with but when something so simple can so easily be overlooked, or dumbed down for some imaginary pricing point, I must question everything from that company. Now this smaller printer they have about to come out I can say 8mm rods would be fine (like on a tiny boy) but you watch this company will still be using 8mm smooth rods on this newer bigger printer. Not good on the current model and sure in the sheets will not be for the future larger one by even more.

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Originally Posted by jfkansas

That is 1/3 the price of a Creator Pro, I don't think it is that inferior.
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Not saying the printer is bad by a long shot just saying this one decision is a lousy one and as far as price on Amazon it is $699 delivered whereas the Creator Pro is $999 delivered so not as much difference as one would hope anymore.

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Originally Posted by DarkAlchemist

Not saying the printer is bad by a long shot just saying this one decision is a lousy one and as far as price on Amazon it is $699 delivered whereas the Creator Pro is $999 delivered so not as much difference as one would hope anymore.

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Yep agreed now that the Creator pro is lower. You throw in $200 in upgrades on a qidi and you might as well bought a FF. I think the price will go back up on the FF when they start running their 2016 model though. Not a fan boy here for qidi, I just don't think they are all that bad. They do have a bunch of nice goodies in their packaging. Spare stepper driver, spare nozzles. A little tool kit, cables, and a few other little odds and ends. Cheap stuff when you think about it, but still nice to have a few spares.

Do yall use active cooling for PETG?

I didn't for the one big print I have used petg for, but it was rather basic tbh.

edit:
Got my stuff from MakerGeeks.
Was 2 rolls of ABS, one Pure Bone (a nice off-white) the other Its a Beaut Brown, a very nice dark chocolate color.
My suprise grab for $20 was a roll of PETG in a color called HD Green Glass, a very vibrant grass green shade.

Running the first bit of it now (the Pure Bone) and got to say, really looking good.

Gotta say, was a bit held back buying material and not knowing the color....that's how ya wind up with 1000grams of neon pink so ugly you wouldn't wipe yer bum with it let alone print with it....but really happy with what I got.

Nope. Nope.

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Originally Posted by Syd_Khaos

Do yall use active cooling for PETG?

I didn't for the one big print I have used petg for, but it was rather basic tbh.

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Originally Posted by jfkansas

Yep agreed now that the Creator pro is lower. You throw in $200 in upgrades on a qidi and you might as well bought a FF. I think the price will go back up on the FF when they start running their 2016 model though. Not a fan boy here for qidi, I just don't think they are all that bad. They do have a bunch of nice goodies in their packaging. Spare stepper driver, spare nozzles. A little tool kit, cables, and a few other little odds and ends. Cheap stuff when you think about it, but still nice to have a few spares.

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Exactly. Not bad at all but seriously could have been stellar if they had just done the one simple thing on the rods.

I am not sure why any paid Engineer wouldn't know that 2 hefty motors + 2 hotends on 8mm rods is a bad idea at the length of X and on Y it could sag too due to the weight of X coupled with the weight of the X rods as well.

I do not know how long the Y rods are in this machine so 150mm would be my cutoff point with all of that weight on it or 200mm (maybe 220mm if I squint my eyes and give it the evil eye look) with only a single extruder assembly.