Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[cncartist]

I don't do straight. I can't cut straight and I can't drill straight so I would need a DP.

If you have a dremel and a 3d printer (which it sounds like you do but I can't quite figure out if you're talking from experience or research) you should print this - Drill press for a Dremel

You could also make a jig out of wood/plastic/etc. for a regular handheld battery powered drill if needed. All you need is a little ingenuity and you should be able to easily countersink those holes in 15 minutes or less after obtaining the proper bit and creating a jig that has the travel you want for the depth of the countersink.

The goal at work is to have a printer that can print exotic materials such as Tungsten and Bismuth loaded filament.. We already have 3 Stratasys uPrint SE Plus printers which are our work horses but material wise they don't have many options. We have a Makerbot Replicator 2X at work but it is just a piece of junk, I've spent 3 weeks trying to get it to print correctly and I'm still having problems. So I've given up on the Makebot and going to try the Qidi which I've been very happy with at home.

On a side note we have many Mechanical engineers at work that utilize the Stratasys printers, but I'm very proud of having the record for the longest printing project. I designed some test boxes which took 2 printers 5 weeks to complete with near constant printing. My project was the reason we purchased the 3rd printer.

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

[KludgeGuru]

That is awesome man! I have to ask you though, did you get the QIDI before you got the makerbot replicator 2X or after? Reason I ask is if the Makerbot is junk, the QIDI was an exact copy, why would you risk it? I did a lot of research before I purchased. I was on the fence before I saw this and the price point I just couldn't pass up!

Some other engineer purchased the Makerbot a year or so ago, he was never successful in getting it to work. I got my Qidi at home a couple months ago and it mostly just works. I've had a few problems but they have been easy to overcome. I then tried to get the Makerbot at work up and running. I definitely made more progress than the last guy but I was spending too much time on it and it still wasn't working right. From my experience at home I told the managers that we should just buy a Qidi and bag the Makerbot... and we did. I just got the Qidi at work up and running this morning and so far the first print is looking good.

Have you done any upgrades to your printer?

I've done the basic upgrades; cable chain, filament alignment bracket, Maghold build platform with glass plate. I've also upgraded my Z-Axis rods to 12mm, still working to get the design right. I've attached a Raspberry Pi 2 and run Astroprint so I can start and stop prints remotely so I don't have to keep moving around the SD card.

What software are you using for design? I've been experimenting with Fusion 360, SketchUp 2016, and Blender. I need easy for novice. I want to learn design. My problem now is, i'm able to muddle my way to make something, then when I check it, there is always a problem like Self intersection surfaces or Non Manifold edges. I don't know what I'm doing wrong when I make my designs. They are very simple shapes with push pull and holes but always issues???

I use Solidworks 2016. Since I use Solidworks at work I have access to a Home Use License which is great. I've messed around with Sketchup and don't like it much. I installed Blender last night and my first impression is that the interface is way too complicated, I can usually muddle around and figure out some of the basics when I try new software but with Blender I was completely lost. If I didn't have access to Solidworks I would probably use Fusion 360. I've heard good things about it but never tried it.

[DarkAlchemist]

If you have a dremel and a 3d printer (which it sounds like you do but I can't quite figure out if you're talking from experience or research) you should print this - Drill press for a Dremel

You could also make a jig out of wood/plastic/etc. for a regular handheld battery powered drill if needed. All you need is a little ingenuity and you should be able to easily countersink those holes in 15 minutes or less after obtaining the proper bit and creating a jig that has the travel you want for the depth of the countersink.




Very cool, thanks for sharing!

I had a printer if you could call it that but I no longer do since I can't get a flat bed. If it can lay down a first layer it works wonderfully well. I was going to purchase a DP over the last year but China came in a screwed the pooch so even the older models were better than the current models. Over on another forum I was basically told that short of 1k for a DP the runout is horrible now since all sub $500 machines are made by the same factory in China and just rebadged. After asking around with owners of newer machines I must concur with that statement.

[jfkansas]

That's exactly what I was referring to about Blender. It's interface is so fragmented with little stuff here and little stuff there. A lot of people like blender but they always say if they are away from it for a while that it takes time to get back into it.


Fusion 360 is no Solidworks, but it also costs 20x less. I can also use my license on a work Mac, 2 laptops at home, and probably more as long as I am logged into my account.


Some of what holds Fusion back is companies that work with NDAs generally cant store files on a Shared cloud system. This might change over time as this type of storage gets used more and more. Personally I love the cloud system and how it auto versions everything. I can roll back to a version several iterations ago with no extra file management. I no longer have to think "hmm should I save these changes?" I just save and move on.

Some other engineer purchased the Makerbot a year or so ago, he was never successful in getting it to work. I got my Qidi at home a couple months ago and it mostly just works. I've had a few problems but they have been easy to overcome. I then tried to get the Makerbot at work up and running. I definitely made more progress than the last guy but I was spending too much time on it and it still wasn't working right. From my experience at home I told the managers that we should just buy a Qidi and bag the Makerbot... and we did. I just got the Qidi at work up and running this morning and so far the first print is looking good.



