Buying new 3D printer

Reading many reviews i was wondering if i should purchase a dual extruder FF Creator 3 v2 or single extruder Qidi tech x max. Because i'm totally new to 3D printing and reading a lot about both these printers, i cannot make a decision in either buying a single extruder Qidi tech x max or a dual IDEX extruder Creator 3. I read a lot of good reviews on Qidi with some short comings and reading a lot of frustrations on the Creator 3 especially the leveling, vibrations and noise, so i cannot make up my mind.If anyone with experience could advice me if the Creator 3 is any good or better go for Qidi tech x max.All advice is very much appreciated.Thanks in advance.

I bought an x-max from the used market, from the previous owner who was having extrusion problems. I've not been able to duplicate the problem, which makes me all the happier for getting the printer at one-fifth retail value!

Leveling is mostly manual, but assisted by the firmware. Three adjustment points; one front left, one front right, one rear centered. Use the slide-the-paper trick for each three, then the nozzle moves to bed center and you slide the paper there as well. it's been working great.

The fully enclosed chamber is quite good for ABS. The door is left open for PLA and the cabinet fans kick in for PLA, which is rather noisy.

The build size is quite large, but I don't know how it compares to the Creator.

I would have liked the architecture to be a bit more open, to allow me to use Octoprint, but from a price standpoint, I can't complain too much. I've had to contact their support team a couple times and the response is good, even though I'm not the original owner. I've been told by support that there is no comprehensive documentation, which is a disappointment. I either have to send an email with a question, or hope I can find a reference on the 'net regarding the circumstances.

The dual hot-end swap arrangement means high temp filaments like nylon can be printed, with a strong likelihood of success. The magnetic print bed is handy, although I have to realize that at 100 °C, it's still hot right after the print is done! The sheet is PEI on one side and a Buildtak material on the other, another bonus.

I bought a FF Creator 3 and returned it within 30 days for a refund.
Having no prior knowledge of 3D printing I wanted a printer that would be ready to print out of the box.

The fans are extremely noisy, the doors seem a bit flimsy and I had problems printing using both extruders.
Printing a two colour print came out okay but when it came to using one extruder to print and the other to print supports the Creator 3 failed miserably.
Each support layer was printed offset and the next print layer was then offset again and after about three layers the print would be a complete mess. It looked like a big layer shift for each consecutive layer.
Pics show the the offset of each layer.

Neither Flashforge nor the UK supplier were able to resolve this so the printer was returned.

I wanted a fairly big build volume so I now have a Raise3D E2 and after over six reels of PLA have yet to get a faulty print that was not operator error. It's very quiet, excellent sturdy build quality with very good supplier after sales service in the UK.
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who did you buy the raise from in the uk ?

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

who did you buy the raise from in the uk ?

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From 3DGBIRE, their after sales service and customer support is absolutely first class.
They also offer an initial one hour free training session which I assume would be via something like Skype

https://3dgbire.com/

Thank you all for your input. I have read similar reviews about the FF Creator 3 but was wondering if it is really that bad or just related to printing with or without a raft.
For the Qidi tech x max i have read many good reviews, only some shortcomings related to the spoolholder placement and no filament detection sensor. Is the spoolholder really susch a problem that the filament can get stuck on the spool because the filament is being pushed back by the extruder during print?
Based on the feedback i'm really thinking about buying my first instinct printer which is the Qidi Tech x max, based on its good reviews.

Unless someone can advice that the FF Creator 3 is better choice. I'm new to 3D printing and want a printer that will work out of the box, which is easy to setup and not causing a lot of nerves to get it to work.
I have also looked at the Raise3D E2 but that would be another big step up in price.

Thanks for all the input!

the creator 3 and the qidi max are totally different machines.
Also widely seperated in price :-)

One is an idex machine with two independant extruders and the other is a single extruder.

I believe that you can use an external spool holdere with the qidi, which would probably be my choice anyway.

Both machines from reputable companies, similiar print sizes. If you don't need idex - then the qidi is less than 1/2 the price of the flashforge.

Plus the qidi comes with a high temp, all metal extruder - damn useful.

If the filament does get stuckj behind the spool - it would be an easy fix and no doubt plenty of mods to fix it already on thingiverse.

The x-max has two locations for the spools, one inside, suitable for sensitive filament like nylon and one outside. I've had no problems with the push-back by the extruder on the outer/upper spool holder. The inner holder also has a guide for the filament which would eliminate any de-spooling problems. It's possible the problematic use did not include the internal guide, which looks like a short length of bowden tube, but isn't.

Hi, i know both are totally different printers. First i was looking for a good and easy to start with printer which does allow me to do more in the future once more experienced. That's when i found the Qidi Tech x max. Then i came upon the FF Creator 3 which offered even more possibilities with almost similar building volume. After reading many reviews about this Creator i got the feeling this printer might not be a good choiche due to the leveling issues and offset between both nozzles. It still looked like a very nice printer though with many possibilites but that's where i got doubts about which printer to buy. As said the Qidi max even though it is a single extruder had much better reviews and comments related to print quality and ease of use compared to the Creator 3. I could not made up my mind based on the reviews (FF Creator v2 does not have that many reviews) so i decided to join this forum to hopefully get some ideas based on experienced users.

It is good to hear the spool holder is not really causing any issues for the Qidi max. I think i might go for this printer because i think it offers enough possibilities for a decent price. Easy to setup and start with.

I really appreciate all the input. Thanks!

I've found that having an IDEX machine doesn't necessarily make a lot of difference to me unless I need to do two colour prints or print supports with a different filament.

I'm mainly using the left extruder for printing and usually only load the right extruder up to print supports or for duplicate printing, so at the moment for about 99% of the time only one extruder is in use, however the IDEX set up is there if I need it or if I only have enough of a different filament for a one off small print and saves swapping filament out.

yeah pretty much my experience with dual extrusuion.

It's useful to have a flexible filament loaded on one extruder and rigid on the other.
My creator pro clone isn't idex. but it is a decent dual extruder.

I primarily use it as my flexible filament printer, as it's currently the best flexible machine I have.

I can count the number of dual material prints I've done in 6 years on the fingers of one hand (and I'm not a multi fingered genetic abnormal :-)

But it's there in the off chance I ever get round to using the soulble support filament I have.
Given that I've never needed to use supports for any of my designs, the two colour or two material option is what's more likely to be used.

So yeah, single extruder printer is absolutely fine.

Another reason to go with the x-max - fred's got one and will happily answer all your queries ;-)

Thanks for all the comments. I have made up my mind and will go for the X max, instead of the Creator 3. Once i have one in my home i'll be happy to share my experience with it here.