I've done the basic upgrades; cable chain, filament alignment bracket, Maghold build platform with glass plate. I've also upgraded my Z-Axis rods to 12mm, still working to get the design right.



I use Solidworks 2016. Since I use Solidworks at work I have access to a Home Use License which is great. I've messed around with Sketchup and don't like it much. I installed Blender last night and my first impression is that the interface is way too complicated, I can usually muddle around and figure out some of the basics when I try new software but with Blender I was completely lost. If I didn't have access to Solidworks I would probably use Fusion 360. I've heard good things about it but never tried it.

[cncartist]

I had a printer if you could call it that but I no longer do since I can't get a flat bed. If it can lay down a first layer it works wonderfully well. I was going to purchase a DP over the last year but China came in a screwed the pooch so even the older models were better than the current models. Over on another forum I was basically told that short of 1k for a DP the runout is horrible now since all sub $500 machines are made by the same factory in China and just rebadged. After asking around with owners of newer machines I must concur with that statement.

To tell you the truth, I have only had 1 single print fail (out of 50 so far) on the first layer with my Qidi printer. The failure was my first print and it was me testing if the printer could lay down the first layer without any glue/hairspray/bonding agent on the print bed. It obviously was not able to stick to the print bed without a bonding agent.

In reference to the machinery, we are talking about a drill press right? I ask because it sounds like you are expecting much better tolerances than is required. 1K for a drill press is completely overkill for a hobbyist unless you require exceptional tolerances. My drill press was $150 and is nothing amazing but it gets the job done and accounting for runout is just something a machinist has to deal with.

EDIT:
One of my mechanical eng. classes in college was all about tolerances and learning how to deal with them. Seriously, it was a whole class called "Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing" and all we did was machine + part tolerance work.

[jfkansas]

No we are actually just talking about a hand drill to countersink pilot holes... A drill press is even overkill. :-)

[DarkAlchemist]

No we are actually just talking about a hand drill to countersink pilot holes... A drill press is even overkill. :-)

I'm not as a man has to know his limits and I know mine.

A DP (Drill Press) trying to drill 3mm holes with a lousy runout isn't going to work very well but for countersinking who knows.

As far as the Qidi I would demand a flat bed but for my printer, as I have said, nothing I get delivered here is flat. It either is the manufacturer or the shipping company not caring. My i3 Aluminum frame was bent, as was the Y frog plate, so the top was off 3mm. It is how it is here and I suspect it probably makes it to here nice then here they destroy it if you saw the drivers for FedEx, USPS, and UPS we have.

[svt04cobra]

That's the thing with Blender. I'm just learning. The interface sucks for 3D printing. I am not looking for free. I'm looking for ease of use / learning. It seems Fusion 360 is more user friendly but lacks beginner training. So I can make a hole in a round object easier with Fusion 360 but when its time to check the file for print it has a bunch of issues I can't resole because I don't know enough or why its even happening.

Ug Blender? lol Powerful tool, horrid interface.

If you want to do any real CAD you have to get away from Blender or Maya type programs.

Fusion 360 is really good and their sculpting tools are awesome as well. Onshape would have been good, but their pricing model isn't as competitive as Fusion.

[DarkAlchemist]

That's the thing with Blender. I'm just learning. The interface sucks for 3D printing. I am not looking for free. I'm looking for ease of use / learning. It seems Fusion 360 is more user friendly but lacks beginner training. So I can make a hole in a round object easier with Fusion 360 but when its time to check the file for print it has a bunch of issues I can't resole because I don't know enough or why its even happening.

I deleted F360 and I posted on their forums why and people agreed with me. Autodesk is a nasty company to start with and they have this philosophy that you will do it their way in their UI or you can get lost while most other systems allow you to configure the input to your style. At least I wasn't alone in why I deleted it but Autodesk never once replied but many others did. That arrogance I can do without as this is the 21st century and the operator shouldn't have to mold to the program but instead the program should be easily configurable and F360 is not.

Solidworks is a nice program and very flexible except for one thing and that is X/Y/Z is hard coded and they refuse to change it. So, you make a model that looks right on the screen then the last thing you should do is add a new coordinate system with the way 3d printers work in orientation and be sure to use that coordinate system when you save off your stl (or whatever format). Doing that makes the screen happy and your model is right for printing. I do this all of the time when I save stuff for Thingiverse.

[rcleav]

I agree with your take on Fusion 360. As a novice in Cad software I looked at most of what was available for free and tried most of them.
I was able to understand and use Fusion 360 pretty quickly. Although still learning new thinks about it all the time. It seems to be very full featured.
There are a lot of online videos and tutorials available for free. Especially on Youtube
Just so everyone knows Fusion 360 is free to hobbyist who make under $100k a year with it.